by Albena Dimitrova

There are women who go through life silently, without making too much fuss. There are women who comfort easily and rely on men to protect them. Bulgarian women are not like that and here is the true tale of an extraordinary lady: Ekaterina Karavelova, a teacher, translator, women’s rights activist and a founder of many charitable events.  

Ekaterina was born on 21^st of October, 1860 in the Bulgarian city Rousse, while Bulgaria was still ruled by the Ottomans. When she was 10 her aunt took her to Russia, so that she could study there and live in the house of Gen. Lermontov and his wife, an aristocrat from St. Petersburg. Of course, studying in an elite school benefited her knowledge, but most importantly she learned manners while living with an aristocratic family.

After 8 years of studying there, Ekaterina returned to Bulgaria in 1878, just a few months prior to Bulgaria’s Liberation. The young woman started working in Rousse and for only 1 year she did fabulous work as a teacher.

While Ekaterina studied in Moscow, she got to know Petko Karavelov, her future spouse. They met again in Rousse and in 1879 they got engaged. The next year Petko was elected to be a Prime-Minister, so they had to leave for the capital – Sofia. There, Ekaterina became his secretary and helped him a lot.

Probably one of her most remarkable qualities in her characteristic was her patience and being able to calm down the people in Sofia while a city named Slivnitza, which is close to Sofia, was being bombed. She was one of the few back then who didn’t get scared, it was just the opposite. Ekaterina was even described as ‘the only man’ in Sofia as she went outside to restore peace to the citizens, because she strongly believed in the Bulgarian army.

During the Balkan wars Ekaterina Karavelova served as Chief Nurse at the Military School. During World War I she took care of the wounded and the sick. As the war neared its end, she left for Russia to look for support among influential military circles there, after Bulgaria had ended up among the defeated in the conflict. There are even rumors that she had spoken with Rasputin, so that she could influence the Russian emperor.

Ekaterina had many initiatives about women’s rights. After the Ilinden Uprising in Bulgaria, she founded a women’s committee, with the aim of liberating the women who fought from their imprisonment in Turkey. Furthermore, she took part in the up following conference on this issue in London on 28^th of March, 1904. In 1919 on behalf of the Bulgarian Women’s Union she mailed a protest note to the Great Powers against the humiliating for Bulgaria clauses of the Neuilly Treaty. Ekaterina Karavelova was chairperson of the Bulgarian section at the International Women’s League for Peace and Freedom. During World War II she contributed into the cause of saving Bulgaria’s 50,000 Jews from the concentration camps.

She also left mark in the Bulgarian literature. In 1935 she was chosen as chair of the Union of the Bulgarian writers. She wrote political feuilletons, literary criticism, translations. As a translator she used Russian, French and German, so she translated into Bulgarian literary wor from Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Hugo, Maupassant, Flaubert, Dickens and others.

As every kind-hearted person, devoted to charitable causes for her country and people, her life took a tragic point. After Battenberg had left Bulgaria, Karavelov resigned from his position on 1^st of November 1886. Petko and some of his followers were arrested in 1887, because of protests in Rousse, Ekaterina has to go around European ambassadors in Sofia, searching for help for the imprisoned and it worked out.

In 1891 Karavelov was accused of  Minister Belchev’s assassination. He was sentenced and imprisoned in the infamous Black mosque, a prison which nowadays is restored as a church. Stambolov was still mad at Ekaterina for her bravery and being able to rescue the prisoners, so he put her under home arrest and the next year she had to face the court for treason. She handled these obstacles and both she and Petko were freed, but in 1903 Petko Karavelov died unexpectedly.

In her marriage, Ekaterina was a mother of 3 daughters. The first one - Radka died, while she was still a child, the second one – Viola died after her spouse disappeared mysteriously and the third one – Lora, who was a wife of the legendary Bulgarian poet Peio Yavorov, committeded suicide.

Ekaterina was heartbroken, but still managed to move on. She died on 1^st of April, 1947 and was buried right next to her husband in the yard of the same church he had been imprisoned. There graves are there today, reminding people of the extraordinary lives they had and the heritage they left. 

Even after all the tragical events thet happened in Ekaterina’s life she was and still is one of the most important women in Bulgarian modern history. Everything she has done for her country, citizens and family could only teach us how a person could use their power and influence in a country in the best possible way. She fought bravely for her believes, odds were never in her favor as she had to pay the highest prices, but still she never gave up on her country and people.  

Sources:

Konstantinova, D. (2010, October 20). 150th birth anniversary of Ekaterina Karavelova. Life. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://bnr.bg/en/post/100113065/150th-birth-anniversary-of-ekaterina-karavelova

Димитрова, О. С., Стамболиев, О. О., Ляскова, О. Ф., Маркова, О. Х., & Хюсеин, О. П. (2022, June 7). Трагичната, но велика съдба на Екатерина Каравелова. mila.bg. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.mila.bg/article/7724723

Цанева, Ц. (n.d.). Екатерина Каравелова - една силна жена в крак с времето си. Hera.bg - -. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.hera.bg/s.php?n=6108