Dževad H. VRGORA 

DŽEVAD VRGORA, son of HASAN, born on February 15, 1924, in Mostar, a student of the Gymnasium. Member of SKOJ since 1941, in the People’s Liberation War (NOV i POJ) since July 1943, in the Mostar Youth Detachment, and from July 1943, in the Mostar Battalion, a fighter. He was arrested on Kamena near Mostar in July 1943, along with a group of partisans, taken to prison, from where he managed to escape with “parental gold and money along with two other comrades: Asad Bajrović and Omer Kljako. His younger brother Zijad Vrgora was killed in a attack at Kamena.

In 1944, he was sent on a mission with Aco Dobrić and Esad Čerkić, according to which all three had to join the Domobran forces. They were arrested on the night of September 12th to 13th, 1944, in Zagreb, together with Mate Šokčević and nine other Domobrani soldiers when they attempted to organize the transfer of personnel and materials to the Partisans. According to family members of Čerkić, they were betrayed by a cook who informed the Ustashas about their intentions. All those arrested were executed in the Dotrščina Park on the same night, without trial, and buried in a mass grave. Their names were published as a warning on posters that were plastered all over Zagreb. An announcement published in the Ustasha newspaper “Hrvatski narod” stated that a total of eleven young men “attempted during the night of September 12th to 13th, 1944, to persuade a part of their unit to desert and join the enemy. As they failed in that, they attempted to join rebel bands on their own, but were caught on the way. A brief procedure was conducted against these individuals, and after their ranks were established, they were executed.”

Dževad’s name was recorded on a memorial plaque at the Mostar Gymnasium after the war. The plaque disappeared without a trace during the war events of 1992-1995. His name is also listed among the victims on the virtual museum of Dotrščina.

EXCERPTS FROM LITERATURE:

About SKOJ (Communist Youth League) days: “The house, both in its location and position, was an ideal gathering place for underground activists. Isolated, without neighbors, on one side it bordered a park and the Tax Administration building – Slavko Prstojević’s father was the caretaker there, and Slavko, his son, along with Brane Kovačević, Ibro and Dževad Vrgora, Todor Skiba, and several other SKOJ members deployed around the house, formed the armed security for the gathering.”

About the dramatic moments of Dževad’s arrest and the rescue of him and two other individuals, as well as the deaths of the others:

“The captured comrades were placed by the Germans on the upper floor of the former Elementary School. Dževad Vrgora, upon seeing his father, called out to him and threw him a list of the captured comrades, which was delivered to the Local Committee. Work began on organizing their rescue, with a group of young people being assigned to this task. They managed to throw a stone wrapped in paper into the room of the captured comrades, with a rope wound around it. The paper contained a message to lower the rope at dusk and tie it to another rope, which they would pull into the room and then use to descend and escape. When Drago Palavestra lowered the rope, a German from the room on the first floor noticed it and raised the alarm. The Germans stormed into the room of our comrades and asked who had lowered the rope. Drago immediately stepped forward and said, ‘It was me!’ They immediately began to beat Drago, who was physically weak, so Mirko Konjevod Skava, seeing that they would kill him, jumped out and shouted, ‘He’s lying, I lowered the rope!’ The Germans left Drago and continued to beat Mirko, who was a strong and sturdy young man.”

“After a few days, 14 captured comrades were taken and executed in Ovojci near Lištice: MLADEN BALORDA, a worker from Mostar, ŠAĆIR ČELEBIĆ, a worker from Mostar, MUZAFER DERONJA, a worker from Mostar, ALIJA DRAČE, a worker from Mostar, MARTIN DRVLJANOVČAN, a musician from Zagorje in Croatia. IBRAHIM ĐUKIĆ, a student from Mostar, OMER ĐUKIĆ, a worker from Mostar, ABDUSELAM ELEZOVlĆ, a worker from Mostar, SMAJO IBRULJ, a student from Mostar, NAFIK KAZAZIĆ, a student from Mostar, MIRKO KONJEVOD, a worker from Mostar, KRUNO MILIĆEVIĆ, a worker from Mostar, OSMAN NOŽIĆ, a worker from Mostar, and ŠERIF SELIMOVIĆ, a student from Mostar. Asad Bajrović and Dževad Vrgora (who were executed by the Ustasha in Zagreb in 1944 for organizing the escape of a group of Domobrani soldiers to the Partisans) were released after being ransomed with their fathers’ money and gold. They also released Omer Kljako because his father, along with the fathers of Bajrović and Vrgora, paid for his release.”