Revolutionary Petar Kunchev

Petar Ivanov Kunchev was born in 1844 in Karlovo, Bulgaria. He was the youngest son in the family of Ivan and Gina Kunchev and a brother of Hristo Kunchev, Vasil Levski and Ana Karaivanova. Petar Kunchev attended the monitorial school in Karlovo and moved to Plovdiv in 1868, living there for several years.

After his brother Vasil Levski's death, Petar Kunchev went to Lovech intending to kill Father Krastyo, but abandoned the plan after being dissuaded by Levski's associates in Lovech. In 1874 he emigrated to Wallachia, where he sought support from Evlogi Georgiev.

In 1876, Petar Kunchev joined Hristo Botev's detachment and participated in its campaign. After Voivode Hristo Botev's death, the detachment scattered, but Petar Kunchev managed to reach Sofia. There he hid in the small house of Hadzhi Stoyana Tsokova for three and a half months before being captured by the Turkish police, from whom he somehow escaped. Following the sultan's amnesty in August 1876, he left Bulgaria with a free-travel pass supplied by Ilin Vidolov. The pass enabled him to travel via Constantinople to Chișinău, where he joined the Bulgarian Volunteer Corps in 1877.

Petar Kunchev fought at Shipka, where he was wounded in the legs. After treatment in Veliko Tarnovo and Kharkiv, he returned to his native Karlovo after the Treaty of San Stefano. There, however, he encountered difficult conditions caused by fighting during the Russo-Turkish War, which had resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Karlovo residents. For a time he struggled to make a living, but by writing to Nayden Gerov for assistance, he gradually improved his circumstances. He was employed as a senior guard.

Having contracted tuberculosis, Petar Kunchev died in the autumn of 1881.