brochure “Partizanski spomenik u Mostaru” (1980)
book “Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945.”
another document or proof of the memorial stone (e.g., a photograph).
Šerif J. BURIĆ
ŠERIF BURIĆ, son of JUSUF, born on January 1, 1923* in Prenj near Stolac. An electrician (studied under engineer Levi), attended the Industrial School, lived and worked in Mostar. Before the war, he played the tambourine at dances in the Workers’ Home. A member of the League of Communist Youth (SKOJ) since 1940 and Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) since 1941. Experienced courier of the Battalion Headquarters and guide of groups of volunteers from Mostar to the detachment. According to one source, “on special assignments, he passed very skillfully past the occupying Chetnik crews and garrisons, went from Mostar to Boračko jezero and Prenj, led illegal workers through his native Dubrava, looked death in the eye, but never wavered.” As a “particularly trustworthy and reliable fighter”, he was designated as a courier for the KPJ Regional Committee for Herzegovina and a companion of its members, so he often traveled from the free territory to Mostar and back to the Command headquarters. A veteran, company commissar, killed in Kula near Konjic in February 1944 in a battle against the Chetniks, “simply cut down by a machine-gun burst”.
He was described as “coming from a patriotic and libertarian family, very sociable and communicative”, later “a skilled courier” and “a fearless and brave illegal, hardened fighter and communist”. A street in Mostar is named after Šerif Burić.
EXCERPT FROM THE LITERATURE, about Šerif’s death:
“Šerif Burić and Salko Mrkonjić, workers from Mostar, encountered a group of Chetniks while fleeing, who managed to kill them and strip them of their clothes and shoes, leaving them half-naked in the snow. Burić was cut across the waist by a Chetnik machine gun barrage. The life of a fearless and cunning courier, who often faced death but always found a way out for himself and those he led through enemy ambushes, came to an end. Šerif was a communist who instilled faith in victory in the fighters with his optimism and cheerfulness.”
* According to one source, he was born in 1921 in the family of Jusuf and Šaha Burić.
Belović, Anđelko V. (1989):”Pali za slobodu”, borci NOR-a i žrtve fašističkog terora stolačkog kraja 1941-1945. godine; Ćemalović, Enver (1986): Mostarski bataljon, Mostar; grupa autora (1986): Hercegovina u NOB 4. dio, Beograd ; Komnenović, Danilo; Kreso, Muharem (1979): 29. hercegovačka divizija, IZ, Beograd; Seferović, Mensur: Mostarski kolopleti, edicija “Mostar u borbi za slobodu”, knjiga 8, Mostar ; grupa autora: Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945.
Photo of the memorial plaque: S. Demirović (2018.). Photo of the fallen fighter: article by Mišo Marić in “Sloboda”: “Opanci”.
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