Čučuk Stana ( sr-Cyrl, Чучук Стана, "Little Stana") was a

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

female

hajduk A hajduk (, plural of ) is a type of Irregular military, irregular infantry found in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries, especially from Hajdú–Bihar Count ...

, the second wife of

Hajduk Veljko Veljko Petrović ( sr-cyr, Вељко Петровић, ; c. 1780 – 1813), known simply as Hajduk Veljko (Хајдук Вељко, ǎjduːk v̞ɛ̌ːʎkɔ, was one of the '' vojvodas'' (military commanders) of the Serbian Revolutionary force ...

and later married the Greek fighter

Giorgakis Olympios Giorgakis Olympios (; ; ; 1772–1821) was an armatole and military commander during the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. Noted for his activities with the Filiki Eteria in the Danubian Principalities, he is considered to b ...

. She is also a character in Serb epic poetry.

Biography

She was born in 1795, in the village Sikole near

Negotin Negotin ( sr-cyrl, Неготин, ; ) is a town and municipality located in the Bor District of Southern and Eastern Serbia, eastern Serbia. It is situated near the borders between Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria. It is the judicial center of the Bo ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

to a family of Herzegovinian migrants. She had two sisters, Stojna and Stamena and later, a much younger brother Mihailo. Before the brother grew up, being three sisters, they all wore men's clothes out of the house, because they had no adult brother to protect them. She got her nickname "Čučuk" (from Turkish ''küçük'' = ''small'') due to her short stature. She finished school in

Bela Crkva Bela Crkva ( sr-cyrl, Бела Црква, ; ; ; ) is a town and municipality located in the South Banat District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 7,456, while the Bela Crkva municipality has 14,451 ...

. She met

in 1812. The two of them lived together even though he still had another, married wife, as divorce was virtually impossible to obtain at the time in an Orthodox country in serious upheaval, that Serbia was during the

Serbian Revolution The Serbian Revolution ( / ') was a national uprising and constitutional change in Serbia that took place between 1804 and 1835, during which this territory evolved from an Sanjak of Smederevo, Ottoman province into a Revolutionary Serbia, reb ...

. Veljko was killed in 1813 and she went to live in

Pančevo Pančevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Панчево, ; ; ; ; ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the South Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is located on the shores of rivers Timiș (ri ...

. She later married captain and hero of Greek War of Independence

, with whom she moved to

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...

and later

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. They had three children: Milan, Aleksandar, and Jevrosima. When Giorgakis was also killed during the ''Battle of Secu monastery'' in

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

on 23 September 1821 at the beginning of

Greek Revolution The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

and for the sake of their children's security, she moved with them to

Khotyn Khotyn (, ; , ; see #Name, other names) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city in Dnistrovskyi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine, located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi. It hosts the administration of Khotyn urban hromada, one of th ...

, Russia, where other people of the

took refuge. After the liberation of

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Stana with children moved to

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, where she got a small state pension as the widow of the hero Olympios. She died in 1849 or 1850. In 1907 a play was written about her life, and music was composed by

Stevan Hristić Stevan Hristić ( sr-cyr, Стеван Христић; 19 June 1885 – 21 August 1958) was a Serbian composer, conductor, pedagogue, and music writer. A prominent representative of the late romanticist style in Serbian music of the first half ...

. A 1972 Yugoslav TV film "Čučuk Stana" was made based on the play, and she was played by Svetlana Bojković. A book about her life, ''Čučuk Stana, 1795-1849 - žena Hajduk Veljka i grčkog narodnog heroja Georgakisa Olimpiosa'', by Dušica Popović Stojković was published in 1981.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cucuk Stana 1795 births 19th-century deaths 19th-century Serbian nobility Serbian revolutionaries Serbian expatriates in Romania Serbian expatriates in Greece Characters in Serbian epic poetry Year of death uncertain People from Negotin 19th-century Serbian women Women in European warfare Women in 19th-century warfare