Voivode Lefter

Lazar Kirov Uzunov, known as Lefter Voyvoda, was born in the village of Gabarevo in the Kazanlak district in 1795. From an early age he displayed a strong sense of justice and opposed the official authorities. In 1821 he left his homeland and fled via Constantinople to Mount Athos. There he formed a band of about two hundred men and joined the Filiki Eteria, the leading force in the Greek War of Independence. His detachment was placed under the uprising's high command and sent by ship to Crete to participate in its liberation. Lefter Voyvoda was so spirited that he even gave his horse wine to make it as spirited as himself. In the fighting near Chania (Canea), he was seriously wounded and died of his injuries several days later in 1823, aged only twenty-eight.

Lazar Uzunov, Lefter Voyvoda's grandson, was a Bulgarian volunteer in the Sixth Battalion during the Russo-Turkish War. For his participation in the fighting at Shipka in 1877, he received the Cross of Saint George for bravery. Despite the Russian command's offer of a place at the General Staff Academy in Saint Petersburg, Lazar Kirov Uzunov declined and began a peaceful life after the war.

Lazar Kirov Uzunov is honoured both in Bulgaria and in Greece, where he is recognised as a national hero. His name is inscribed on a monument in his honour, alongside other famous figures such as Lord George Byron.