Imšir I. GIGIĆ 

IMŠIR GIGIĆ, son of IMŠIR, born on July 26, 1886* in Tasovčići near Čapljina. Butcher, lived and worked in Mostar. A veteran revolutionary and activist, pre-war member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ), prominent activist in the labor movement, and one of the organizers of strikes. He was arrested multiple times and sentenced. Arrested in early September 1940 due to the protest general strike in Mostar, which involved over 2,000 workers, all companies and craft workshops, as well as the coal mine, triggered by the ban on the activities of FC “Velež” as a center of progressive ideas. Taken to the Lepoglava prison. According to the book “Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945,” he was released from Lepoglava but was arrested again by the Ustasha in July 1941 in Mostar, taken away, and killed.

There is a recorded memory of demonstrations and the arrest of Imšir Gigić: “The day was unusually beautiful, sunny, and the streets were filled with people. Suddenly, above our heads, above the heads of more than three thousand citizens who had gathered from six streets, banners were unfurled with large letters stating that this restless and agitated crowd demanded an open and decisive fight against the fifth column, better living and working conditions, lower prices, alliance with the Soviet Union and other democratic forces in Europe. I couldn’t manage to extricate myself from the dense ranks of demonstrators. The crowd pushed me to the ‘Pariz’ café, to Imšir Gigić, who, from the fence, in a convulsive zeal, addressed words of struggle to the already heated, noisy crowd of citizens. I was practically dragged through the main street to the cinema, from where I managed to break free and get lost. (…) The next day, the police closed the Workers’ Hall, confiscated the equipment, and arrested thirty communists, who the following day from prison listened to the cheers of several hundred demonstrators, their comrades. Meanwhile, sirens wailed, announcing a workers’ strike in all companies. The city demanded the release of the communists. The police again turned their gun barrels and escorted eighteen communists in three groups to Lepoglava. They also took Imšir Gigić, who, in 1941, along with many comrades, welcomed the Ustasha in prison, and his death (…)”

*According to the source “Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945.”