Voivode Rumena

Rumena Georgieva Pavlova was a renowned Bulgarian female hajduk of the mid-nineteenth century who operated in the Osogovo region. She was born around 1829 in the village of Gyueshevo, at Ramna Niva, on the road between Kyustendil and Skopje. She came from a farming family: her father Georgi and grandfather Pavle farmed but also engaged in banditry and for a time served as mountain-pass guards.

At fourteen, Rumena was married to Georgi Shopo, with whom she had a son named Andon. She attempted to join Ilyo the Voivode's detachment in Gyueshevo, but this led to imprisonment and being suspended upside down by the Turks.

In 1858, Rumena killed a Turk who attacked her and subsequently formed her own detachment in Osogovo. She gathered about fifteen people and took an oath at Osogovo Monastery. Rumena engaged in active hajduk operations, killing oppressors and expanding her network of supporters, including Sarakatsani and Turks.

Despite internal problems within the detachment, including love affairs and divisions, Rumena Georgieva continued the struggle against Turkish violence. Her fate after the detachment disbanded is the subject of different accounts. One holds that she was killed in 1862 following betrayal by some of its members, while other reports suggest she survived and settled in Austria-Hungary, where she lived for the rest of her life.

Rumena Georgieva Pavlova was made an honorary citizen of Kyustendil in 1972. An Antarctic glacier bears her name: Rumyana the Voivode Glacier. In 2017 the film "Voivode", recounting Rumena's life, premiered.