“The First Clash in Mostar” at the Vuković house in 1941

On July 31, 1941, Communist Party members were meeting in the house of Gojko Vuković when it was raided by Ustasha police. Gojko’s wife Zlatka (1893-1941) threw a bomb to create an escape opportunity for the participants of the meeting (this event is known as “the first explosion in Mostar”). She was arrested and executed on the same day, along with Ahmed Sefić. Zlatka’s son Slobodan (1919-1941) managed to escape to the village of Rodoč but was captured and executed the following day, August 1, along with Jusuf Čevro. Zlatka’s tenants who happened to be on the location at the time, Dejan and Vera Popović, sympathizers of the People’s Liberation Movement, were also executed. Mustafa Husković and Mahmut Đikić managed to escape. After the war, the city of Mostar rebuilt Gojko Vuković’s house and turned it into a memorial house with a museum exhibition about the life and work of this family. In the courtyard, there used to be a bust of Gojko Vuković, which, according to eyewitnesses, was thrown into the Neretva River during the 1990s war. A memorial plaque still remains on the house wall.