brochure “Partizanski spomenik u Mostaru” (1980)
book “Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945.”
another document or proof of the memorial stone (e.g., a photograph).
Rade G. VUKOVIĆ
RADE VUKOVIĆ, son of GOJKO, born in 1926* in Mostar, the youngest son of the well-known Mostar revolutionaries Gojko and Zlatka Vuković. His father Gojko died from fall from the roof of a house he was repairing in 1934. His mother Zlatka and brother Slobodan were killed by the Ustasha in Mostar in early August 1941, and in August 1942, his eldest brother Mladen was killed on Romanija. His sister Radojka was captured by the Ustasha as a partisan and sent to Jasenovac, where she was killed in 1943. Rade marched into liberated Mostar on February 14, 1945, and returned to the empty family home in Donja Mahala. Although the division headquarters demanded that he, as the sole surviving member of the family, withdraw from combat units and remain in Mostar, Rade did not accept and continued to participate in liberation operations through the Neretva Valley, towards Konjic and Ivan Mountain. A bomber and, from December 13, 1944, an assistant commissioner of the Youth Squad, consisting of about 70 young fighters. He was killed at Ivan-sedlo near Konjic in March 1945 when he carelessly handled a bomb (according to another source, “awkwardly disassembling a grenade launcher”).
In 1984, the memorial house of Gojko Vuković was opened within the Museum of Herzegovina with a museum exhibition about the life and work of the Vuković family. The ensemble “Mostarske kiše” dedicated the song “Zlatka Vuković” to the Vuković family (lyrics: Mišo Marić, music: Josip Sliško). The children’s home in Mostar was named after Rade Vuković from 1962 to 2000.
EXCERPT FROM LITERATURE:
“Commander of the 2nd platoon Danilo Vukoje and the platoon’s political delegate Rade Vuković, who a day earlier in the battle against the Chetniks, were surrounded with their fighters on an exposed rocky hill in the village of Dubočani. They did not retreat as ordered because they believed that the natural cover allowed them to resist an enemy ten times stronger. The fierce thunder and smoke from the elevated rock formation around which the battle was raging caught the attention of the retreating fighters, and the other two Chetnik platoons, along with members of the battalion staff, halted and dispersed the Chetniks who had surrounded the 2nd platoon. ‘Collectively, we decided: no retreat!’ replied the platoon delegate Rade Vuković to the squad’s commissioner Anđelko Belović when the commissioner rushed to the top of the hill, where several dead Chetniks lay. That’s what Mostar’s SKOJ member Rade, the only surviving member of Gojko Vuković’s family, said…”
*The memorial plaque on the family house states 1930 as the year of birth.
grupa autora: Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945; Seferović, Mensur (1988): Trinaesta Hercegovačka NOU Brigada, Beograd; Seferović, Mensur (1984): Rascvjeti bratstva, “Narodna armija”, Beograd; Deseta Hercegovačka brigada (spisak boraca); grupa autora (1961): Hercegovina u NOB 1. dio, Beograd, Vojno delo; ović, Mensur (1970): Pred očima grada, »Informativni centar Mostar«, nagrada »14. februar« Skupštine opštine Mostar, 1970; http://istorijskenovine.unilib.rs/view/index.html#panel:pp|issue:UB_00064_19520603|article:article587|page:6|block:ComposedBlock46
Photo of the memorial plaque: S. Demirović.
Photos of the family: from the book “Gojko Vuković”
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