{"id":11830,"date":"2023-05-16T19:47:34","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T18:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/partizan\/mustafa-a-balic\/"},"modified":"2025-02-19T01:56:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T01:56:06","slug":"mustafa-a-balic","status":"publish","type":"partizan","link":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/partizan\/mustafa-a-balic\/","title":{"rendered":"Mustafa A. BALI\u0106\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

MUSTAFA MUJA BALI\u0106, son of ABDULAH, born in 1922 in Mostar, a student at the Gymnasium. He is the older brother of the well-known Mostar bridge diver Emir Bali\u0107 and the younger brother of Mirza Bali\u0107<\/a>. He became a member of the League of Communist Youth (SKOJ) in 1940 and joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) in 1941, participating in the illegal resistance movement in Mostar from 1941. In one operation, “Mustafa-Mujo Bali\u0107 and Mehmed-Meho Husni\u0107 brought a suitcase full of bombs and ammunition from the western camp, dug a trench, and hid the weapons and ammunition.<\/em>” On another occasion, he was part of a group of young people who distributed food and clothing taken from a military warehouse to impoverished families in the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He joined the People’s Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments in March 1942 in eastern Herzegovina, working in the agitprop department of the Operational Staff and later in the 2nd Assault Battalion, where he served as a party leader. According to Enver \u0106emalovi\u0107, he was sent back to Mostar “due to night blindness.” In Mostar, he continued his illegal activities and was assigned to party work in Sarajevo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was arrested by the Usta\u0161e in Sarajevo in 1942 during a breach among the illegal activists. Gestapo agents and Usta\u0161e recognized him in the city. According to one source, he was arrested on August 16, 1942, along with Seid Bukovac<\/a> (sources disagree about the location, as the arrest is mentioned to have taken place at his older brother Mirza’s apartment, on the street, or in a city caf\u00e9). He was taken to the infamous Beledija prison, where he was tortured and mistreated. In the same year, he was taken to Jasenovac. Emir Bali\u0107 remembered that when his brother visited him with their mother in the prison in Sarajevo when he was six years old, he “didn’t have a single fingernail on his hands.” According to a Usta\u0161e document, we learn that Mustafa was “born in 1922 in Mostar, son of Abdulah and Zahida n\u00e9e \u0106emalovi\u0107, unmarried, student, sent to the camp for a period of 3 years on the proposal of the Protective Order Service for the city of Sarajevo and v.\u017e. Vrhbosna; an active member of the Communist organization SKOJ<\/em>.” The family learned about Mustafa’s death as follows: “according to the account of the late Emerik Blum<\/em> (also a prisoner, ed.), he was in good health so that in 1945, during the breakout of the remaining prisoners of Jasenovac, he couldn’t participate because he was seriously ill. According to some information, all the sick were killed, including our Mustafa<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Beledija, on October 27, 1942<\/em>, Mustafa wrote a letter to his brother Mirza<\/a>, which Mirza never received because he was also arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Dear my brother, (\u2026) The time of my departure from Sarajevo is approaching, and at the same time, the end of my life\u2026 Inform Husnija that his brother has passed away, giving his blood, life, and youth, and that I loved him very much. Thousands of kisses to my sisters Mirzija and Silvija – may they remember me sometimes when everyone else has forgotten me. I send my last kisses to Bekica, \u0160iras, and Emir. Greetings from a pained heart to Hiba and Auntie. I could hardly cry before, but now I cry as I write this letter. I don’t pity myself at all; it had to be this way\u2026 Farewell, I love you all very much, your Mujo.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was taken to the Jasenovac camp where he was killed in 1945. According to tradition, the two brothers met in Jasenovac on the day they were killed (“both disappeared in the fire on the same day”).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding Mujo’s arrest, the following is recorded from the statement of Munib Bukovac, the father of Seid Bukovac, on June 28, 1945, published as “Report of the City Commission for the Investigation of War Crimes No. 360”:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Mr. Munib Bukovac, son of the late Saliha, aged 59, Muslim, postman, born in Ljubu\u0161ki, residing in Mostar, father of four children, provides the following statement for the record:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had a son named Seid, born in 1922, who graduated from the Teachers’ School in Mostar and lived with me until June 1942. He was appointed as an official of the Cooperative Union in Sarajevo. Since 1935, he had been working for the cause of the movement. Because of that, he was arrested several times by the police authorities of the Ustasha regime in 1941 and 1942 until he was finally arrested on August 16, 1942, by the Sarajevo police. I visited him in prison, and on that occasion, he told me that he strongly believed that Zahida Sefi\u0107eva Ozerova had reported him to the Sarajevo police. According to him, at the time of his arrest, when he was walking with Mujo Bali\u0107, Mirza Ba\u0161agi\u0107, Salko Had\u017eiosmanovi\u0107, Ragib Lizdar, and Huso Teperi\u0107, Zahida encountered them and immediately signaled to some agents who approached them and arrested my son Seid and Mujo Bali\u0107, while the other three managed to escape immediately. During this incident, Zahida disappeared somewhere. Based on this, I suspect Zahida, and I can testify to the mentioned individuals, of whom only Salko Had\u017eiosmanovi\u0107 is currently in Mostar, while Huso Teperi\u0107 is in Sarajevo, and Ba\u0161agi\u0107 is somewhere in the People’s Liberation War. The whereabouts of Mujo Bali\u0107 are unknown, and Ragib Dizdar resides in Stolac.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mustafa’s name was recorded on a memorial plaque<\/a> at Mostar Gymnasium after the war. The plaque disappeared without a trace during the war events of 1992-1995.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MUSTAFA MUJA BALI\u0106, son of ABDULAH, born in 1922 in Mostar, a student at the Gymnasium. He is the older brother of the well-known Mostar bridge diver Emir Bali\u0107 and the younger brother of Mirza Bali\u0107. He became a member of the League of Communist Youth (SKOJ) in 1940 and joined the Communist Party of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9910,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[314,320,328,309,307],"tags":[317,330,349,341,351],"prezime":[343],"class_list":["post-11830","partizan","type-partizan","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-18-25-g-en","category-logori-en","category-poginuli-1945-en","category-poginuli-u-hr-en","category-jasenovac-en","tag-bataljon-en","tag-foto-en","tag-pisma-iz-logora-en","tag-gimnazija-u-mostaru-en","tag-balic-en","prezime-b-en","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"ptb_metabox":{"ptb_partizan_izvori":"

Halilbegovi\u0107, Nihad (2006): Bo\u0161njaci u jasenova\u010dkom logoru<\/a>, Sarajevo; Konjhod\u017ei\u0107, Mahmud (1981): \u201cMostarke\u201d<\/a>: fragmenti o revolucionarnoj djelatnosti i patriotskoj opredjeljenosti \u017eena Mostara, o njihovoj borbi za slobodu i socijalizam, Op\u0161tinski odbor SUBNOR-a Mostar ; grupa autora: Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945. ; https:\/\/saff.ba\/mustafa-je-iz-zatvora-beledija-pisao-bratu-mirzi\/<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Photos<\/em>: Halilbegovi\u0107, Nihad (2006): Bo\u0161njaci u jasenova\u010dkom logoru;\u00a0<\/a> http:\/\/istorijskenovine.unilib.rs\/view\/index.html#panel:pp|issue:UB_00064_19510726|page:3<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Photo of the memorial plaque: S. Demirovi\u0107<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>","ptb_partizan_datum_rodzenja":"(1922. Mostar \u2013 1945. Jasenovac)","ptb_partizan_godina":"23","ptb_partizan_galerija_1":{"url":["http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Mirza-i-Mutafa-Balic-Borozan-DJordje-spomen-ploce-1965-KD-Miletic.jpg","http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/balic-mustafa-2.jpg","http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/braca-Balic.jpg","http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/abdulah-balic-radnja.jpeg","http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/izvidjaci.jpg","http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Voz-1938.jpg","http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/kampovanje2.jpg","http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/kampovanje.jpg","http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/na-plazi-Miletic.jpg","http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/gimnazija-39.jpg","http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/clanak-Mostar-1951.jpg"],"link":["","","","","","","","","","",""],"title":["Mirza and Mustafa Bali\u0107, \u0110or\u0111e Borozan, memorial plaque 1965, archives of K.D. Mileti\u0107","","","Mustafa's father's (had\u017ei-Abdulah Bali\u0107) shop","Mujo Bali\u0107, first on the right, with boy and girl scouts. Archives of K.D. Mileti\u0107","Young scouts on a trip in 1938, Archives of K.D. Mileti\u0107.","on a camping trip before the war. Sister Mirzija is also in the picture. Archives of K.D. Mileti\u0107","on a camping trip before the war. Archives of K.D. Mileti\u0107","on the beach in Mostar in 1942. Sister Mirzija is also in the picture. Archives of K.D. Mileti\u0107","Memorial plaque to students and professors of the Gymnasium in Mostar that was removed in 1992-95 war ","article from \"Borba\" 26.7.1951. about SKOJ youth from Mostar"],"description":["","","","","","","","","","",""]},"ptb_partizan_poruka_":"Do you have more information about this fighter? Share<\/a> your stories and photographs. Let's keep the memory alive!","ptb_partizan_ploca":{"1":"http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Balic-Mustafa-IMG_3333-rotated.jpg","2":"http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Balic-Mustafa-IMG_3333-rotated.jpg"},"ptb_partizan_spisak_info":["partizan_spisak_info_1","partizan_spisak_info_2","partizan_spisak_info_3"]},"ptb_taxonomy":{"category":[{"term_id":314,"name":"18-25 y\/o","slug":"18-25-g-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":314,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":415,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":320,"name":"concentration camps","slug":"logori-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":320,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":89,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":328,"name":"died in 1945","slug":"poginuli-1945-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":328,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":197,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":309,"name":"died in HR","slug":"poginuli-u-hr-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":309,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":114,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":307,"name":"Jasenovac","slug":"jasenovac-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":307,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":52,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[{"term_id":317,"name":"Fallen fighters of the Mostar Battalion.","slug":"bataljon-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":317,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"[gallery link=\"file\" size=\"medium\" ids=\"7114,7116,7122\"]\r\n\r\nMostar Battalion was formed as the \"Konji\u010dki\" in September 1941. Until the formation of the 13th Herzegovina Brigade in May 1944, 827 fighters passed through the Battalion, and 445 of them perished, including 211 from Mostar. Of the 86 women, 43 were killed. Mostar residents also fought in many other units of the NOVJ (People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia) and among the ranks of the activists of the National Liberation War in Mostar and other cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina... According to the records of the organization SUBNOR Mostar, every third citizen was an activist of the National Liberation War, 670 fighters were killed, 1517 were victims of fascist terror, and 206 were civilian war victims. D\u017eemil \u0160arac, article \"Sa Mostarcima\" (\"With the People from Mostar\"), Hercegovina No. 9, p. 221.\r\n\r\n\"And we were all young. Those of us who were 17, 18 years old, some seemed old even though they were not older than 25. The ones over 30 were rare. There were girls and boys with different characteristics and temperaments, robust and calm, talkative and silent, recklessly brave and rational, ordinary and above-average, semi-literate and university-educated, workers and highly skilled craftsmen, high school students and university students, skilled singers and those who couldn't carry a tune, jokers and serious-minded individuals. From all our nations and religions: Muslims, Croats, Serbs, Jews, Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, atheists, and semi-atheists. Some were from straight from Mostar and others from the surrounding locations, from Konjic and outside Konjic.\" (Hercegovina Magazine No. 7, p. 238)\r\n\r\nGroups of new fighters arrived from Mostar every 10-15 days, and the Unit quickly grew into a solid military force. The guides for the groups from Mostar were Mehmed Arap, Vasa Maslo, Serif Buri\u0107, Husa Orman, Vojo Ivani\u0161evi\u0107, and Pero Krajina, who were among the bravest and most resourceful fighters. The groups regularly brought not only weapons but also medical supplies, sugar for the hospital, writing materials, large quantities of paper, books taken from the National Library (which formed the library at Borci), and other supplies for the needs of the Unit. (Source: https:\/\/www.cidom.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Hercegovina-u-NOB-1.pdf<\/u><\/a>)\r\n\r\nAfter the war, a street in Mostar was named after the Mostar Battalion.","parent":0,"count":240,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":330,"name":"foto","slug":"foto-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":330,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":288,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":349,"name":"Letters from the concentration camps","slug":"pisma-iz-logora-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":349,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"What does one write about from the concentration camp? Some letters are seemingly carefree, some reveal fear, while in others prisoners try to encourage their family. They were written and sent under surveillance, except for Fatima Brki\u0107's confession letter, which left the camp through secret channels and told the truth about the concentration camp Jasenovac.","parent":0,"count":5,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":341,"name":"Mostar's High school and its many fallen","slug":"gimnazija-u-mostaru-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":341,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"Three professors and nearly 50 students of the most famous high school\u00a0 in Mostar (located in the orange building on one of the main squares) gave their lives in the People's Liberation War (NOB). Read about them here.","parent":0,"count":54,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":351,"name":"The Bali\u0107 brothers","slug":"balic-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":351,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"Mirza and Mustafa Bali\u0107, the two older brothers of Emir Bali\u0107, legendary diver from the Old Bridge in Mostar, were killed in Jasenovac during World War II. All other family members were active participants in the National Liberation Movement (NOP). The third brother, Husnija Bali\u0107, born in Mostar in 1925, was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and taken to the lead mine in Trep\u010da, from where he escaped and joined the Albanian partisans. He returned to Mostar in 1946 with an officer's rank. Two older sisters of Emir, Mirzija Latifi\u0107 (born Bali\u0107) and Silva Mileti\u0107 (born Bali\u0107), were involved in the resistance movement in Mostar from 1941 to 1943. Their mother, Safija, also aided the illegal activities of the Mostar resistance movement throughout the war. The father, Had\u017ei-Abdulah Bali\u0107, operated the main headquarters for the \"partisan underground\" in Mostar.\r\n\r\nSource and literature: Halilbegovi\u0107, Nihad (2006): Bo\u0161njaci u jasenova\u010dkom logoru, Sarajevo.","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"}],"prezime":[{"term_id":343,"name":"B","slug":"b-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":343,"taxonomy":"prezime","description":"","parent":0,"count":80,"filter":"raw"}]},"ptb_featured_image":{"url":"http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Mustafa-Balic.jpg","title":"Mustafa Bali\u0107","caption":""},"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/partizan\/11830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/partizan"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/partizan"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/partizan\/11830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15361,"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/partizan\/11830\/revisions\/15361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11830"},{"taxonomy":"prezime","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prezime?post=11830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}