Paul H. Popov was born in Bulgaria, being the son of Haralan and Ruth Popov. In July 1948 when he was five, his father, dr. Haralan I. Popov, a remarkable Protestant minister, was brutally taken by the Bulgarian secret police and arrested under false accusations. Paul met his father again 15 years later. Growing without father in communist Bulgaria, Paul suffered many shortages. The family of a condemned “spy” shouldn’t be helped. Her mother, Ruth (a Swedish missionary in Bulgaria) was neither allowed to return to her country nor allowed to work having a very hard time providing for the two young children she was taking care of.
Paul’s family was eventually able to immigrate in her mother’s country when he was 8. In Sweden, Paul decided to serve the humanity and help others who, like his own family, suffered political and religious discrimination and poverty. He studied Political Sciences and Geography in Stockholm University. When Paul’s father was finally set free from communist labor camps, miraculously he was able to join his family in Sweden. Though Paul’s work as journalist was taking him a lot of time, he dedicated every spare moment to help his father in the difficult and dangerous smuggling mission work – he slipped in Bibles beyond the Iron Curtain and took out secret documents. He became indispensable for his father in this ministry. As the activity of the mission increased, it became vital for Paul to join the ministry full time. In 1974, Paul emigrated to Canada where he set up a branch of the organization – Door of Hope Canada. In 1977 he became the international vice-president and when his father retired in 1980, he moved back to Glendale, CA, USA to be the international president of the organization. Paul and his wife Agneta have been married for 50 years and they have two sons and one daughter.