The German invasion of the Soviet Union marks the end of the "perfect solution for Bulgaria." Now, the country faces a new partisan threat alongside the prospect of a wider and even more dangerous war.

Major Characters in this Episode:

Tsar Boris III

Adolf Hitler

Prime Minister Bogdan Filov

Kostadin Lagadinov

Timeline:

• 1941, mid-Jun - Kostadin Lagadinov is freed from a Soviet Gulag in order to become a partisan in Bulgaria.

• 1941, Jun 18th - Germany and Turkey sign a nonaggression pact.

• 1941, Jun 22nd - Operation Barbarossa begins, with Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union ending the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

• 1941, Jun 24th - The Bulgarian Embassy in Moscow takes over representation of Germany, Hungary, and Romania.

• 1941, Jun 24th - Under pressure from the Comintern, the Central Committee of the BCP decides to begin armed resistance and sabotage through partisan groups.

• 1941, Jun 25th - Finland declares war on the Soviet Union, beginning the continuation war.

• 1941, Jun 26th - The first partisan detachment is created in Razlog.

• 1941, Jun 28-30th - Over 13,000 Romanian Jews are massacred by Romanian forces in Iasi.

• 1941, July 2-3rd - Mass arrests of Communists. Within the first year, about 1,600 are arrested.

• 1941, July 11th - 8 Communist Deputies of the National Assembly and one from the Pladne Agrarian Group are arrested and interned in the Gonda Voda camp near Asenovgrad.

Sources:

• История на България в Дати by Vasil Katsunov, Plamen Mitev, Valeri Kolev, Evgenia Kalinova, and Iskra Baeva

• Crown of Thorns by Stephane Groueff

• Bulgaria During the Second World War by Marshall E. Miller

• History of the Balkans: Twentieth Century by Barbara Jelavich

• The Bulgarian Communist Party from Blagoev to Zhivkov by John D. Bell

• The Bulgarian Jews and the Final Solution, 1940-1944 by Frederick B. Chary

• Beyond Hitler's Grasp, The Heroic Rescue of Bulgaria's Jews by Michael Bar-Zohar

• The Rose of The Balkans byIvan Ilchev

• The Left Side of History by Kristen Ghodsee