Captain Petko Voivoda (December 6, 1844 – February 2, 1900)

Captain Petko Voivoda is a legendary Bulgarian, who dedicated his life to the fight for the independence of the Bulgarian Thracian lands and their uniting with Bulgaria. He was born in the village of Dogan Hisar, which was back then a part of Western Thrace. Most of the life of Petko Kiryakov has not been unveiled by historians but by the prominent Bulgarian writer Nikolai Haitov, who wrote a novel and a script turned into a TV series, which became a favourite of most Bulgarians. Petko was popular among ethnic Bulgarians, Turks and Greeks because he defended the rights of all poor among them. Part of his efforts was the amazing friendship that he had with Giuseppe Garibaldi. The two met in person in 1866 at the estate of the famous Italian. Garibaldi helped the young Bulgarian to form a squad of 220 volunteers, mainly Italians, which was later joined by other Bulgarian and Greek revolutionaries and went to Crete to lead many battles against the Ottomans. He spent the last years of his life in the city of Varna. Accused of being a Russhophile and an opponent to the policy conducted by Fedinand I and the prime minister Stefan Stambolov, he was arrested and interned on many occasions. This resulted in the aggravation of his health and his early death.