brochure “Partizanski spomenik u Mostaru” (1980)
book “Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945.”
another document or proof of the memorial stone (e.g., a photograph).
Mirko P. KONJEVOD
NIKOLA MIRKO KONJEVOD ŠKAVO, son of PERO, born on March 24, 1924, in Mostar, worker, football player for “Velež,” member of SKOJ (League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia) since 1941, joined the Battalion in July 1943. Fighter, captured at Kamena near Mostar in July 1943, and executed at Ovojci near Mostar.
He was remembered as a “strong and tough guy” who tried to protect his wounded comrade from beatings in prison by taking them himself. According to one testimony:
“The captured comrades were placed by the Germans in the former Civil School, on the upper floor. Dževad Vrgora, upon seeing his father, called him over and threw him a list of captured comrades, which was delivered to the Local Committee. Work began on organizing their rescue, for which a group of young people was responsible. They managed to sneak a stone wrapped in paper into the room of the captured comrades, with a rope tied around it. On the paper was a message to lower the rope at dusk and they would tie a string to it, which they would then pull into the room and use to descend and escape. When Drago Palavestra lowered the rope, a German inside the room on the first floor noticed it and raised the alarm. The Germans stormed into our comrades’ room and asked who lowered the rope. Drago immediately spoke up: ‘It was me!’ They started beating Drago, who was physically weak, and then Mirko Konjevod Škavo jumped forward and shouted: ‘He’s lying, it was I who lowered the rope!’ The Germans left Drago and continued beating Mirko, who was a strong and tough guy. During interrogations, all the comrades were brutally beaten, but none of them revealed anyone in the city or their comrades and families ‘on the canal’ through which they escaped to Dubrave. They endured all the torture until their execution and hanging.”
Mirko’s mother, Bosiljka-Bosa Konjevod, was arrested and taken to the Stara Gradiška concentration camp because her “son became a partisan.”
Ćemalović, Enver (1986): Mostarski bataljon, Mostar; http://rsdvelezmostar.blogspot.com/p/fk-velez.html ; Konjhodžić, Mahmud (1981): “Mostarke”: fragmenti o revolucionarnoj djelatnosti i patriotskoj opredjeljenosti žena Mostara, o njihovoj borbi za slobodu i socijalizam, Opštinski odbor SUBNOR-a Mostar; https://www.portalnovosti.com/mostarke-otpor-u-zicama ; grupa autora: Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945.
Photo of the memorial plaque: S. Demirović (2018), photo of the fallen fighter: “Partizanski spomenik u Mostaru” (1980.)
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