Mustafa M. KRESO 

MUSTAFA KRESO, son of MEHMED, born on April 5, 1914, in Mostar, a carpenter and pre-war activist of the workers’ movement. He joined the Battalion in the autumn of 1941, becoming a fighter. He was killed in Dramiševo near Nevesinje in June 1942* during a battle against the Chetniks.

From the memories of Branko Popadić, a comrade from the Mostar Battalion:

“Novica and Vaso Glogovac, along with 20 other villagers who were former partisans from the village of Dramiševa (…), deceitfully disarmed and tied up 12 fighters (from Mostar) who were part of a partisan squad in Dramiševa. On June 4, 1942, the captured fighters were taken to the edge of the village, where they were shot and thrown into a lime pit. These were young men, mostly workers and students, all members of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) and the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (SKOJ), namely: Alikalfić Ibro Duje, a worker from Mostar, fighter Džafebegović, Hadžiomerović Muhamed, a worker from Mostar, Kosjerina Branko, an official from Mostar, Kljako Omer, a worker from Mostar, Skikić Salem, a worker from Mostar, Stipić Tomo, a worker from Mostar, Šarić Hido, a student from Mostar, Šehović Alija, a worker from Mostar, and Kreso Mustafa, a worker from Mostar. Thus, they killed 19 fighters in Dramiševa alone…”

According to the testimony of Enver Ćemalović:

“In the afternoon, around 4 o’clock, Jovan Glogovac arrived in the village of Kruševljane and told us that in Dramiševa and Zaborani, many communists and Montenegrins had been killed, and that 12 fighters from Mostar, who were held in the basement of his house, had been disarmed. He offered to have Commander Ranko Ivančević of the gendarmerie barracks send ten men to take custody of the prisoners and hand them over to the Italians in Nevesinje. Since the villagers rejected this proposal, Jovan returned to Dramiševa. Upon Jovan’s return to the village, a Chetnik council was convened under the leadership of Novica Glogovac, who decided to kill the disarmed fighters. Under the cover of darkness, the Chetniks took the prisoners, led them to the outskirts of the village, and executed them.”

*According to the source “Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945,” the surname is Kreso. In earlier documentation, it was also recorded as Krešo, which was incorrect. Additionally, the year of death is 1942.