Stjepan S. ŠULENTIĆ 

STJEPAN ŠULENTIĆ, also known as ŠTEFO or ŠULE, son of STJEPAN, born on June 3, 1914, in Mostar, student, member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) since 1938, and a football player for FC “Velež”. A comrade of Dr. Safet Mujić, he worked on organizing the uprising. He joined the People’s Liberation War in December 1941, in the Mostar (Konjic) battalion. He was killed as a company political commissar during the Chetnik coup in June 1942, in an assault from an encircled school in the village of Bijela near Konjic. During the fight, he was the “soul of resistance, a man who boosted the morale of the defenders, encouraging them to persevere until dark when they had already agreed to launch a breakout” … “Then we heard the words of Stjepan Šulentić: ‘We are aware of the ideals and goals for which we set out to fight, and the betrayal of these traitors and servants of the occupiers should not shake us. We have support from Borci and Glavatičevo’… ‘Šulentić, shot in the chest after leaving the school, fell and, in his dying breath, shouted to the fighters: ‘They killed me, comrades, go forward!’“

During the hours-long battles, “… the Chetniks repeatedly called on our comrades to surrender because there was no escape for them. Our comrades responded with gunfire, and an unequal fight began, which lasted the entire day on June 15. A connection was established between about twenty comrades who were on the ground floor and about ten comrades who were on the upper floor by breaking through the ceiling. Stjepan Šulentić led the defense. They occupied all the windows, and a group that was in the attic could successfully observe and fight against the Chetniks. In the first darkness, about thirty comrades, led by Šule, launched an assault with the goal of breaking the encirclement. In the assault, the comrades Stjepan Šulentić, Harno Taslaman, Hivza Brkić, Avdo Bošnjak, and Avdo Vejzović heroically fell. Later, the surviving comrades told me about Šule’s courageous behavior in the most dramatic moments, how he held his final meeting with them, and how he prepared them to break through the encirclement.“

Mensur Seferović presented the siege and breakthrough in Bijela in detail in the book “Rascvjeti bratstva”, p. 50.

One comrade remembered Stjepan Šulentić in the following way:

“The most prominent political figure in the company was Stjepan Šulentić Šula. He was a law student, well-educated, very humble and noble. Tirelessly, he explained and interpreted the goals of our struggle, not only to the fighters but also to the people he encountered in the villages. As I was the leader of the SKOJ in the company, I often had conversations with him as a party leader, informing him about the work of the SKOJ executive committee and the issues that arose in the relationships among the youth. He taught and advised me on how to work, especially in the new conditions, compared to the work of the SKOJ in the earlier urban illegal conditions in Mostar. He insisted that SKOJ members work with the rural youth to increase and strengthen the organization. Especially since the SKOJ organization was predominantly composed of working-class and student youth. Even for some inappropriate behavior or quarrels that occurred among people, especially the young ones, he had understanding and patience. Šula loved all people, and for him, there was no such thing as a bad person.”

According to the archives of Radmilo Braca Andrić, the remains of Stjepan Šulentić were transferred and buried in the Partisan Memorial Cemetery in Mostar.