Rada Noeva Todorova (22 August 1902 – 1987) was a
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
n politician. She was one of the first group of women elected to the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
in 1945.
Biography
Todorova was born in 1902 in the village of
Karavelovo. In 1920 she joined
Komsomol,
[Gergana Mirolyubova Popova (2019]
From the Heroine of Labor to the Mother-Heroine
''3rd International e-Conference on Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences'' and in 1922 became a member of the
Bulgarian Communist Party
The Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP; bg, Българска Комунистическа Партия (БКП), Balgarska komunisticheska partiya (BKP)) was the founding and ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 198 ...
(BCP). After completing high school in
Karlovo
Karlovo ( bg, Карлово ) is a historically important town in central Bulgaria located in a fertile valley along the river Stryama at the southern foot of the Balkan Mountains. It is administratively part of Plovdiv Province and has a ...
, she became a teacher in Karavelovo. Having collaborated with the BCP's military organisation, she was arrested in 1925 and sentenced to twelve years in prison.
[ She was released in 1932,][ and became a member of the Plovdiv district committee of the BCP. She served on the party's central committee from 1936 to 1937. In 1941 she was interred in the St Nichola labour camp,][ but escaped and became organisational secretary of the Plovdiv branch of the BCP. The organisation was uncovered in 1942 and she was arrested and sentenced to life in prison.
Between 1944 and 1945 Todorova was a member of the first chamber of the People's Court, which tried royal officials and government ministers. She became a member of the national assembly of the Fatherland Front in 1944. She also served as chair of the Committee of Bulgarian Women, and was a member of the ]Women's International Democratic Federation
Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) is an international organization with the stated goal of working for women's rights. It was established in 1945 and was most active during the Cold War. It initially focussed on anti-fascism, worl ...
from 1947 to 1987.[ She was a candidate in the 1945 parliamentary elections, the first in which women could stand, and was elected to the National Assembly, becoming one of the first group of women in parliament.][Mart Martin (2000) The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics, pp53–54] Between 1947 and 1950 she served as Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare.[ From 1954 to 1990 she was a member of the BCP central committee, and from 1958 to 1971 she was a member of the .
A member of the National Committee for the Defence of Peace, Todorova also edited the ' magazine.][ In 1964 she was awarded the Hero of Socialist Labour and in 1982 was made a ]Hero of the People's Republic of Bulgaria
The Hero of the People's Republic of Bulgaria ( bg, Герой на Народна република България) was awarded to Bulgarian and foreign citizens for merits in defending Bulgaria and other countries allied to Bulgaria. Establis ...
in 1982. She was also awarded the Order of Georgi Dimitrov
The Order of Georgi Dimitrov (or Order of Georgy Dimitrov, bg, Орден Георги Димитров) was the highest award of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. It was instituted on 17 June 1950 and awarded to Bulgarians and foreigners for out ...
four times. She died in 1987.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Todorova, Rada
1902 births
Bulgarian schoolteachers
Bulgarian educators
Bulgarian women educators
Bulgarian Communist Party politicians
20th-century Bulgarian women politicians
Members of the National Assembly (Bulgaria)
Heroes of Socialist Labour
Heroes of the People's Republic of Bulgaria
1987 deaths
Women's International Democratic Federation people