Voivode Donka Ushlinova

Donka Bogdanova, also known as Donka Komitkata, was a Bulgarian revolutionary and military figure who actively participated in the struggle of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation.

Born in 1885 in the village of Smilevo in western Macedonia's Mijak region, then part of the Ottoman Empire, she married Stavri Hristov from the village of Lera in the Bitola district at the age of fifteen. In late August 1902, with the help of her sister-in-law, Donka and her husband killed the local tyrant Dzheleb Redzho Sulyov. The three then fled into the forest, where they joined the detachment of the Resen voivode Slaveyko Arsov. Thus Donka became involved in the struggle to liberate Macedonia from Ottoman rule.

During the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, she participated in nearly twenty battles in the Bitola Revolutionary District. After the uprising she moved to Bulgaria through Serbia and settled in Varna, where she began her studies. During the First and Second Balkan Wars, Donka Ushlinova was the only female volunteer in the Macedonian-Adrianople Volunteer Corps and served in the Second Company of the Eighth Kostur Battalion. She took part in many battles, distinguishing herself through heroism and receiving several Orders of Bravery.

During the First World War, Donka volunteered for the Second Macedonian Infantry Regiment of the Eleventh Division and continued to distinguish herself in battle. After the war she returned to Varna with her husband, received a one-off grant and built a house. She died on 26 June 1937 and was buried with great honours by numerous organisations and institutions represented at her funeral service and graveside.