Saša Božović ( sr-Cyrl, Саша Божовић; 4 August 1912 – 10 December 1995) was a doctor, writer and participant in the

antifascist 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 op ...

resistance of 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 ...

Education

She graduated from the

University of Belgrade Faculty of Medicine The Belgrade Faculty of Medicine (/''Medicinski fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu'') is a constituent institution of the University of Belgrade, which offers a wide range of academic courses in Serbian and English, including specialist practice wit ...

in 1937.

Second World War

After the April 1941 German bombing of Belgrade in Operation Retribution she left the city while pregnant and moved to

Podgorica Podgorica ( cnr-Cyrl, Подгорица; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city is just north of Lake Skadar and close to coastal destinations on the Adriatic Sea. Histor ...

in modern-day

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

. Since her husband was one of the main organizers of the 1941 Uprising in Montenegro, Italian forces imprisoned her and subsequently sent her to a concentration camp in the Albanian Kingdom. She was later sent to a hospital in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

where she gave birth to her daughter Dolores, named after Dolores Ibárruri, republican heroine of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. She was liberated in exchange for Italian soldiers taken hostage by Partisan forces. Saša was working as an organizer of the Partisan war hospital. Her daughter Dolores, called "Little Partisan" by

Sava Kovačević Sava Kovačević ( sr-cyrl, Сава Ковачевић; 25 January 1905 – 13 June 1943) was a Yugoslav Partisan divisional commander during World War II, and one of the heroes of the communist Partisan movement. Early life Kovačević was ...

, died from consequences of low temperature, hunger and exhaustion on 7 March 1943 during the Battle of the Neretva. Her grave was in a village that after the war in 1953 ended up below the artificial Jablanica lake. After the Belgrade Offensive she became a military delegate at the Yugoslav Red Cross and in 1944 she became a member of 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 ...

. She was awarded the

Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941 The Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941 (Macedonian language, Macedonian, Slovene language, Slovene and sh-Latn-Cyrl, Partizanska spomenica 1941., Партизанска споменица 1941., separator=" / ") is a commemorative Soci ...

Post-war

After the war, she had two sons and one daughter. In 1976, on Saša's birthday, her first granddaughter was born and the parents insisted that the child be called Dolores. Together with Darko Šilović she co-authored ''Tebi moja Dolores'' (''For you, my Dolores''), a work which was republished seven times and was the most read book in the

Socialist Federal Republic of 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 ...

in 1980.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bozovic, Sasa Women in the Yugoslav Partisans Yugoslav Partisans members University of Belgrade Faculty of Medicine alumni 1912 births 1995 deaths