DOUBTS PERSIST

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 August 1943, Page 4

DOUBTS PERSIST

AS TO CAUSE OF DEATH OF KING BORIS ANTI-NAZI DEMONSTRATIONS IN SOFIA. CROWDS DEMAND PEACE. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.20 p.m.) LONDON, August 29.

No official announcement has been made of the cause of the death of King Boris of Bulgaria, and doubts about the German statement that he died from heart disease persist. Reports from neutral sources say large crowds, in Sofia yesterday demonstrated against the Germans and demanded peace. The Berlin radio stated that the Bulgarian Cabinet ordered forty days’ mourning for King Boris. Theatres and cinemas have been closed and weddings have been suspended for a week. Hitler has sent condolences to the Bulgarian Royal Family and the King of Italy has ordered three months’ Court mourning for King Boris.

RIGID CENSORSHIP

ESTABLISHED IN BULGARIA.

REPORT OF GENERAL STRIKE

(Received This Day, 1.50 p.m.) LONDON, August 29. Although a rigid censorship has been established in Bulgaria since the death of King Boris, the Algiers radio tonight reported that a general strike had been declared throughout Bulgaria and that there had been anti-Fascist demonstrations in Sofia.

Ankara reports state that the Bulgarian Premier (Professor Fsov) is believed to be ill and unable to maintain power. The internal position of Bulgaria may deteriorate so quickly that Hitler will be forced at any moment to occupy the country. > Despite the statement of the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice that the death of King Boris was due to heart failure, double pneumonia, inflamation of the lungs and brain, reports continue to circulate that he was shot.

Reports from Berne say that Hitler gave Boris an ultimatum which was due to expire at midnight on August 28. Hitler’s ultimatum is reported to have demanded, firstly, an immediate and total military and economic mobilisation of Bulgaria for the furtherance of the war; secondly, the building of a second defence line along the Turkish frontier, to be manned by German troops; thirdly, the granting of full powers to the Gestapo in Bulgaria. Boris, according to this Berne report decided to abdicate rather than accept the terms, but was shot by one of his police bodyguard.