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September 7, 1940 Romania returns Southern Dobrudja to the Kingdom of Bulgaria VIDEO

The author of the Kraiov Agreement was shot by the People's Court

Sep 7, 2024 03:14 140

On September 7, 1940 in the signed Kraiov Agreement.

The treaty obliges Romania to return Southern Dobrudja to the Kingdom of Bulgaria.

The document is one of the few that was not revised after the end of the Second World War. However, we must recognize that the treaty was imposed by Nazi Germany, the USSR and Italy.

The terms of the agreement require Romania to return Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria, as well as an exchange of population from Northern Dobrudja and Southern Dobrudja.

On August 19, 1940, painful and difficult negotiations took place between the two countries. The Romanian side strives to make the smallest possible concessions, but in the end it has to return the southern part of Dobrudja to the Kingdom of Bulgaria.

Thus, 88,000 Romanians settled by the Romanian authorities after the end of the Second Balkan War in 1913, when the territory of Dobruja was occupied by Romania, were forced to leave and move to the north, while 68,000 Bulgarians from the northern part are moving to the homeland.

The turning point that served as a catalyst for the processes related to revisionism towards the Romanian state was the German offensive on the Western Front that began on May 10, 1940. The catastrophic defeat of the Allies largely destroyed their international prestige.

The union of Eastern Rumelia with the Principality of Bulgaria in 1885 and the return of Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria are one of the most significant events in the recent history of our country. Their importance is strengthened even more, since they represent an indisputable success of Bulgarian diplomacy and a serious step towards the unification of the Bulgarian lands into one state.

Southern Dobrudja was taken from Bulgaria with the Bucharest Peace Treaty of the summer of 1913 and was annexed to Romania. Thus, in the hands of Bucharest, Northern Dobrudja was added to the one given by Russia with the Treaty of San Stefano (1878) and confirmed by the Great Powers with the Treaty of Berlin (1878). During the First World War (1915-1918), the two Dobrudjas were liberated and remained within Bulgaria until the end of the war.

The Neue Treaty (1919) again took them from the Fatherland and handed them back to Romania. After long diplomatic negotiations and with the support of Germany, the Soviet Union and other European countries, Southern Dobrudja was returned to our country on September 7, 1940. The Paris Peace Treaty after the end of the Second World War reaffirmed the decision of the National Accord. In this way, Southern Dobrudja remains an indivisible part of the Motherland.

For the success of Bulgarian diplomacy, we must first of all note the merits of the great Bulgarian diplomat Svetoslav Pomenov, who led the Bulgarian delegation during the negotiations in Craiova. He participated in the Bulgarian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference (1919). In addition, he was in charge of the Bulgarian Legations in Sweden (1920), Switzerland (1920), Germany (1921); minister plenipotentiary in Germany (1923), Romania (1925), Germany (1931), Italy (1934) and chairman of the Bulgarian delegation for signing the Treaty of Krai (1940).

From March 1941 to August 1943, Svetoslav Pomenov was the head of the office of Tsar Boris III. As a reward for his devoted service to the Motherland, this distinguished Bulgarian diplomat was sentenced to death by the People's Court and shot on February 1 and 2, 1945.