Anton Yugov

Anton Tanev (Dontcho) Yugov (Bulgarian: Антон Танев Югов) (28 August 1904 - 6 July 1991) was a leading member of the Bulgarian Communist Party served as Prime Minister of the country from 1956 to 1962. Anton Tanev (Dontcho) Yugov is Honorary Citizen of Tirana, Albania.

Yugov was born to a Bulgarian family in Rugunovets, Ottoman Macedonia (today Polykastro, Greece); after World War I, his family moved to Plovdiv. Before becoming prime minister, Yugov served as interior minister from 1944 to 1949, during the beginning stages of the communist government. Although a long standing member of the Party, Yugov was heavily involved in the De-Stalinization that came about in 1956 on the back of Nikita Khrushchev's reforms in the Soviet Union. As a result of this, Yugov was appointed Prime Minister on 17 April 1956. He remained in the job for 6 years until overall leader Todor Zhivkov also assumed this role. Yugov, who had criticised Zhivkov for allowing the Great Leap Forward to influence economic policy, was removed as a potential rival. He was rehabilitated on the 1990 BKP party congress. [1].

Preceded by Vulko Chervenkov

Prime Minister of Bulgaria 1956-1962

Succeeded by Todor Zhivkov