Natalija Neti Munk

Natalija Neti Munk (1864-1924) was a Serbian humanitarian worker, volunteer nurse and decorated war hero. Born Natalija Tajtačak in Belgrade, the daughter of a poor craftsman, she first volunteered as a nurse at the age of twenty during the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885 and went on to serve in the wars Serbia fought up to and including the First World War. When that war began she volunteered again and kept working even after catching typhus in 1914. During the retreat of the Serbian army she gathered supplies without help and set up a military hospital in Kruševac, and under the occupation she was repeatedly imprisoned and twice charged with collecting aid for Serbian irregulars. Afterwards she sat on the governing board of the Jewish Women's Society, the League of War Volunteers and the Serbian Red Cross, and her honours included the Medal of the Red Cross, the Cross of Mercy and the Karadjordje's Star with Swords. She died in Belgrade on 8 April 1924.