{"id":12691,"date":"2023-05-14T18:52:56","date_gmt":"2023-05-14T17:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/partizan\/ekrem-a-jusufovic\/"},"modified":"2025-04-30T01:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T00:08:10","slug":"ekrem-a-jusufovic","status":"publish","type":"partizan","link":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/partizan\/ekrem-a-jusufovic\/","title":{"rendered":"Ekrem A. JUSUFOVI\u0106"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

EKREM JUSUFOVI\u0106, son of ALIJA, born on May 23, 1922, in Mostar, a baker, member of the League of Communist Youth (SKOJ) since 1941 and KPJ since 1942, joined the Battalion in September 1941 as a lance corporal. He died in Janjina near Konjic in April 1942, in the company of Ante Zuani\u0107<\/a>‘s platoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excerpt from literature:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When they encountered fierce resistance in Drami\u0161evo on April 8, 1942, the Usta\u0161e forces attacked Janjina and surrounded a platoon of Ante Zuani\u0107. They suddenly swarmed from all sides out of the forest and encircled the house where the platoon was located. It was a single-story rural house covered with planks. The partisans accepted the fight – nine of them against 170 Usta\u0161e soldiers. It was an unequal battle. The platoon positioned themselves in the house and bravely opened fire on the enemy. A fierce battle ensued. The fighters shot through windows, doors, and from the walls under the roof. While the outside was visible, the enemy, met with accurate fire from the partisans, couldn’t approach the house. In that battle, the platoon killed five Usta\u0161e soldiers and wounded several others. However, trouble arose with the darkness. As the darkness advanced, the Usta\u0161e forces began to approach the house. Additionally, the partisans were running out of ammunition. One of the Usta\u0161e militiamen, who was a local resident and familiar with every inch of the surrounding land, took advantage of the darkness and approached the wall, setting the house on fire. The roof and other materials started burning like a torch. The house turned into a blaze. This led to even greater trouble – the fighters started choking on thick smoke. It became increasingly hot and unbearable. The air became so scorching that the defenders felt as if they were under a searing iron. Burnt planks and beams fell on the fighters’ heads, scorching their flesh. Despite this, they continued to heroically fight back and repel all enemy attacks. There was a risk of being burned alive\u2026 Among the nine fighters were Mustafa and Husika Kanja, workers from Mostar. One of them was killed on that occasion, and the other was wounded. Some of the surviving fighters began to contemplate taking their own lives so as not to fall alive into the hands of the enemy. Wounded Kanjo, with only one bullet left in his gun’s chamber, turned towards the enemy and exclaimed, ‘Long live the Communist Party of Yugoslavia! Long live the partisans! Long live the Red Army.’ Then he turned the barrel of the rifle towards himself and pulled the trigger. This had a painful effect on the remaining fighters. They decided to attempt a breakthrough. They no longer had ammunition, so they threw a grenade and jumped out of the window. It was impossible to break through the dense circle of enemy soldiers, and they were overcome. This is what the commander of the gendarmerie station in Bjelimi\u0107 wrote in the aforementioned report: ‘During the fight in Janjina, there was strong resistance from the house where they barricaded themselves, the nine of them, and even when they were called to surrender, they refused to surrender, and when the house was set on fire, they continued to shoot from the house, despite the fire closing in on them. The battle with the partisans in Janjina was one of the most bitter fights that took place on this occasion because the partisans, at the cost of their lives, fought until the last hour, minute, even when half of the roof had collapsed and there was no way out.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They chased the group of seven tied partisans to Bjelimici. When they crossed the Neretva River, Ismet Kreso<\/a> and Hilmija Hakalo<\/a> broke free from the enemy’s grip and jumped into the river, cold and swollen from rain and melting snow. Thanks to the darkness and their swimming skills, they evaded the gunfire. With their hands tied behind their backs, they swam three kilometers down the boulder-filled Neretva to the village of Ladjanice. Exhausted, they emerged on the shore. With one last effort, Ismet managed to reach the village and inform them that Hakalo was left on the shore. The villagers rushed to the Neretva and found him unconscious. He was in tattered clothing, wet, and turning blue. Both of them fell ill for several days, but they saved their lives. (Later on their combat path, both of them died – Hakalo in the Battle of Sutjeska in June 1943, and Kreso in the battles near Jablanica in 1944.) The enemy report also states: “Among these five who remained in our custody are: Leo Stern<\/a>, late Sigmund, a law doctor, a Jew, originally from Sarajevo…, Ekrem Jusufovi\u0107<\/a>, son of Alija, from Mostar, Mehmed Skopljak, son of Avdo from Visoko, Anto Zuani\u0107<\/a>, son of Ante from Rogatica, residing in Mostar, and Fehim Ja\u017ei\u0107, son of the deceased Mehmed, from Sarajevo… As they resisted, their clothes were torn, they were almost naked… During the interrogations, none of them wanted to admit anything…”. The exhausted fighters were executed by the Usta\u0161e on April 10, 1942, in Bjelimici. Ante Zuani\u0107’s tenth fell guarding the brotherhood and freedom. The enemy lived in mortal fear, not only of the determination in battle but also of the brave composition of this partisan unit. Among the slain partisans, the enemy saw together a Serb, a Muslim, a Croat, and a Jew, that is, workers, peasants, intellectuals, and students – all the combat builders of the brotherhood and unity of our peoples. In the report of the commander of the gendarmerie station in Bjelimici, who witnessed the drama, it is also written: “When the situation of the partisans was hopeless, we heard them say in the house: We know why we are dying and why we fought, not one of them wants to die without shouting Death to fascism – Freedom to the people!…”. They lived and fought, and they died – bravely and dignified (…)”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EKREM JUSUFOVI\u0106, son of ALIJA, born on May 23, 1922, in Mostar, a baker, member of the League of Communist Youth (SKOJ) since 1941 and KPJ since 1942, joined the Battalion in September 1941 as a lance corporal. He died in Janjina near Konjic in April 1942, in the company of Ante Zuani\u0107‘s platoon. Excerpt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32676,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[331,316],"tags":[317,330],"prezime":[413],"class_list":["post-12691","partizan","type-partizan","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poginuli-1942-en","category-poginuli-u-bih-en","tag-bataljon-en","tag-foto-en","prezime-j-en","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"ptb_metabox":{"ptb_partizan_izvori":"

\u0106emalovi\u0107, Enver (1986): Mostarski bataljon<\/a>, Mostar; grupa autora (1986): Hercegovina u NOB 4. dio<\/a>, Beograd,\u00a0 Vlatko Lazarevi\u0107, \"Juna\u010dko dr\u017eanje desetine u Janjini\"; grupa autora: Spomenica Mostara 1941-1945.<\/p>\r\n

Photo of the memorial plaque<\/em>: S. Demirovi\u0107 (2018), photo of the fighter: \"Partizanski spomenik u Mostaru\"<\/p>","ptb_partizan_datum_rodzenja":"(1922. Mostar \u2013 1942. Janjina)","ptb_partizan_godina":"20","ptb_partizan_galerija_1":{"url":["http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Ekrem-Jusufovic.jpg","http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Jusufovic-Ekrem-na-panou.jpg"],"link":["",""],"title":["Ekrem Jusufovi\u0107","Ekrem Jusufovi\u0107, featured on a post-war poster in honour of fallen fighters. Archives of K.D. Mileti\u0107"],"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\/Jusufovic-Ekrem-IMG_3084-rotated.jpg","2":"http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Jusufovic-Ekrem-IMG_3084-rotated.jpg"},"ptb_partizan_spisak_info":["partizan_spisak_info_1","partizan_spisak_info_2","partizan_spisak_info_3"]},"ptb_taxonomy":{"category":[{"term_id":331,"name":"died in 1942","slug":"poginuli-1942-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":331,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":100,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":316,"name":"died in BiH","slug":"poginuli-u-bih-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":316,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":518,"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"}],"prezime":[{"term_id":413,"name":"J","slug":"j-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":413,"taxonomy":"prezime","description":"","parent":0,"count":20,"filter":"raw"}]},"ptb_featured_image":{"url":"http:\/\/partizansko.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Ekrem-Jusufovic-3.jpg","title":"Ekrem Jusufovi\u0107 3","caption":""},"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/partizan\/12691","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":2,"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/partizan\/12691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14705,"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/partizan\/12691\/revisions\/14705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12691"},{"taxonomy":"prezime","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partizansko.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prezime?post=12691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}