Ivan Todorov-Gorunya

Ivan Todorov Vankinski-Gorunya (Bulgarian: Иван Тодоров-Горуня; 5 January 1916 – 8 April 1965, also spelled Gorunia and Gorunja) was a Bulgarian politician.

Biography[edit]

Todorov-Gorunya was born in 1916 in the village Gorna Kremena in Vratsa Province. Little is known about his early life; however, he was known to have been a stonemason for sixteen years.^[1] It is also known that he joined the Bulgarian Workers' Party in 1939.^[1] That same year he was sentenced to seven and a half years in jail for terrorist activities. While in jail he maintained close relations with Tsolo Кrastev [bg] and Tsvyatko Anev [bg], later to become conspirators.^[1]

It is not clear how he got out, but in September 1941 he became the first communist partisan in the Vratsa Province, who fought against the pro-German government of Bulgaria in World War II.^[1] After the communist takeover, he held the post of vice-minister of agriculture. ^{[citation needed]}

Political career[edit]

After voicing criticisms towards Todor Zhivkov's reforms of de-Stalinization in the late 1950s he was ostracized for a while, but was then brought back and made a member of Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party.^[1]

Toward the end of 1964 and in early 1965, Todorov-Gorunya and Tsolo Кrastev organized group of high-ranking military officers planning to overthrow the regime led by Todor Zhivkov. Among the officers was the commander of the Sofia garrison general Tsvyatko Anev. Their plan was to establish a pro-Chinese leadership in the country.^[2]

The coup (also known as April Conspiracy) was exposed by the counter-intelligence service and between 28 March and 12 April 1965 most of the plotters were arrested. Todorov-Gorunya (probably) committed suicide just before the arrest. Nine of the other participants received relatively mild sentences ranging from 8 to 15 years imprisonment, while another 192 got party or administrative punishments. Existence of the plot was kept hidden from the public.^{[citation needed]}

Literature[edit]

• A Handbook of the Communist Security Apparatus in East Central Europe 1944–1989, Warsaw, 2005, ISBN 83-89078-82-1. Article "Bulgaria" by Jordan Baev and Kostadin Grozev, pp. 37–86.
• Ionko Bonov: Legendarniiat Ivan Todorov-Gorunya: Khudozhestveno-dokumentalna povest (Legendary Ivan Todorov-Gorunya: Artistic and Documentary Report), 1994, ISBN 978-954-8019-01-9.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• "The Black Sheep", Time Magazine, 30-April-1965
• "The April Conspiracy in Bulgaria", Radio Free Europe, 22-April-1965
• Short overview of the coup, links (partly in English)