Mara Hristova Maleeva-Zhivkova (born July 12, 1911, Plovdiv; died October 23, 1971, Sofia, People's Republic of Bulgaria) was a Bulgarian physician, and the First Lady of Bulgaria (1954–1971) as the wife of Todor Zhivkov, who was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party (1954–1989).
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Early life
Mara Maleeva was born in 1911 into a family of primary school teachers Hristo Maleev and Nedelya Altunova.
In 1928, the whole family moved to Sofia, where Maleeva graduated from the First Sofia Women's Gymnasium in 1930 and entered Sofia University (she studied with the medical faculty until 1938). As a student, she became a member of the Communist Organizations of the Workers' Youth Union and the Bulgarian National Student Union, and joined the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) in 1933, working as a technical assistant on its Central Committee. In 1936, she met the communist activist Todor Zhivkov (1911–1998). After graduating from university she worked as a village doctor.
Medical activity
In 1938, Mara Maleeva got a job as a district doctor in the Pavlytsia village of Daskot, Veliko Tarnovo Province, where her friend and peer Todor Zhivkov later came. In the following months, he lived there without a job but supported Maleev by participating in amateur theatrical productions. As their cohabitation by civil marriage caused dissatisfaction in the village, in April 1939 they married in Pavlikeni. Mara was more intellectually and culturally developed compared to the village boy T. Zhivkov and he had to try to keep up with her in the area of education.