brochure “Partizanski spomenik u Mostaru” (1980)
book “Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945.”
another document or proof of the memorial stone (e.g., a photograph).
Salko ĐONKO
SALKO SALČO ĐONKO, son of MUSTAFA, born on May 4, 1925* in Mostar, locksmith, member of SKOJ since 1942. Together with his mother Fata, he actively supported the antifascist movement. In the Battalion since January 1944, fighter, killed in Daževici near Kreševo in April 1944.
Enver Ćemalović recorded the following about Salko and his mother Fata:
“Halfway from Dobrča to Brasin, I ordered a rest, and immediately afterward, the roaring of aircraft engines could be heard. Around 200 Allied aircraft, bombers, accompanied by fighters, passed by. They were bombing Mostar and the airport. The anti-aircraft artillery fired at the planes, and from what we saw, they managed to shoot down two of them. Parachute canopies appeared, and the crews of the hit planes descended into the Neretva Valley and towards Mostarsko Blato. Salko Salčo Đonko was sitting next to me, and it never crossed our minds that his mother Fata would be killed in that bombing, which we were informed of by couriers during our next departure to Mostar. Fata lived in Pothum, in a lonely house in Haremski Sokak. We were neighbors. The house was an ideal base that could be easily secured with two guards at the entrances of the alley, and one could escape from it through the gardens and Radobolja. Fata was left without her husband very early and fought for the lives of her two children, Duda and Salko, by working in the homes of wealthier families and occasionally at the Tobacco Factory. Her daughter Duda died early of tuberculosis, and Salko started learning a trade. In the summer of 1941, I introduced Fata to work for the National Liberation War (NOP). Her house was turned into a meeting place for us communists and a storage facility for weapons and various materials for the partisans. Salko became an inseparable comrade of my stepbrother Ekrem, and both later worked in the organization of SKOJ and at the mill. He was ready to fulfill any task. Milan Matić, a bakery worker from the village of Veljaka near Ljubuški, who was involved in illegal activities, lived with Fata. Milan often brought ammunition, sometimes even hand grenades, from the Sjeverni camp where he worked. He kept guard during our party meetings. Fata’s image as a fighter’s woman, with her courage, natural intelligence, dedication, and motherly care for all of us, served as an inspiration for my work and finding meaning in every sacrifice I made in the National Liberation War. Fata Đonko remained a wonderful memory for all of us who had contact with her, as a revolutionary woman from Mostar, of which there were many in all our neighborhoods in the city.”
Regarding Salko’s death in Deževica, it is recorded: “The Ustaše – members of the Black Legion and the local Ustaše militia – surprised our security forces at the position. Most of them were asleep from exhaustion, and they caused us significant losses. The following individuals were killed: SALKO SALČO ĐONKO, a worker from Mostar, ANTE MATIĆ SOKO, a worker from Mostar, and ILIJA ZUBAC, a peasant from Borci near Konjic.”
* According to the information from the book “Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945.”
Ćemalović, Enver (1986): Mostarski bataljon, Mostar ; grupa autora: Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945.
Photo of the memorial plaque: S. Demirović
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