Page 588 - 1992 - XVIII Congresso Internazionale di Storia Militare

554 NICXOI.IIY C. KOTI:V

co collecr dctailed socio-economie information, wich subscquem analysis;
co collecc rechnical information:
ro reveal che direcrion of rhe Bulgaria n governmem's policy cowards the J ewish
problem in rhe counrry;
ro wage tht: mosc effìcicm couotcraccion ro che German propaganda in Bulgar·
ia and ro neurralisc rhe anti-Amcrican acrivities of rhe ruling circlcs.
The ncdvities ro achicve rhose aims began during the Cìrsr period. The main
activiry was to collect politica! intelligencc, which through rhe Stare Depanmem
informed Roosevelr's governmem with top prioriry of the npproaching military po·
litical changc:s in the Balkans. le musr be mendoned here tbar the Amcncan imelli-
gencc branchcs of thc military services · "G-2'' and "ON!" also the l:mer, "Commmee
for coordinating information", transformcd in 1942 imo Offìce ofSrraregic Serv·
ices (OSS) and Ofrìcc for War lnformarion (QWI). They heJd srrong positions in
the Amcrican governmem, hecausc rhey were linked to che State Deparrmenr in
waging combincd opcrntions. Thar is why rhe depanmems of che America n intclli·
gence sl!rvicc vcry often relled on the help of servicemen from rhe Stare Departe·
mcm. A largc numbcr of diplomnts hnd in thc past bcen ofrìcers in milirary and
nnvy inrclligcncc, nnd wc re convinccd of thc ncccssiry of such a strategy. For exnm-
ple. rhc Arncrican Minisu:r for Bulgaria Georg Earl Il L, who arrived o n 21 March
1940, hnd servcd for ten years llS an offìcer in rhe coumer-intclligcnce service of
the Adm iralcy <~>. Especially in the case of Bulg.Hia. rhe politica! aspecr of imelli·
gencc: found a fertile soil a Iso due to rhe facc, that mosc of the American diplomacs
posscssed reni knowlc:dgc about the coumry, spoke her language, and had many
concam. An examplc of a rypicnl cnse is the aetiviry of che Chief of rhe Chnncellery
in che America n l cgation, Martin Roseman Mcadows. Hc; had workc:d in Bulgana
from 1935 and w:1s marricd ro Krasimirn Dimirrova- che daughrer of thc Direaor
of the Popular Bank in Sofia m . This situation allowcd him co make valuable con-
racrs in the highc:r circlc:s of Bulgaria o sociery a od ro gcr consram information from
privare sourccs, mainly Jcws (6>.
In mosr o( cascs the coiJcction of a mosaic of information ahout lifc in thc
coumry was facilitared by the fnct rh a t some of ù1e oflìcials in the Amencan l ega·
tion werc Bulgn rian cirizens. Four cxamplcs are rhe merchanr l juben Poulcv, the
journalist Boyan Choukanov, the prominent fcminisr and Generai lvan Marinov's
sisrer-in-lnw - Taryana Kirkova erc P>. The informarion was pluccd at Marun
Meadows' disposnl - che Legation's ofrìcinl who was responsible for using ir. for
garhering furrhcr informntion :1nd for fìling it away in thc archivcs. In thc Arncri·
can Lcgation there wcrc also consranr sources of information gachcring, such as
rhc newspapers and other periodicals.
Thcy were carefully chcckcd l n order co ger furrher informarion and rherc was
rhe prnccice of organising monchly, and ofrcn wcekly, meccings with reprcsenca-
tives of the Uulgnrian press. a t which especially'Ljubcn Poulcv and Boyan Chou·
8
kanov succedcd in gcnlng fìrsr class informarion< 1.