Manol Vassev Assassinated (1958)

Wed Mar 12, 1958

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On this day in 1958, Bulgarian anarcho-syndicalist labor organizer Manol Vassev was assassinated by communist secret police, one day before his scheduled release from prison. This entry relies almost entirely on the work of anarchist historian Nick Heath:

A tobacco industry worker by trade, Vassev turned to anarchism while serving at the front in World War I, becoming a labor organizer and speaker. Vassev was persecuted for this work, serving time in prison and having to assume a fake identity (he was born Jordan Sotirov and adopted the name Manol Vassev to escape authorities). He was also active in anti-fascist resistance during World War II.

Vassev was arrested by the communist police for the first time on March 10th, 1945, along with all the delegates to the national conference of the Anarchist Communist Federation at Kniajevo, near Sofia. He was interned at the concentration camp of Dupnitsa and then at Kutzian.

After serving five years in prison, a trial was held for a second sentence. Held in public, Vassev was accused of being an “agent in the pay of the Anglo-Americans”.

Vassev interrupted the accusation, retorting “It isn’t me who signed the Teheran and Yalta treaties with the English and the Americans; it’s not me who went to London to kiss the skirt of the Queen of England!”

Vassev died the day before his release was scheduled, poisoned by the Bulgarian secret police.