Ecaterina Teodoroiu - legend of the heroine of World

War I

Foto: Ecaterina Teodoroiu, the heroine of Romania in the First World War

Ecaterina Teodoroiu (or Catalina Toderoiu) is a strange presence in our history, one of the few
"officially" distinguished women with the heroine's reputation, among so many other anonymous
heroines who will be perished in battles without their posterity knowing their names and deeds.
Scouting and participant in the First World War, where he was heroically sacrificed in the battle of
Marasesti when he was at the head of an infantry squad of the Romanian Armed Forces.

Cătălina Vasile Toderoiu was born in 1894, Vadeni, today a district in the municipality of Târgu-Jiu,
Romania and died in 1917. Was born in a family of farmers and had another 5 brothers and two
sisters.

He attended primary school at his native village, then studied at the school in Targu Jiu. She later
study at the Romanian-German school in Târgu Jiu, which she graduated in 1909. During this period
her name became Ecaterina Teodoroiu, after subsequent military documents and documents
attesting her education recorded several variants of Lili Toderoiu, Lili Teodoroiu, or other similar
forms.

He was trained for a teaching career, so he attended a gymnasium in Bucharest, then attended a
nursing school graduated in 1916. During this period he came into contact with the first scouts in
Romania, from 1913 is part of the scouting organization called "Shepherd Bucur" cohort led by
Arethia Piteşteanu.

Ecaterina's life is about to change in October 1916 when she was called to Queen Maria in Bucharest,
and on her return to Tirgu Jiu her father was taken prisoner and two of her brothers - one lieutenant
in the 7th Calarasi Regiment and the other lieutenant in the 5th Army Regiment - have died on the
battlefield.
Immediately she finds out that another brother was killed in the fight, and to avenge his lost family,
he chooses to join as a volunteer just in that Gorj regiment to participate in the battles.

On 18 October 1916, after a surprise surge of the enemy, Ecaterina was taken prisoner, but with cold
blood, shot the German sentry who accompanied her, managed to escape with other Romanian
combatants in his situation.

The situation worsens and in November, in the fights of Filiaşi, it is injured by two enemy bullets in
the right foot, and after another nine days, it is again injured on the thighs of busting holes. A period
of treatment followed, first in Craiova, then in Bucharest and Iasi.At the exit of the Ecaterina hospital
she returned to the front, where she cared for the many injured company.

She went to Iaşi, where Queen Mary listened to her, and then ordered that her sleigh with 400 kg of
salt and a few thousand cigarettes for the soldiers be loaded immediately, then went personally to
distribute all this to the companies.

For his merits, he received the Golden Virtue Medal, and on March 16, 1917, at the proposal of the
Secretary of State at the War Department, he was awarded the Second Military Virtue Medal for
"bravery and the devotion that he showed on the battlefield. "

He returned to the front in the summer of 1917. On the evening of August 22, during an attack
triggered by the German Reserve Regiment 40 and rejected by the Romanian troops, Ecaterina
Teodoroiu dies heroically, being shot in the heart while being at the head of the platoon who orders
him as a lieutenant.

Ecaterina Teodoroiu was buried in the village of Fitioneşti in Putna County, and after the war he
became a heroine of Great Romania.

In June 1921, his earthly remnants were moved to Targu Jiu in a mausoleum in the city center.

In 1978 a film about her, entitled "Ecaterina Teodoroiu", directed by Dinu Cocea, after a scenario by
Mihai Opris and Vasile Chiriţă. The main roles were played by actors Stela Furcovici, Ion Lupu, Mihai
Mereuţă, Ion Caramitru, Amza Pellea and Ilarion Ciobanu.