Title: The Trial of Nikola D. Petkov
Publication: Sofia: Ministry Of Information And Arts, 1947
Edition: First (only)
Description: 631. This volume is the official government (ie Soviet controlled) trial record for the most important Bulgarian non-communist politician before the Russian takeover The trial was a staged show-trial on fabricated charges The book, which remains an important historical record of the period, includes Petkov's faked confession
Nikola Dimitrov Petkov (1893-1947) was a Bulgarian politician, one of the leaders of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union He entered politics in the early 1930s Like many other peasant party leaders in Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria in 1945â€"1947, Petkov was tried and executed soon after postwar Soviet control was established in his country A US State Department emissary, Mark Ethridge, sent to Bulgaria in 1945 to report on conditions to President Truman, called him "the bravest man I've ever known" He was a son of the politician Dimitar Petkov His brother Petko Petkov was shot dead by an unknown assassin in 1924 Nikola Petkov was among the founders of the Fatherland Front (FF) in 1943 and participated in the establishment of the new government before becoming its target
From 9 September 1944 to 26 August 1945 he was a minister without portfolio in the first government of the FF From January 1945 he became a leader of the anti-communist United opposition From 26 November 1946 he was an MP in the 6th Great National Assembly
His struggle to preserve parliamentary democracy was viewed by the communists as a form of counter-revolutionary activity His parliamentary immunity was lifted on 5 June 1947 and he was arrested in the Parliament building itself; colleagues who tried to prevent the arrest were beaten up After a show trial in which the defence was denied the rights to legal representation or to present evidence, he was found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death on 16 August that year Though he protested his innocence during his staged group trial with four other 'co-conspirators,' and despite the protests of Western nations, Petkov was executed on 23 September 1947 and buried in an unknown grave The Bulgarian secret police arranged for a false confession to be publicly printed after Petkov's death, but it was so obviously faked that the move quickly became an embarrassment and ceased to be mentioned by the authorities Petkov had been denied a Christian burial or last rites, despite being one of Bulgaria's few genuinely religious public figures At his death, Reuben Markham wrote, "I have known no nobler friend of common people, no stauncher anti-Fascist, no more devoted democrat"
After the fall of the Russian-backed communist regime, he was posthumously rehabilitated in 1990
A good copy in the original stiff-card wrappers; edges very slightly dust-dulled and toned Front cover reattached with archival tape Poor paper quality has led to the inevitable age darkening of the text Ex-library (Hammersmith), but other that a label on the front pastedown and a few ink stamps on the first few pages, there are not indications of any use (one ink stamp indicates it was kept in the library's special collections, which explains the good condition) Remains particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and except for wrappers, especially sharp-cornered 631 pp. Good+.
Seller ID: AA1810