Union of Bulgarian National Legions
Union of Bulgarian National Legions | |
|---|---|
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| Leader | lieutenant-general Hristo Lukov |
| Founded | 1933 |
| Dissolved | 1944 (banned) |
| Headquarters | Formerly Sofia, Bulgaria |
| Newspaper | Prelom |
| Ideology |
National Socialism Bulgarian nationalism Anti-communism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Religion | Bulgarian Orthodox Church |
| International affiliation | N/A |
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| This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Bulgaria |
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The Union of Bulgarian National Legions (Bulgarian: Съюз на Българските Национални Легиони, tr. Săjuz na Bălgarskite Nacionalni Legioni) was a right extremist organization in Bulgaria that was formed in 1933.
Also known as the Legionnaires’ Association, the movement was founded and led by Hristo Lukov, a Bulgarian army lieutenant general (not to be confused with Major General Hristo Tsonev Lukov, a native of Gabrovo, who was the commander of the 13th Infantry division during World War I) who during World War I held the rank of major and was the commander of an artillery battalion. Initially identifying as an extreme monarchist group, it later sought unsuccessfully to work with the National Social Movement before finally emerging as a harassed opposition party that was largely supportive of Nazism.[1] In its early days it was known as the Union of Young National Legions and was nominally led by a three-man group that included student leader Ivan Dochev.[2]
The movement was initially small, although it did gain some support from Nazi Germany and experienced some growth during the Second World War as a result.[3] The movement floundered after the assassination of its leader by a Communist insurgency group on February 13, 1943, and it did not survive the war. However Dochev and a number of other leading members would re-emerge in the anti-communist exile group, the Bulgarian National Front.[4]
References
- ↑ Philip Rees, 'LUKOV, Hristo Nikolov', Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890, p. 242
- ↑ Philip Rees, 'DOCHEV, Ivan Dimitrov', Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890, p. 96
- ↑ Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism: 1914-1945, London: Routledge, 2001, p. 429
- ↑ Russ Bellant, Old Nazis, the New Right, and the Republican Party, South End Press, 1991, p. 7