site.btaObservances: September 5-6

September 5:

On this date in Bulgarian history:

• 1881: Bulgarian Literary Society (today's Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) holds first meeting in Sofia.
• 1944: Soviet Union severs diplomatic relations with, and declares war on, Bulgaria, which is German ally during part of World War II. Soviet troops enter Bulgaria on September 8, 1944.
• 1944: Workers' Party Central Committee Politburo and People's Liberation Insurgent Army General Headquarters plan uprising, whose principal strike is to be dealt in Sofia on night of September 8 to 9.
• 1953: Belene forced labour camp (Northwestern Bulgaria), opened on June 24, 1949, is closed. Reopened on November 17, 1956, closed in 1959.
• 1955: Lead and Zinc Works in Kardzhali (South Central Bulgaria) are inaugurated (Lead & Zinc Complex AD since 1998).
• 2001: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew starts one-week visit to Sofia and Plovdiv, confers with Patriarch Maksim, President Peter Stoyanov and Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
• 2009: Fifteen Bulgarians drown as tourist ship Ilinden, carrying 55 Bulgarian tourists, sinks in Lake Ohrid in Macedonia.

September 6:

Bulgaria:

Unification Day. Public holiday.

The world:

National Day of Swaziland: Independence Day (1968).

On this date in Bulgarian history:

• 1879: Diplomatic relations established with Serbia.
• 1883: Suspended Tarnovo Constitution is reinstated.
• 1885: Union of Principality of Bulgaria with Eastern Rumelia is proclaimed.
• 1916: Third Army under General Stefan Toshev's command captures Toutrakan Fortress during World War I in one of Bulgaria's greatest victories.
• 1974: New building of Sofia's Central Railway Station is inaugurated.