Ekaterina Panitsa

Ekaterina Panitsa (1884–1967), born as Ekaterina Ivanova Izmirlieva, was a Bulgarian schoolteacher and the wife of the revolutionary Todor Panitsa. She was also part of the Macedonian revolutionary movement.

Life Ekaterina Ivanova Izmirlieva was born in Kukush (modern Kilkis, Greece), Ottoman Empire, in 1884. Ekaterina was part of the big Izmirliev family, from which revolutionaries and intellectuals were part of. Her parents were Ivan Izmirliev and Rushka Izmirlieva (born Shishkova). Her father was a teacher. Izmirlieva studied in Kukush and then continued to study in Thessaloniki. She graduated from the Bulgarian Girls' High School of Thessaloniki in the academic year 1899/1900 as part of the tenth generation of students. Afterwards, she worked as a teacher in the village of Prosechen in the Drama district in 1901, Thessaloniki in 1902,

As Todor was often persecuted by the Ottoman authorities for being a member of IMRO and by the Bulgarian authorities as the killer of Sarafov and Garvanov, they were able to settle down in a house in Nevrokop only after the Balkan Wars. However, they soon had to move to Drama, and then to Sofia until the move to Vienna. After the assassination of her husband, Ekaterina remained in Vienna for another 14 years, after which she returned to Sofia. Her memoirs were published in 1963. She died in Sofia in 1967. No photographs of her exist.