The portrait of Ecaterina Teodoroiu, a heroine of Romania who fought and died in World War I (WWI), will appear on the new RON 20 banknote the Romanian central bank BNR will launch in 2020.

“The Board of Directors of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) decided, during the meeting on July 30, to launch, during 2020, a banknote that will feature the portrait of Ecaterina Teodoroiu, the heroine fallen in battle during World War I. The banknote will have a nominal value of RON 20. This nominal value has been previously used in the history of Romanian banknote issues and is among those in circulation in the euro area,” BNR said in a press release.

The central bank also explained that choosing Ecaterina Teodoroiu’s image for the RON 20 banknote has a double significance: it shows BNR’s support for strengthening gender equality and also marks, once again, the centenary of Great Romania, “honoring the image of a hero of the Great War of Reunification.”

The exact date of the launch and additional information will be released soon, BNR also said.

Born in the village of Vadeni (nowadays a neighborhood of the city of Targu Jiu) in 1894, Ecaterina Teodoroiu wanted to become a teacher but the Romanian Kingdom entered World War I on the Allied side and she started working as a nurse. Later, after the death of her brother Nicolae, who died on the front, she replaced him and became a soldier. It was an unusual decision for a woman at the time but she proved her worthiness as a soldier. She died fighting, during the battles in Marasesti, being hit by a machine gun.

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(Photo source: LCVA/Dreamstime.com)