REPORT OF LIQUIDATION OF FORMER EXARCE, NEW PARTY PURGES IN BULGARIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700100297-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 24, 2011
• Sequence Number: 297
• Publication Date: January 23, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/25: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700100297-0
UrLIIOCAX I:nurCh
HOW Political - Purges
PUBLISHED Monthly daily newspapers
WHERE
PUBLISHED Paris; Izmir
DATE
PUBLISHED 15 Sep, 3 Oct 1952
LANGUAGE French; Turkish
CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIALTI g
CENTRAL NT G C GENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY Bulgaria DATE OF
DATE DIST.93 Jan 1953
NO. OF PAGES 1
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
REPORT OF LIQUIDATION OF FORMER EXARCH,
NEW PARTY PURGES IN BULGARIA
PRIESTS REPORTED SENT TO CAMPS -- Paris, La Buigarie Libre, 15 Sep 52
According to information still unconfirmed, the former exarch of the
Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Stefan I, has been liquidated. He had been placed
under surveillance in a monastery near Karlovo. He are informed that be has died.
A group of Bulgarian Orthodox priests from different parts of Bulgaria have
been sent to a forced labor camp in the Tvurditsa Mountain. Some others were
arrested by Militia authorities in Sof4a. Their only crime was celebrattng Easter
Mesa. In priFnn they crossed themselves before eating and for this gesture the
Communists broke their wrists. Since then, nothing further has been heard about them.
PURGE OF CHANKOV SUPPORTERS -- Izmir, Anadolu, 3 Oct 52
Alexandroupolis, 2 October (Ankara A.ency) -- Premier Chervenkov 1s con-
ducted a new purge within the Bulgarian Communist Party to eliminate Communists who
have taken a stand against hint, chiefly supiwr ere of Goo^gi Chankov, Vice-Chairman
of the Council of Ministers. The Chankov e'pporters ha-? begun a campaign against
the premier and other politicians; they resent the fact that a maturity of the
country's present leaders are men who fled to the USSR after the 1925 revolution.
A large segment of the party supports Chervenkov, but the Bulgarian people hate him
and other Communist leaders. According to well-inforweti and rellu7clr. bUU.cea, yari.y
courts have expelled 200,000 members.
STATE
ARMY
2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/25: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700100297-0