Petar Dimitrov Gabrovski () (9 July 1898 – 1 February 1945) was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n politician who briefly served as

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Gabrovski was a lawyer by profession. He was also a member of the Grand

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

of Bulgaria.

Early years

Gabrovski began his political career as a

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

, forming his own movement the Ratniks of the Advancement of the Bulgarian National Spirit (''Ratnitsi Napreduka na Bulgarshtinata'') - more commonly known as Ratnik or the Ratnitsi. The group was virulently

Anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

and was said to have links to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, although it failed to achieve anything approaching a mass following. In 1939 a law banning members of the group from government office was passed although it was not observed for long.

Minister of the Interior

Gabrovski's political career took off in October 1939 when he was brought into the cabinet of Georgi Kyoseivanov as minister responsible for the railways, with his appointment to the cabinet seeing him resigning from the Ratnitsi. In the cabinet established by Bogdan Filov in 1940 he was promoted to the post of

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

. The appointment had been made by King Boris III as an attempt to demonstrate to the Nazis that Bulgaria was largely favourable towards them. In this role Gabrovski was quick to enact laws limiting the role of

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

s in Bulgarian life and expelled several hundred recently arrived Jews, who had hoped to gain entry into

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

from Bulgaria, forcing them to go to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

instead. His bill, the Law for the Defence of the Nation, was modelled on similar legislation in Nazi Germany. Gabrovski also sent Alexander Belev, a fellow lawyer and Ratnik whom he appointed to a post in the ministry, to

to make a study of their

racial laws Anti-Jewish laws have been a common occurrence throughout the history of antisemitism and Jewish history. Examples of such laws include special Jewish quotas, Jewish taxes and Jewish "disabilities". During the 1930s and early 1940s, some law ...

.David S. Wyman, Charles H. Rosenzveig, ''The World Reacts to the Holocaust'', JHU Press, 1996, p. 264 He subsequently became associated with the deportation of Jews to

extermination camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe, primarily in occupied Poland, during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocau ...

s and most notoriously signed a written agreement to approve the deportation of 20,000 Jews from Macedonia and Thrace on 22 February 1943. As none of these Jews had been granted Bulgarian citizenship following the incorporation of those territories Gabrovski told German ambassador Adolf Beckerle that their deportation would be a much simpler matter than any similar attempts against those Jews with citizenship given the relative lack of anti-Semitic sentiment in Bulgaria. Ultimately however the plan, as developed by Gabrovski and Belev (who worked under Gabrovski as Commissar of Jewish Questions), was vetoed by the King.

Fall from power

Following the death of Boris III Gabrovski served as

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad range of sk ...

Prime Minister between 9 September and 14 September 1943, whilst the country's main political leaders served as regents for Simeon II. He was overlooked for the job full-time however and his position waned from there on as he was seen as too strong a rival for power.Chary, ''The History of Bulgaria'', p. 112

Execution

Following the establishment of Fatherland Front government Gabrovski was arrested and brought before the People's Court where a sentence of death was passed. He was executed on 1 February 1945. In a move widely condemned by Jewish groups Gabrovski was rehabilitated by the Bulgarian Supreme Court in 1996, with the stated reason being that his initial trial contained several irregularities.Bar-Zohar, ''Beyond Hitler's Grasp'', p. 257

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaborvski, Petur 1898 births 1945 deaths Bulgarian nationalists People from Razgrad Prime ministers of Bulgaria Ratniks 20th-century Bulgarian lawyers Executed prime ministers Executed Bulgarian collaborators with Nazi Germany Holocaust perpetrators in Greece Holocaust perpetrators in Bulgaria Holocaust perpetrators in Yugoslavia Bulgarian Freemasons People's Court (Bulgaria)