Darinka Radović ( sr-Cyrl, Даринка Радовић) ( Kloka, 6 January 1896- Rajkovac 23 May 1943) was a manual worker in agriculture and an activist for the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

during

World War II in Yugoslavia World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was Invasion of Yugoslavia, invaded and swiftly conquered by Axis powers, Axis forces and partitioned among Nazi Germany, Germany, Fascist Italy (1922–1943), It ...

and a

People's Hero of Yugoslavia The Order of the People's Hero or the Order of the National Hero ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Orden narodnog heroja, Oрден народног хероја; , ), was a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav gallantry medal, the ...

. She was killed together with her two daughters in May 1943 by

Chetniks The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...

forces.

Biography

Darinka was born as a third child and first daughter in a poor

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

family in the village of Kloka in January 1896. Since she was born on a

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the populat ...

religious holiday, she received the name Darinka (the word ''dar'' meaning ''gift'') from her godfather, as she was considered to be a gift from God. At the time of her youth, it was uncommon for girls in rural

Kingdom of Serbia The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...

to be sent to school, so Darinka never had a formal education and stayed

illiterate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

. She brought a

sewing machine Diagram of a modern sewing machine Animation of a modern sewing machine as it stitches A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolutio ...

as a

dowry A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...

at the time of her wedding. In 1941, her husband Vojislav, a

Royal Yugoslav Army The Yugoslav Army ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Jugoslovenska vojska, JV, Југословенска војска, ЈВ), commonly the Royal Yugoslav Army, was the principal Army, ground force of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It existed from the establishment of ...

soldier, was sent to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

as a POW. In 1942, she started accepting

into her home, providing them with food and shelter. Together with some other villagers, she started to make clothes for them as well. Through this contact, she and her two daughters learned more about the political ideas of the Partisans. She convinced other women in the village to help Partisans and served as a messenger by delivering messages to other villages. Once the Chetniks took control of the area, they learned about Darinka and her daughters' activities and raided her home, searching for a wounded Partisan soldier. Darinka and her daughters refused to tell them his location, claiming there was no one else on their property. The Chetniks then took them to the church yard, where they beat them. Unable to obtain the information they wanted, the Chetniks started to torture the 14-year-old Stanka, threatening Darinka they will slit her throat if she does not tell them where the wounded Partisan is and who else in the village is helping the Partisans. Darika didn't say a word and the Chetniks killed Stanka. Then they took her 20-year-old daughter Radmila and slit her throat as well. In the end, they killed Darinka as well. By the Decree of the Yugoslav president

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 ...

, Darinka Radović was declared People's Hero of Yugoslavia on 9 October 1953.

References

{{Authority control Radovic, Darinka Radovic, Darinka Radovic, Darinka Radovic, Darinka People killed by Chetniks during World War II