Stjepan Filipović (27 January 1916 – 22 May 1942) was a Yugoslav communist who led the Kolubara Company of the Valjevo Partisan Detachment during the 1941 Partisan uprising. He was captured and executed in 1942 in

Valjevo Valjevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Ваљево, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Kolubara District in western Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the city itself has a population of 56,145 while the city admini ...

. A photo of him taken shortly before his execution became a symbol of resistance against

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

in the Second World War, and was, among others, exhibited in the United Nations building in New York. He was proclaimed

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 ...

in 1949.

Biography

Stjepan Filipović was born on 27 January 1916 in Opuzen (modern-day

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

) as the fifth child of Anton and Ivka Filipović. He was an ethnic

Croat The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

. The Filipović family moved throughout the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

, so he lived in

Županja Županja (, , ) is a town in eastern Slavonia, Croatia, located 254 km east of Zagreb. It is administratively part of the Vukovar-Syrmia County. It is inhabited by 12,090 people (2011). Županja lies on the Sava river opposite Bosnia and He ...

Mostar Mostar () is a city and the administrative centre of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is situated on the Neretva Riv ...

and

Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the List of cities in Serbia, fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Se ...

. In Kragujevac, he studied locksmithing and mastered the basics of electrical wiring, carpentry and bookbinding. He joined the labour movement in 1937, but he was arrested in 1939 and sentenced to a year in prison. He joined 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 ...

in 1940.

Death

When

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 ...

started, the Partisans organized a Tamnava-Kolubara unit in

(modern-day

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

) in 1941, and Filipović became its commander. He was captured on 24 December 1941 by the Chetniks of Kosta Pećanac. On 22 May 1942, aged 26, Filipović was hanged in Valjevo by a Serbian State Guard unit. As the rope was put around his neck, Filipović raised his arms and shouted (" Death to fascism, freedom to the people!"). He urged the Yugoslav people to resist and implored them to never cease resisting. A photograph taken at this moment was widely reproduced and became a symbol of anti-fascist resistance. A statue of Filipović was cast in its likeness. Filipović was declared a National Hero of Yugoslavia on 14 December 1949. The town of Valjevo has a statue dedicated to him, "''Stevan'' Filipović". A monument was also erected in his home town of Opuzen in 1968, but was demolished in 1991. His brother Šimun was shot by Germans in the

Kragujevac massacre The Kragujevac massacre was the mass murder of between 2,778 and 2,794 mostly Serb men and boys in Kragujevac, by German soldiers on 21 October 1941. It occurred in the German-occupied territory of Serbia during World War II, and came as a ...

in Serbia; although he was an ethnic

, which could have saved him from death, he refused to say so, sharing his fate with citizens of

. Stjepan's second brother Nikola was killed in May 1943 as a member of the 1st Proletarian Brigade.

References

External links

*
Narodni heroji Jugoslavije
', Mladost, Belgrade, 1975. {{DEFAULTSORT:Filipovic, Stjepan 1916 births 1942 deaths People from Opuzen People from the Kingdom of Dalmatia Yugoslav Partisans members 20th-century Croatian people Croatian communists Recipients of the Order of the People's Hero Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany Communists executed by Nazi Germany People executed by Nazi Germany occupation forces People executed by Nazi Germany by hanging Croatian people executed by Nazi Germany People notable for being the subject of a specific photograph