Ecaterina Teodoroiu

Who was Ecaterina Teodoroiu?

Ecaterina Teodoroiu was a Romanian woman who fought and died in World War I, and is regarded as a heroine of Romania.

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, in the historical region of Oltenia, in Southern Romania. After studying for 4 years in Vădeni and Târgu Jiu and graduating from the Girls' School in Bucharest, 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 General Ion 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. 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 and given the command of a 25-man platoon.