brochure “Partizanski spomenik u Mostaru” (1980)
book “Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945.”
another document or proof of the memorial stone (e.g., a photograph).
Gavrilo A. ILIĆ
GAVRILO GAŠO ILIĆ, son of ALEKSA, born on November 16, 1922, in Nevesinje*, an electrician at the Coal Mine in Mostar. A member of the Communist Youth League (SKOJ) of the Workers’ Youth in the Mine since 1938, and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) since 1940. He was the secretary of the SKOJ unit in the Mine in 1940, then the secretary of the local committee of SKOJ for Mostar, and the secretary of the District Committee of SKOJ for Mostar, as well as a member of the District Committee of KPJ for Mostar. He was arrested by the Italians in May 1942 and taken to the Mamula camp. From the camp, he wrote to his mother Anika, asking her to prepare “money, in lire, clothes, pants, soap, a blouse, dental supplies, and non-perishable food (bacon, cheese, bread)”. After Mamula, he was transferred to the Visco di Udine camp in Italy. In the male section of this camp, a party organization was established, and Zijo served as its secretary. The SKOJ units organized protest actions, uprisings, material printing, and managed to establish a connection with the Communist Party of Italy (KPI) in Udine and the camp for Slovenian fighters nearby. “The women observed the situation in the neighboring (male) camp, and as soon as they noticed Zijo Ševa, Husnija Kurt, Gašo Ilić, and others gathered near the wire fence, they knew that some action was being prepared because the men mostly discussed such matters at the wire fence”. After Italy’s surrender, the prisoners were released. He moved to Slovenia and joined the Slovenian partisans in the “Miko Bračić” brigade. He served as the assistant political commissar of the brigade and died on Pohorje in 1944.
A street in Mostar is named after Gašo Ilić.
Ćemalović, Enver (1986): Mostarski bataljon, Mostar; grupa autora (1986): Hercegovina u NOB 4. dio, Beograd; Seferović, Mensur (1957): „Tajna partijske ćelije“, Sarajevo; Seferović, Mensur: Mostarski kolopleti, edicija “Mostar u borbi za slobodu”, knjiga 8, Mostar; grupa autora: Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945.
Photo of the memorial plaque: S. Demirović.
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