Mustafa I. PAŠIĆ 

MUSTAFA MUJA I. PAŠIĆ, born on October 16, 1906, in Mostar, a locksmith and a football player for Velež. A member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) since 1925, Secretary of the Regional Committee for Herzegovina. A seasoned proletarian fighter, he spent seven years as a political prisoner in the prisons of the former Yugoslavia. Arrested in 1929, he was sentenced to five years of hard labor by the State Court for the Protection of the State in Belgrade, which was extended by another two years in Lepoglava. Secretary of the Mostar Municipal Committee of the KPJ in 1397, Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the KPJ for Bosnia and Herzegovina from summer 1938 to autumn 1939, and later a member. Delegate at the Fifth Territorial Conference of the KPJ in October 1940 in Dubrava near Zagreb. From October 1940, Secretary of the Regional Committee of the KPJ for Herzegovina. Political commissar of the Regional Military Committee for Herzegovina and one of the organizers of the uprising in Herzegovina.

When the first partisan unit in Mostar went into action and was crushed by the Ustaše, he and Dr. Safet Mujić were expelled from the party. According to M. Seferović, Tempo insisted that both of them be executed, which Avdo Humo did not want to carry out (…), because “in Mostar, he could not find a communist who would execute this punishment on the most prominent and beloved communists in the city.” At the beginning of the war, Pašić was sent to work in Podveležje for mobilization preparations, conducting discussions with the locals and holding conferences in villages, organizing people’s committees. In the Battalion since December 1941. Despite being expelled from the party, he rose to a leadership position as a company commissar. He was killed in Ribari near Konjic in June 1942 in a battle against the Chetniks.

Comrades remember Muja Pašić: “At the scheduled conferences, as much as I followed the presentation and content of Pašić’s speeches, I paid even more attention to his directness and ease in establishing contact with the attending villagers. His witty responses to the questions asked were interesting. Pašić’s conferences held were my first lessons in political work in the village, for which I sincerely thanked him” (…).

“With a large lambskin cap on his head, adorned with a five-pointed star, he appeared to many villagers as a Russian partisan. With each passing day, they loved him more and more for his calm and patient explanation of the goals of our struggle.”

“He was a passionate communist, extraordinarily hardworking and lively. During his time in prison, Pašić learned a lot and felt an even greater need and thirst for education. He became deeply interested in Marxist theory and culture in general.”

Avdo Humo said of him, “Mujo Pašić spent 7 years in prison, convicted as a Skoj leader in Mostar. From the moment he was released until these days of the uprising, he managed to become the most popular worker in Mostar; the entire communist movement considered him one of the most responsible individuals.”

Regarding Pašić’s death:

“After crossing the Neretva, the group encountered Chetniks who opened fire. Taking advantageous cover, Pašić constantly peeked out to observe the Chetniks. In one moment, when he rose above the cover, fatally wounded, he exclaimed, ‘They got me, Fazlija!’ Fazlija relayed Pašić’s death to Johan Španac, who simply could not believe it and went to see Pašić himself. He quickly moved and, upon reaching him, leaned over to confirm if he was dead, thus making himself an easy target. A shot was fired, and Johan, mortally wounded, fell over Pašić without a word.”