Mariola Sirakova - New General Megathread for the 15th of August 2023
Born 1904 - Kilifarevo, Bulgaria, died May 28th 1925 - Belovo, Bulgaria.
Born in Kilifarevo, Bulgaria on 14th August 1904, the student-actress Mariola Sirakova belonged to a well-off family. She revolted from an early age against her social background and became an anarchist communist when she went to the Girls High School at Tarnovo in 1919.
She regularly took part in secret anarchist meetings.
She began a relationship with another Bulgarian anarchist, Gueorgui Cheitanov. She associated with other important anarchists like Petar Maznev, Georgi Simeonov Popov, and others. In her frre time, she acted in the Orpheus Theatre Company in Kilifarevo.
In 1922-23 she studied in Pleven. She often hid wanted anarchists like Vassil Popov and Valko Shankov
In 1923 a military coup led to the butchery of 35,000 workers and peasants. The armed resistance that followed ended with the bomb attack by the Communist Party on Sofia cathedral which was aimed at the country's elite. A massive campaign of repression was then unleashed by the fascists and military against the revolutionary movement.
Mariola was arrested by the police, and brutally beaten. In June 1924 she returned to Kilifarevo. She was arrested again, but soon released. She gave support to the Kilifarevo cheta (armed guerilla unit), bringing them food, medicine and clothes and caring for the wounded.
Special police detachments were set up to hunt Cheitanov down. All the guerrillas united into a single detachment, being forced to disperse towards the end of May. Cheitanov and Mariola Sirakova, were caught in an ambush and arrested. They were taken to Belovo railway station and shot with 12 other prisoners on May 28th June 1925.
Busted out an easy 36km today, though much of it was steeply uphill. The landscape is now borderline tropical and I find myself surrounded by palm fronds and eucalyptus trees. Itโs a long way from the vinyards of La Rioja or the vast Meseta desert.
I have to say though that the magic is gone post-Santiago. Thereโs no sense of community or adventure anymore. I feel like Iโm running an errand, checking a box for the benefit of completion. Which is exactly what Iโm doing lol so I really canโt complain. I guess itโs nice to ring out a couple more nights in the albergues and a few dozen bonus kilometers in this wonderful country. Iโm a hiker, I love hiking. And as a thru-hiker there was never any shot that I was going to skip the Camino Finisterre. If I canโt 100% a game then I donโt want to play it.
This has been a good way to decompress as I transition back to ordinary life. But right now Iโm not thinking about my job. Iโm thinking about this beautiful weather, my perfect blister-free feet, and how grateful I am to have just one more day ahead of me.