Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 16 April 1925
- The dome of the St. Nedelya Church in Sofia was demolished with explosives during a service for the deceased. Approximately 150 people were killed and over 500 people were injured by the collapsing roof.
On this day members of the Bulgarian Communist Party demolished the dome of the St. Nedelya Church in Sofia, during a funeral service for the late General Konstantin Georgiev, who was murdered two days earlier.
The Mass was attended by many senior political and military officials. Approximately 150 people were killed and over 500 people were injured by the collapsing roof.
The Communists planned the whole attack in advance. Namely, General Georgiev was killed precisely because his colleagues would then gather at the service in the St. Nedelya Church.
The communists had their own agent inside the church, Petar Zadgorski, who was employed there. They placed 25 kilograms of explosives on the roof and waited for the funeral.
The explosives on the roof were detonated by Nikola Petrov, who later managed to escape to Soviet Russia through Yugoslavia, and so avoid arrest.
Petar Zadgorski, left alone, told the police everything. Many communists who participated in the conspiracy were arrested and executed, including Zadgorski, despite the fact that he revealed the entire organization to the police.
