Memorial plaque of Petko Vlaev

Petko Vlaev was an active anti-fascist. He performed risky courier functions between the centre and the Party's underground district committee. He liaised with and hid prominent underground Party functionaries and participants in the armed struggle against fascism, including Tsviatko Radoynov and Avram Stoyanov. Again at the same time, by decision of the District Committee of the Bulgarian Workers' Party, he headed subversive and sabotage work in the Kazanlak district. After a failure in the Kazanlak party organization in March 1942, he was arrested and tortured in the police. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, his stay there being a unique school for his final ideological growth. As soon as he was released from prison on September 8, 1944, he was actively involved in strengthening the people's power, in the organs of the People's Militia, and then on the economic front. Petko Vlaev was mayor of Kazanlak from April 1959 to June 1962. During his reign serious capital investments were made in construction, especially housing, public buildings and childcare facilities were built. Street lighting and a street sewerage network were laid. In 1959, under Vlaev, the Tsviatko Radoynov Museum was established, and in 1960 the Yuri Gagarin Kindergarten opened its doors. In 1961, on January 8, the newly built hospital building was opened, in which new wards were opened. After the elections in February 1962, the villages of Ovoshtnik, Cherganovo and Koprinka joined the Kazanlak Municipal People's Council.