Alija Sirotanović
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Alija Sirotanović (14 August 1914 – 16 May 1990) was a Yugoslav miner,
Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an Title of honor, honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievem ...
and perhaps the most famous of all Yugoslav
udarnik In the terminology of the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc, and other communist countries, an udarnik (, plural udarniks or udarniki; rus, уда́рник, p=ʊˈdarnʲɪk), also known in English as a shock worker or strike worker (collectively ...
s. He was held up by the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...
to be a model of a hard-worker in the
former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...
.


Early life and family

Alija Sirotanović, a
Bosniak The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...
, was born in Orahovo, a village in central
Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
near the town of Breza, and grew up in
Trtorići Trtorići is a village in the municipality of Breza, Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, ...
, another nearby village. He was born in 1914, while
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
was a part of
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
. He had six brothers and two sisters, all of whom were miners. One of his brothers, Ahmed, died in a mining disaster in 1970.


Mining record and fame

Sirotanović worked in the
coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...
in Breza. In 1947 Sirotanović set a record in coal extracting. On 24 July 1949, Sirotanović participated in an inter-mine competition at the mine at Kreka. He and his eight-man crew mined in an 8-hour shift 128 carloads of brown coal, that is, 152 tons of coal in a single shift, some 40 tonnes more than the first record of Soviet 'hero of labour'
Alexey Stakhanov Alexei Grigoryevich Stakhanov ( rus, Алексе́й Григо́рьевич Стаха́нов, p=stɐˈxanəf, ''Alekséy Grigór'yevich Stakhánov''; 3 January 1906 – 5 November 1977) was a Soviet miner, Hero of Socialist Labour (1970), ...
, although this is in dispute. The achievements of the Yugoslav miners were published on news front pages for weeks. In September 1949, the first "formal meeting of the initiators of the movement for high productivity" (''svečani sastanak inicijatora pokreta za visoku produktivnost'') was held, in which famous productive working record-holders participated, such as Alija Sirotanović, Nikola Skobić,
Risto Mijatović Risto () is a masculine given name, found in Finnish, Estonian and South Slavic. In South Slavic, it is a hypocorism derived from '' Hristofor'' or ''Hristivoje''. It may refer to: Estonia * Risto Järv (born 1971), folklorist *Risto Joost (b ...
, Antun Bičić, Alojz Petek, and others. As there was a Soviet–Yugoslav rift at the time of the contest, his accomplishment was widely praised and publicised by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia.
Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...
is said to have offered to fulfill any wish Sirotanović had, but all Sirotanović is reported to have requested was a bigger
shovel A shovel is a tool used for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore. Most shovels are hand tools consisting of a broad blade fixed to a medium-length handle. Shovel blades are usually made ...
. Tito granted his wish, and the larger shovel that was designed for him was later named after him: ''Sirotanovićka''. He was offered an appartement in Breza, but he refused and decided to stay in his house in Trtorići. The meeting between Sirotanović and leading politician
Svetozar Vukmanović Svetozar Vukmanović - Tempo ( sh-Cyrl, Светозар Вукмановић - Темпо; 3 August 1912 – 6 December 2000) was a leading Montenegrin communist and member of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. D ...
was televised. Sirotanović tried to enter politics, but was unsuccessful. He was a member of the federal parliament for one term. He was retired with pension for merits. He was made an honorable member of the Union of Associations of Engineers and Technicians of Yugoslavia.


Legacy

He was held up by the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...
to be a model of a hard-worker. In 1987,
Zabranjeno Pušenje Zabranjeno Pušenje () is a Bosnian Rock music, rock band formed in Sarajevo in 1980. The group's musical style primarily consists of a distinctive garage rock sound with Bosnian folk music, folk influences, often featuring innovative production a ...
recorded a song titled "''Srce, ruke i lopata''" (''Heart, Hands and Shovel''), paying tribute to "Comrade Avdija", the model of a hard working, modest man.


Banknote

He was pictured on the 20,000-
Yugoslav dinar The dinar ( sh-Cyrl, динар) was the currency of Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1920 in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was replaced by the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and then the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Th ...
banknote A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commerc ...
, but was often wrongly claimed to be pictured on the 10-dinar banknote. Despite the obvious similarities, the 10-dinar banknote and its 1000-old-dinar predecessor with the same design are older (1955) and showed Arif Heralić, a
metal worker Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals in order to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term, it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on e ...
working on a
blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...
in
Zenica Zenica ( ; ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and an administrative and economic center of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Zenica-Doboj Canton. It is located in the Bosna (river), Bosna river valley, about north of Sarajevo. The ...
. The newer 20,000-dinar banknote was brought out on
May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...
in 1987.


References


External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20051126110554/http://www.bhdani.com/arhiva/102/citanka02.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20050902124953/http://www.bhdani.com/arhiva/186/t18611.shtml
Alija on Leksikon YU mitologije

Text of song ''Srce, ruke i lopata''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sirotanovic, Alija 1914 births 1990 deaths People from Breza, Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosniaks of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Muslims Yugoslav coal miners Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Recipients of the Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour