Hamdija M. BRKIĆ

HAMDIJA BRKIĆ HAMDA, son of MUHAMED, born on September 12, 1921, in Mostar. Student of agronomy in Sarajevo, member of the Communist Youth League (SKOJ) since 1938 (secretary of the high school party cell in Mostar) and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) since 1939. Arrested by the Italians on October 10, 1941, in Bijelo Polje, where he went to attend a meeting (a local resident reported to the gendarmes that communists were gathering there, and the gendarmes arrested the participants of the meeting). Due to injuries sustained in the cell, he was taken to the prison hospital once a week for treatment and dressing. He managed to escape in a SKOJ action: “when he returned from the hospital for the second time, two young comrades rode their bicycles full speed into the carabinieri, and all three swiftly jumped into an orchard.” He joined the Battalion at the beginning of 1942. When there was a danger to Hamdija and his younger brother Ahmed, both of them went with a group of volunteers towards Lake Boračko. As the Youth Leader of the Battalion and a fighter in the Supporting Unit of the Headquarters of the 10th Herzegovinian Brigade, he was killed in Rataj village, Miljevina, during the Battle of Sutjeska on June 13, 1943. According to eyewitnesses, “a bomb fatally hit Professor Danilo Vukajlović and his student Hamdija Brkić,” and Hamdija was “seriously wounded in both legs. He took his own life so as not to fall into the hands of the enemy.”

In the People’s Liberation War (NOB), his brothers and sister were killed: Hivzija Brkić, Ahmet Brkić, and Fatima Brkić Velika. According to some sources, the SKOJ member Tanja Peško, who tragically perished, was in love with Hamdija.

Hamdija’s name was recorded on the memorial plaque in the Mostar Gymnasium after the war, as documented on the official website. The plaque disappeared without a trace during the war events of 1992-1995. A street in Mostar is named after the brothers Brkić.

EXCERPT FROM LITERATURE:

“In Jabuca, our column of wounded received nurse Ksena Zimović-Janković. On the day when we escaped from Rata, she, along with others, experienced heavy bombing by our Tenth Herzegovinian Brigade. She tells us about the casualties of many comrades. From one bombing, Mostar residents Niza Sarić and Hamdija Brkić were killed. The bomb fatally wounded Danilo Vukajlović, taking both of his legs. Many comrades were seriously wounded, including Osman-Osa Grebo. Near there, Commander Nina Maraković of the Seventh Banija Brigade also perished. Her account saddened me, and in my thoughts, I was transported to the many events that preceded these sacrifices. I remembered my friendship with Danilo and his departure to the Nevesinje region to join the partisans. I recalled the day and night battles and the fearless actions that Mostar’s youth led against the occupiers and their collaborators from the very first days of the occupation. Four Šarić brothers and four Brkić brothers had already fallen in this great heroic struggle. All the youth, including Osa Grebo, belonged to it. Now, together with them, their professor dies in the same place and for the same idea.”