Yane Sandanski (18 May 1872 – 22 April 1915)

Yane Sandanski is one of the most famous and beloved fighters for the liberation of Macedonia, glorified in many songs, hero of tens of stories about his great heroic deeds, that people continue to tell even today. He was born on 18 May 1872 in the small village of Vlahi, situated on the western slopes of the Pirin mountain. In April 1901, he formed his first fighting group, beginning his almost 15-year-long revolutionary activity. After the death of Gotze Delchev, he became one of the voivodes of VMRO. In 1902, Yane Sandanski and a couple of his brothers-in-arms kidnapped the Protestant missionary Ellen Stone and asked for a 14-500-Turkish-lira ransom, initiating the so-called Ms. Stone Affair. Although they were pursued, they managed to get the ransom and used the money to buy weapons for their revolutionary fight. Ms. Stone was released and later on she read a series of lectures in America about the Macedonian cause. Sandanski was killed on 22 April 1915 in Pirin during a quarrel with another revolutionary group. He was buried 200 m away from the famous Rozhen monastery, and the following words are inscribed in his tombstone: “To live is to fight. The slave – for freedom, the free man – for perfection.”