National Hero of Yugoslavia
Jelena ?etkovi?
(21 August 1916 ? 14 May 1943) was a revolutionary, fighter for
women’s rights
, participant in the
National Liberation Front
, and
National Hero of Yugoslavia
.
Biography
[
edit
]
?etkovi? was born on 21 August 1916
[1]
in
Cetinje
in the kingdom of
Montenegro
as the youngest child of Blagota and Gordana ?etkovi?. She had two elder brothers, Nikola and đorđije. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to
Podgorica
and her father died from wounds sustained in the
World War I
.
After graduation, ?etkovi? enrolled in a women's crafts school where she learned tailoring crafts. As a young worker, she joined the
worker movement
. In 1933, she became a member of the Yugoslavian communal youth alliance and two years later, a member of the
Yugoslavian communist party
. She registered as a volunteer in the fight against
fascism
in
Spain
, but the police intercepted the volunteers and prevented their departure.
[2]
?etkovi? and her brother đorđije were filed as communists by the police and because of this, they were often under surveillance, arrested and mistreated. They moved to
Belgrade
in 1938 where ?etkovi? continued her political activities. She was an instructor of the areal KPJ (Communal Party of Yugoslavia) committee for Serbia and was responsible for working with women.
At the beginning of World War II, ?etkovi? was in a partisan unit in Bosnia, then in the
Republic of U?ice
, where she worked with women. At the end of 1941, she returned to Belgrade where she worked as the secretary of the local KPJ committee and organized numerous activities, sabotages and diversions. She was arrested in March 1942 while preparing to assassinate đorđe Kosmajac. The assassination was successful while she was interrogated and tortured. She was transferred to
Banjica concentration camp
and was shot at
Jajinci
in May 1943.
Poem
[
edit
]
During her imprisonment at the camp, ?etkovi? wrote a poem entitled
Behind Bars
which was saved and published in
The Voice of the Unique National Liberation Front of Serbia
in January 1944.
[3]
Legacy
[
edit
]
?etkovi? was declared a national hero on 5 May 1952.
[4]
In the national theatre, a performance of ?Jelena ?etkovi?“, produced by Boro Grigorovi? with inspiration from drama written by Aleksandar Petrovi?,
[5]
was performed for twenty years. A television movie produced by Zdravko ?otra was also inspired by a drama with the same name. The movement to rescue Ivanka Mua?evi? from the central state hospital the day after she gave birth inspired the episode
Hospital
, while the assassination attempt on đorđe Kosmajac inspired the episode
Traitor
of the TV series
Castaways
.
The street of Jelena ?etkovi? is located in Belgrade in the Old City municipality. This street has borne her name since 1946. Adjacent to this street is the street of Kopitareva Gradina, one of the oldest urban areas in Belgrade which was formed at the beginning of the 20th century and whose characteristics remain today. This area has been declared a cultural heritage area because of its cultural and historical importance as a whole. The birth house of Jovan Cviji?, which was remade into his Memorial museum, can be found in this street at no. 5. Streets with this name also exist in Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Lazarevac, Ni? (Mediana), Podgorica, Po?arevac, ?id. Subotica and Vranje.
[6]
There is a school named after Jelena ?etkovi? in the Belgrade municipality of
Zvezdara
at Vranjska street no. 26. A bust of ?etkovi? by sculptor Dragutin Spasi? stands in front of the school building.
[
citation needed
]
In 1984, the Yugoslav Post issued a stamp commemorating Jelena ?etkovi?.
[7]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Narodni heroji Jugoslavije(A-M)
. Beograd: Narodna knjiga. 1982.
- ^
Jelena ?etkovi?
. Belgrade: Narodna armija. 1984. pp. 6?14.
- ^
Sloboda.A (1984).
Jelena ?etkovi?
. Beograd: Narodna armija. pp. 63?65.
- ^
Ka?avenda.P; ?ivkovi?.D(ured.) (1982).
Narodni heroji Jugoslavije (A-M)
. Beograd, Titograd: Narodna knjiga; Partizanska knjiga;Pobjeda.
- ^
"Jelena ?etkovi?" performance
. 2 June 1969
. Retrieved
5 August
2016
.
- ^
"Street "Jelena ?etkovi?" on map"
.
Plan plus
. Retrieved
26 January
2017
.
- ^
"Stamp: Jelena Cetkovic"
.
Colnect
. Retrieved
28 June
2017
.