Darinka F. BITANGA 

DARINKA BITANGA, née BOJČIĆ, daughter of PETAR, born in Mostar on October 25, 1891. Homemaker. Wife of the well-known Mostar communist Rade Bitanga, leader of the movement in Herzegovina after the death of Gojko Vuković, and mother of skoj members and activists Neđo and Neda. A pre-war activist and political worker who “read Gorky’s ‘Mother’ to hundreds of women before the war and gave lectures on women and their struggle for equality and rights. She participated in the labor movement and cultural-artistic societies alongside her husband, but she herself was not a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ). Arrested at home by the Germans “while kneading bread,” as a hostage due to the interrupted telephone line of the German army, two days after the incident, on November 18, 1943. (The Germans ordered the arrest of several Mostar residents suspected of being members of the NOP. It was rumored in Mostar at the time that there was no sabotage and that the cable was cut by a “German military kitchen with a chimney (which) got stuck on a wire and thus disrupted communication between German units in the city.”) Publicly hanged on November 19, 1943, with her hands tied behind her back, alongside four other members of the NOP: Mujo Selimhodžić Babić, Božo Skočajić, Ekrem Ćurić, and Toma Kljujić. A monument was erected in their permanent memory near the Health Center in Mostar, as well as a memorial plaque at the site of their hanging.

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

The police Ustasha chief, Mato Roko, wrote a report on November 26, 1943, about the incident:

“On November 16, 1943, in the morning, an unknown perpetrator cut the telegraph cables of the German armed forces on Dr. Starčevića Street, specifically at the railway crossing (at that time, the railway passed through the city center in front of the Gymnasium, note). The investigation into this matter was conducted by the German military authorities. Since this act was obviously an act of sabotage committed by communist individuals, the General Command of the Fifth Gorski Corps in Mostar decided to publicly hang five individuals, one of whom was someone close to the partisans in the woods. Based on that decision, the following individuals from Mostar were hanged this morning on Ustaška Street, in front of the Okružni Ured building: Božo Skočajić, of Orthodox faith; Ekrem Ćurić, of Islamic faith; Mujo Babić, of Islamic faith; Darinka Bitanga, of Roman Catholic faith; and Tomo Kljujić, of Orthodox faith, originally from Metković.” (M. Konjhodžić, Mostarke, p. 251)

Darinka was described as “unusually determined and courageous woman, energetic and daring,” and “highly respected and loved wherever she appeared,” and that she died “on the gallows without a tear or a word.”