Standing beneath the gallows, moments before his execution, Stjepan Filipovic, a commander who led an uprising against the Nazis in 1941.
Standing beneath the gallows, moments before his execution, Stjepan Filipovic, a commander who led an uprising against the Nazis in 1941. He thrust his hands into the air and shouted "Smrt faΕ‘izmu, sloboda narodu!" ("Death to fascism, freedom to the people!")Born in Opuzem, in southern Dalmatia, Filipovic left home at the age of sixteen and became a metal worker in the city of Kragujevac, an industrial city in central Serbia. In 1937 he joined the Communist Worker's Revolutionary Movement, and shortly thereafter was arrested for his political activity. He was imprisoned for one year, and upon his release was forced to leave Kragujevac. Soon after the German invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Filipovic returned to Kragujevac and volunteered for active duty in the partisan struggle against the occupiers. He was posted to Valjevo where he was given responsibility for the organising of arms and the gathering of new supporters to the caus...