- Ecaterina Teodoroiu
Ecaterina Teodoroiu (
January 15 1894 -September 3 1917 ), born Cătălina Toderoiu, was a Romanian woman who fought and died inWorld War I , and is regarded as aheroine ofRomania .In Romanian historiography, Ecaterina Teodoroiu is placed in the context of gendered experience of the Great War on the Eastern Front, on the same pedestal as Queen Maria of Romania.
She was born in the village of Vădeni (nowadays part of
Târgu Jiu ), in the historical region ofOltenia , in Southern Romania. After studying for 4 years in Vădeni and Târgu Jiu and graduating from the Girls' School inBucharest , she was to became a teacher when the Romanian Kingdom entered World War I on the Entente side, in 1916.In October 1916, Ecaterina joined the
Romanian Army during the first Jiu battle when GeneralIon Dragalina 's 1st Army repulsed the 9th German Army offensive. A Scouts' member, she had initially worked as a nurse but she subsequently decided to become a front-line soldier, being deeply impressed by the patriotism of the wounded and by the death of her brother Nicolae (Sergeant in the Romanian Army). It was an unusual decision for a woman of that epoch, so she was sent to the front rather reluctantly. However, soon she proved her worthiness as a symbol and as a soldier. She was taken prisoner but managed to escape by killing two, or perhaps three German soldiers. In November, she was wounded and hospitalized, but came back to the front where she was soon decorated, advanced in rank to "Sublocotenent" (Second Lieutenant) and given the command of a 25-manplatoon .For her bravery she was awarded the
Military Virtue Medal , 1st Class.On
September 3 ,1917 (August 22 Old Style), she was killed in theBattle of Mărăşeşti (inVrancea County ), where she was hit in the chest by German machine gun fire. According to some accounts, her last words before dying were: "Forward, men, I'm still with you!"She was buried in the city center of
Târgu Jiu , and her grave is honored by a monument erected in 1936 byMiliţa Petraşcu .References
*Bucur, Maria "Between the Mother of the Wounded and the Virgin of Jiu: Romanian Women and the Gender of Heroism during the Great War" Journal of Women's History - 12, 2, (2000), pp. 30-56, The Johns Hopkins University Press
*Constantin Kiriţescu, "Istoria războiului pentru întregirea României: 1916-1919", 1922External links
*ro icon [http://www.mariromani.ro/personaj.php?id=100 Ecaterina Teodoroiu's biography on www.mariromani.ro]
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