The woman who gave her eye for Freedom, 1941

The woman who gave her eye for Freedom, 1941

Albina Mali-Hočevar was a resistance fighter in Yugoslavia in World War II. Not much is known about her, and many of the sources I read about her don't seem to be creditable or they were poorly written, but here is what I could gather about her. Hočevar's father died when she was young. She dropped out of school in the 3rd grade to help support her family and siblings. In 1941, Germany invaded Yugoslavia, and Hočevar (who was 16 at the time) joined the People's Liberation Movement. She was assigned as a nurse and reportedly cried in frustration as she wanted to fight on the front lines with her comrades. It appears that as the war intensified, Hočevar fought on the front lines and worked as a nurse during different intervals of the war. She found herself getting closer and closer to the action and fought in many different battles and skirmishes. She was badly wounded twice when she was 17 and badly wounded once when she was 18. An account of Hočevar says the following about her character: “The nurse Albina always paid more attention to the wounded than to herself, "said one account of Mali-Hočevar’s brave service. She knew neither fear nor exhaustion while… there were wounded [partisans] to be taken care of.” It is said that she took her nursing duties very seriously. After the war, she was awarded the Yugoslavian Order of the Partisan Star, 3rd class. Much of her history is lost, however, she got involved in communist politics after the war and became a politician. She died in 2001 at the age of 75. This picture of Hočevar became iconic as it shows the scars on her face that show the many injuries she suffered during her service. She also lost an eye at some point during her service, though I could not find out how or if she has a prosthetic glass eye in this picture. The picture also shows the "thousand-yard stare" Hočevar has. This is a gaze that some soldiers have after prolonged exposure to a combat zone, which can be a sign of exhaustion, emotional or mental scarring and trauma.

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