Chapter IX PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT OF BULGARIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-01144A000100010012-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 31, 1998
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: October 1, 1943
• Content Type: IS

T vI -off eLe 200 010-8129: #A-DPT79 1= .OOQ OOi a2-7
Chapter IX
PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT
OF
BULGARIA
(JANIS No. 38)
OCTOBER . 1943
DOQUMENI NQ. 1
CHANCE IN CLASS. 0
DECLASSIFIED
NEXT fEVIEW DATE: ,
AT g 4 4VREVIEWER: . ?.x''15
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Table of Contents
90. GENERAL DESCRIPTION .
A. History . . . . . .
B. Contemporary social aspects
C. Government . . . . .
91. POPULATION-PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
A. Distribution . . . . . . .
B. Ethnic groups . . . . . .
92. POPULATION-CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
A. Language . . . .
B. Religion . . . . . . . .
C. Temperament and attitudes . . .
93. HEALTH AND SANITATION .
A. Public health . . . . . .
B. Diseases . . . . . . .
C. Precautionary recommendations
94. SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
A. Social groups . . . . . . . .
B. Stability . . . . . . . . ..
C. Education . . . . . . .
D. Labor . . . . . . .
95. GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
A. Locus of authority
B. Local government
C. Efficiency . . . .
96. SECURITY AND PUBLIC ORDER .
A. Police . . . . . . . .
B. Other officials with policing power
C. Penal institutions . . . . .
D. Pertinent legal peculiarities . .
97. POLITICAL FACTORS .
A. Political organizations . . .
B. Current trends in foreign policy
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Chapter IX
PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT
(INCLUDING HEALTH AND SANITATION)
Page IX - 1
90. General Description
A. History.
In 680 A.D. a small tribe of Central Asian Bulgars, of
Turanian origin, established the First Bulgarian Empire. They
gradually extended their power over most of the Slavs of the
Balkans. This Empire lasted to 1018, and witnessed the con-
version of the people to Greek Orthodox Christianity, the
introduction of the Cyrillic alphabet, and the gradual but
complete fusion of Slavs and Bulgars.
After two centuries of Byzantine domination, a Second
Bulgarian Empire (1186--1393) extended its power north of
the Danube, and from the Black Sea to the Adriatic, includ-
ing the Aegean littoral. This Empire furnished a basis for
present-day Bulgarian claims to Balkan hegemony. The Otto-
man Turks conquered the Second Empire in 1396. During the
five centuries of Turkish subjection, Bulgarian survival was
ensured by the Church and by certain privileges granted by
the Sultan for services rendered.
A national revival began in the eighteenth century. It cul-
minated in revolutions which the Turks put down brutally.
After the Russian victories over the Turks in the Russo-Turk-
ish war of 1877-78, the treaty of San Stefano (1878) created a
Bulgaria so large that Disraeli, fearing Russian influence, cut
the country into three parts at the Congress of Berlin (1878):
Bulgaria, East Rumelia (reunited with Bulgaria in 1885), and
Macedonia. San Stefano remained a blueprint for Bulgarian am-
bitions. Britain won Bulgaria's enmity and Russia retained her
gratitude, in spite of subsequent changes of policy and ideology.
The new Bulgaria's first prince, Alexander of Battenberg,
having incurred the enmity of Russia, was forced to abdicate.
His successor, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1887-1918),
gradually obtained control of both domestic and foreign
policy. He relied increasingly on Austro-German support.
In 1912 the Balkan League was formed. Victorious over the
Turks in the First Balkan War (1912-13), the Balkan allies
disagreed over the settlement, and the Second Balkan war
began with an attack by Bulgaria (June, 1913) on Greece and
Serbia. By the Treaty of Bucure?te (Bucharest) (1913) Bul-
garia lost southern Dobrogea* (Dobrudja) in addition to
part of Thrace and most of Macedonia.
Bulgaria's role in the First World War was to a large ex-
tent pre-determined. King Ferdinand was pro-German. Many
Bulgarians then, as now, believed that only with Germany's
help could their boundaries be rectified. German exploitation,
war-weariness and Wilson's Fourteen Points made Bulgaria
*See Appendix I for all spellings of features. The following spellings of
features as used in this Chapter differ slightly from those on G.S., G.S.
maps, Series 4072 and 4088: Bebrezh, Bozhurishte, Canara (Kana-Gol),
Carasuum, Cherni Iskr, Chiporovtsi, Devna, Dobrich (Bazargio), Dobrin-
ishta, Dubovo, Ellidere, Lmine (town), Chiaur Suiuciuc (Chiaur Suiuciuc),
Gorna Dzhumaya, Gorna Orekhovitsa (Gln.-Orekhovitsa), Gulubovo
(Gara-Glebovo), Kazanik, Kharmanli, Koprivshtitsa, Kuri Burnu, Ladzhene
(Lzhene), Musala, Panagyurishte, Paphia (Mt.), Peinirdzhik, Perushtitsa,
Peshtera, Piraievs, Pirdop (Pirdol), Polikraishte, Rakovets, Resen (Pesen),
Sofiya, Sredets, Stizharov, Surnena Gora (Srneha Gora), Svishtov, Syuyut-
liika, and Trgovishte.
the first Central Power to surrender, caused the abdication of
Ferdinand in favor of his son Boris, and inaugurated the revo-
lutionary peasant dictatorship of Stambuliski. The treaty of
Ncuilly (1919) deprived Bulgaria of her Aegean littoral
(Thrace) and of several segments on her western frontier. The
total losses in 1913 and 1919 were 18,974 sq. km. and 665,656
population. These losses cancelled a large part of the Bul-
garian gains in the First Balkan War; the net gain still remain-
ing was a territory of 6,800 sq. km. and a population of
only 4,810.
After the war one of the main internal problems was the
settling of more than 250,000 refugees and exchanged popula-
tion. Domestic politics were marked by a bloody revolution
in 1923, in which the bourgeois Nationalists, in alliance with
the Army and the Macedonians, put an end to the Agrarian
regime. After two years of reactionary government under
Alex. Tsankov the Democratic Entente came into power
(1925-31). From 1931 to 1934 the successors to the bourgeois
of this Entente were forced to share power with the moderate
Agrarians. Throughout this period rival Macedonian groups
dominated and kept Bulgaria politically and economically
isolated. After 1923, relations with Yugoslavia were con-
stantly strained by Macedonian terrorism, frontier incidents
and Serbian reprisals. The establishment of the dictatorship
in Yugoslavia (1929) increased the tension. A similar situa-
tion with Rumania arose over border incidents and the seques-
tration of Bulgarian property in Dobrogea. Bulgaria's only
official friend was Turkey, with whom a protocol of friend-
ship was signed in 1925. Because of France's sponsorship of
the Little Entente her relations with Bulgaria were less than
cordial. Neither France nor England made a really serious
attempt to buy Bulgaria's friendship with trade. On the other
hand, Italy's influence as a champion of revisionism was
enhanced by her economic interest in Bulgaria, and cemented
by the marriage of Boris to Giovanna, daughter of Victor
Emmanuel (1930). But Italy was overshadowed in every way
by the rise of Nazi Germany.
In internal Bulgarian politics 1934 was marked by the
destruction of a relatively corrupt and inefficient multi-party
system and the establishment under King and Army of an
authoritarian regime, or dictatorship, which sacrificed most
democratic principles. Local administration was placed under
strict central control. The surplus educated urban population
was sent to the villages to help raise the general standards
and to heal the suspicion between city and country which in
former times had come close to civil war. Thereafter the most
hopeful sign was a gradual return from complete autocracy
in 1934-35 to a measure of national and local self-government
after 1937. Men and, for the first time in the Balkans, women
were allowed to vote in local and national elections. Though
the ban on political parties continued, their former leaders
remained active in political life and gave it balance.
Internationally, 1934 marked the end of Bulgarian isola-
tion, achieved primarily through the outlawing of the terror-
istic Macedonian organization which for 15 years had dis-
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Page IX - 2
PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT (INCLUDING HEALTH AND SANITATION)
credited the country. Bulgaria's position was: "We want to
be friendly with our neighbors and will wort: toward Balkan
economic and political solidarity, but we will not renounce
for all time our claim to peaceable territorial revision."
Despite this stand and despite the Balkan Pact, aimed directly
at keeping Bulgaria from expanding, relations with all neigh-
bors (especially Yugoslavia) unproved. A treaty of "Eternal
Friendship" with Yugoslavia in 1937 and a treaty of 1938
.permitting Bulgaria to re-arm were the outstanding diplo-
matic achievcments. good relations with Russia revived Pan-
Slavic feeling. Before the outbreak of the present war Bulgaria
had achieved a large measure of internal and external political
stability, and a period of Balkan cooperation and relative
Prosperity seemed to be assured. However, the fate of Czccho-
sl.ovakia and Finland, absolute Bulgarian economic depen-
d.cncc on Germany, the desire of the people not to fight
another war or have their country become a battleground,
and the British guarantee of Rumania's frontiers, all con-
spired to bring Bulgaria into the Axis fold. Rewards of Greck
and Yugoslav territory followed; nevertheless Bulgarian en-
thusiasnm cooled after Germany's attack on the Soviet Union.
B. Contemporary social aspects.
Bulgaria is relatively homogeneous in language, culture,
religion, and standards of living. The only significant ethnic
exception is the 600,000 Turks and these do not constitute a
serious problem. Much more serious, until. recent territorial
changes, were the problems arising our of the existence of
Bulgarian minorities in neighboring countries.
About 80 pcr cent of Bulgaria's 7 million inhabitants
(including those of southern Dobrogea, but excluding the
population of the new Grcek and Yugoslav territories)
arc agricultural. Towns are few and small, more like villa.gcs
than modern cities. Sofiya is the largest city, with a popula-
tion of about 500,000. The rural population of Bulgaria is
relatively dense: the density per arable acre is more than three
times that in France. Individual farms a-c the smallest in
Europe; opportunities for occupations other than fanning
hardly exist. Yields are low under the prevalent primitive
methods of cultivation.
Thcre is little industrialization. The people a-e not mechan-
ically minded but are clever with their hands. Workers are
inured to hardship, long hours and low pay. Tic social icgis-
la.tion of the country is sufficiently progressive and broad in
scope but economic conditions and lack of enforcement render
it inoperative.
Malaria in Bulgaria has been greatly reduced through the
work of the Rockefeller Foundation. Nevertheless, infant
Mortality is extremely high, tuberculosis is widespread and
medical facilities inadequate. Evcn in the towns a bath is
still cause for congratulation. 't'oilet facilities are often poor
or lacking.
In comparison with neighbors, the Bulgarians pride them-
selves on their literacy. In fact, a cult of education may be
noted to be so strong there that it has given rise to an intel-
lectual proletariat. On the other hand, rho Church retains its
hold largely because of the conservatism of the masses and
the historic role of the Church as a national institution.
The peasant is used to obeying the orders of the village
elders and the decrees of the authorities. Crimes are few,
although political gangstcrism and poverty have lcssencd
respect for law and order. There are certairt traditions of local
self-government, but strong-arm rule, excessive partisanship
and the spoils system have hardly promoted the development
of sound democracy. However, American education and plti--
lanthropy have contributed greatly towards a better under-
standing of democracy in Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian is an avid reader of newspapers. The news-
papers arc the main source of news as radios are still a lux-
ury. The press was relatively free before 1934 and often con-
tributed to political disagreements. But since l)3-[ it has
been controlled and now obediently reflects the orders of
the local propaganda machine representative.
C. Government
Theoretically, Bulgaria is still a constitutional monarchy
in which the power is shared by King, Cabinet and Parlia-
ment. Practically, Bulgaria is ruled by a dictatorship consist-
ing of King and Cabinet to which the assembly usually
gives approval.
The country is governed by it highly cenr_ralizcd burcauc -
racy consisting of parallel hierarchies of civilian and police
officials, appointed by and responsible to the respective Cabi-
net members. Hcads of unions and other national organira
Lions arc also government appointed.
The present Cabinet, formed on I'ebruarv I o, 1940 .inL[
reconstructed in April, 1942, is composed largely of politi-
cally colorless individuals.'I"he single outstandin personality
is Mr. Ga.brovski, energetic and ruthless 1Ministcr of the
Interior and ardent pro-(serman. The popular strength of the
Cabinet is found in its appeal for the unification :vir'Iin
Bulgaria. proper of all the so-called Bulgarian area:. Its policy
is to make these lands an integral part of Bulgarla. and to
make Bulgaria the dominant power of the Balkans. Its sanc-
tion by the Sovereign results from all its members being his
obedient servants.
'['tic National Assembly, elected in 1940, is called occa-
sionally to approve decrees and laws sukitnittcd by the Cabinet.
Some opposition to governnient policies is voiced at the
sessions but usually the Assembly does as instrucrcd.
As a German satellite, Bulgaria is su[-)sc.rvI._,1Ir to AXIS
demands, but it is quite jealous of its independence- in hrcal
administration.
German control in Bulgaria is rclativclNT well concealed. It
is exercised primarily throu