Kostadina Rusinska
| Kostadina Rusinska | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1880 Ohrid |
| Died | 1932 |
| Cause of death | Pneomonia |
| Nationality | Macedonian |
| Occupation | teacher |
| Known for | Revolution and women's rights |
| Children | four |
Kostadina Rusinska or Kostadina Bojadjeva; Bojadjeva nasteva rusinska (1880 – 1932) was a Macedonian teacher, feminist and revolutionary
Life
Rusinska was born in Ohrid in 1880 when she was called Kostadina Bojadjeva. She was the only child and she attended both primary and secondary school. Kostadina's family were Christians so they had no rights within the Ottoman empire. Somewhere around 1900 she started to teach at the local primary school for Bulgarians. She joined the socialist Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization and by 1901 she was the head of the woman's section. She held this position until the start of 1904. The women's section had a previous history as it had existed as The Assumption society from 1885 and it had only recently merged. The socialists attracted women members as they were in favour of women's rights. A local leader spoke up at meetings to confirm that revolution would also bring women's equality. She was able to make political connections.[1]
Local female teachers including Poliksena Poppanova and Bojadjeva helped found a hospital at the house used by Metody Patchev who had recently died fighting the Ottomans. They would care for wounded fighters at his house. The Ottoman soldiers discovered the hospital but they could find no charges against the teachers. The teachers were held, interrogated, badly beaten and released. The hospital continued to operate and the local mayor arranged for free milk to assist them.[1]
In 1902 Rusinska married Nikola Rusinov. He had been the leader who had spoken up for equal rights for women. He was also a member who had military training.[2] Rusinov took part in the unsuccessful Ilenden Rising.[2] They were not arrested, but moved to Bulgaria where Rusinska returned to teaching in the village of Skrvena. They had three children who they named after flowers. The Balkan Wars morphed into the First World War and whilst her husband volunteered to fight in Malesevo, she again taught children, now in Berovo, until 1918.[1]
The end of the war did not achieve their political ambitions and in 1920 her husband supported a communist candidate which made that they had to return to Bulgaria in 1921. Here they lived in poverty and illness. Her husband worked as a carpenter whilst she taught and coped with pneumonia. Their fourth child died just after birth. Their daughter Roza died after years of tuberculosis when she was seventeen. Rusinska pneumonia could not be treated as doctors were unaffordable.[1]
Rusinska died in 1932 from the pneumonia which she had suffered from since before her fourth child was born and starvation. Only her husband and eldest daughter survived.[1] Her husband has a statue to his memory.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Francisca de Haan; Krasimira Daskalova; Anna Loutfi (2006). Biographical Dictionary of Women's Movements and Feminisms in Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe: 19th and 20th Centuries. Central European University Press. pp. 66–69. ISBN 978-963-7326-39-4.
- 1 2 Undercroft. "Нова Зора - Независим национален седмичник". www.novazora.net. Retrieved 2017-04-24.