Vera Blagojević ( sr, Вера Благојевић, 16 May 1920 – 18 March 1942) was a Yugoslav medical student and

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she was captured by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

in 1942 and later killed. She was posthumously awarded the

Order of the People's Hero The Order of the People's Hero or the Order of the National Hero ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Orden narodnog heroja, Oрден народног хероја; sl, Red narodnega heroja, mk, Oрден на народен херој, Orden na ...

in 1953.

Early life

Vera Blagojević was born on 16 May 1920 in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

. She was the daughter of lawyer Jovan Blagojević ( sr, Јован Благојевић), who served in the Army during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and housewife Ana Blagojević ( sr, Анa Благојевић). Her father was a Communist supporter. She grew up in

Šabac Šabac (Serbian Cyrillic: Шабац, ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Mačva District in western Serbia. The traditional centre of the fertile Mačva region, Šabac is located on the right banks of the river Sava. , the city p ...

. In 1937, Blagojević helped organise a

student strike Campus protest or student protest is a form of student activism that takes the form of protest at university campuses. Such protests encompass a wide range of activities that indicate student dissatisfaction with a given political or academ ...

in protest of the attitudes of some teachers at the school.

Activism

In 1938, she began studying medicine at the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-b ...

, during which time she joined a revolutionary

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

organisation at the University. In the same year, she joined the

League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia , SKOJ mk, Сојуз на комунистичката младина на Југославија, СКМЈ sl, Zveza komunistične mladine Jugoslavije, ZKMJ , colorcode = red , founded = 1919 , dissolved = 1948 , succeeded by = League of S ...

(SKOJ). She worked for the

League of Communists of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...

(KPJ) and SKOJ in Šabac, and in 1940, she became a member of the KPJ's

Podrinje Podrinje (Serbian Cyrillic: Подриње) is the Slavic name of the Drina river basin, known in English as the Drina Valley. The Drina basin is shared between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, with majority of its territory being located in ...

district committee. After the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941, Blagojević attended

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

protests in Belgrade, and after the closure of the University of Belgrade by the Nazis, she taught medicine to KPJ supporting medical students. She transported illegal KPJ material from Belgrade to Šabac, and also worked for the (NOP), where she worked mainly with female Communists, encouraging women to join the workforce. In June 1941, Blagojević was included on a Šabac police list of 30 most active Communists in the city. Fearing for her safety, Blagojević escaped Šabac and went to

Leshnicë e Poshtme Leshnicë e Poshtme ( ''Kato Lesinitsa'') is a village in the Vlorë County in Albania, adjacent to the Greek-Albanian borders. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Finiq. It is located less than 1 km north-we ...

. In November 1941, the KPJ sent her to the Jadar region.

Arrests and death

In November 1941, the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

, which included the KPJ, were attacked by the

Chetniks The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationa ...

, who were loyal to

Yugoslav government-in-exile The Government of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in Exile ( sh, Vlada Kraljevine Jugoslavije u egzilu / Влада Краљевине Југославије у егзилу) was an official government of Yugoslavia, headed by King Peter II. It evacu ...

. 18 partisans were captured including Blagojević. They were later released, and Blagojević went to

Stolice Stolice ( sr-Cyrl, Столице) is a part of the village Brštica near Krupanj in Serbia. It became known in history as the place where the military-political advising executives of the National liberation movement of Yugoslavia held their se ...

. Blagojević was rearrested by the Chetniks in March 1942 in

Tekeriš Tekeriš () is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Loznica municipality, in the Mačva District. This village has a Serbian ethnic majority and its population numbers 370 people, according to the 2002 census. History Tekeriš is famous b ...

. She was transferred to a camp in

Senjak Senjak ( sr-cyrl, Сењак, ) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia. Located in Savski Venac, one of the three municipalities that constitute the very center of the city, it is an affluent neighborhood containing emba ...

in the outskirts of Belgrade, and was placed in the first barracks, which were designated for those likely to be shot. After refusing to give information, she and 62 others were shot dead on 18 March 1942.

Legacy

In July 1953, Blagojević was posthumously awarded the

by then

President of Yugoslavia The president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, or the president of the Republic for short, was the head of state of that country from 14 January 1953 to 4 May 1980. Josip Broz Tito was the only person to occupy the office. Tito ...

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blagojevic, Vera Politicians from Šabac 1920 births 1942 deaths Women in the Yugoslav Partisans Yugoslav Partisans members People executed by Nazi Germany by firearm Yugoslav people executed by Nazi Germany Recipients of the Order of the People's Hero