The Diary of Georgi Dimitrov, 1933-1949

Robert Fulford, National Post)
A valuable souvenir of the Stalinist period.

Book Description
Georgi Dimitrov (1882-1949) was a high-ranking Bulgarian and Soviet official, one of the most prominent leaders of the international Communist movement and a trusted member of Stalin’s inner circle. Accused by the Nazis of setting the Reichstag fire in 1933, he successfully defended himself at the Leipzig Trial and thereby became an international symbol of resistance to Nazism. Stalin appointed him head of the Communist International (Comintern) in 1935, and he held this position until the Comintern’s dissolution in 1943. After the end of the Second World War, Dimitrov returned to Bulgaria and became its first Communist premier. During the years between 1933 and his death in 1949, Dimitrov kept a diary that described his tumultuous career and revealed much about the inner working of the international Communist organizations, the opinions and actions of the Soviet leadership, and the Soviet Union’s role in shaping the postwar Eastern Europe. This important document, edited and introduced by renowned historian Ivo Banac, is now available for the first time in English. It is an essential source for information about international Communism, Stalin and Soviet policy, and the origins of the Cold War.

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian, Bulgarian, German

From the Publisher
Annals of Communism Series

From the Inside Flap
"A unique source of valuable information on events of Stalin’s time, including his comments and opinions expressed during informal gatherings with his entourage, of which Dimitrov was a member."—Robert C. Tucker, Princeton University "Provides important new insights into Stalin’s mind and his foreign policy in the 1930s and ’40s."—Orlando Figes, Professor of History, Birkbeck College, London University "The Dimitrov diary provides intimate notes and thoughts from the Communist International’s best-known personality during its most important period."—Tony Judt, New York University

About the Author
Ivo Banac is the Bradford Durfee Professor of History at Yale University.


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"Georgi Dimitrov (1882-1949) was a high-ranking Bulgarian and Soviet official, one of the most prominent leaders of the international Communist movement and a trusted member of Stalin's inner circle. Accused by the Nazis of setting the Reichstag fire in 1933, he successfully defended himself at the Leipzig Trial and thereby became an international symbol of resistance to Nazism. Stalin appointed him head of the Communist International (Comintern) in 1935, and he held this position until the Comintern's dissolution in 1943. After the end of the Second World War, Dimitrov returned to Bulgaria and became its first Communist premier." During the years between 1933 and his death in 1949, Dimitrov kept a diary that described his tumultuous career and revealed much about the inner working of the international Communist organizations, the opinions and actions of the Soviet leadership, and the Soviet Union's role in shaping the postwar Eastern Europe. This important document, edited and introduced by historian Ivo Banac, is now available for the first time in English. It is an essential source for information about international Communism, Stalin and Soviet policy, and the origins of the Cold War.


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