Today in Labor History February 8, 1943: Lepa Svetozara Radić, a 17-year-old communist, anti-fascist fighter from Bosnia, was executed by the Nazis for shooting at German troops.

Today in Labor History February 8, 1943: Lepa Svetozara Radić, a 17-year-old communist, anti-fascist fighter from Bosnia, was executed by the Nazis for shooting at German troops. As they fastened the noose around her neck, they offered her amnesty if she would reveal her comrades' and leaders' names. She responded that she was not a traitor and that they would reveal themselves when they avenged her death. She also cried out: "Long live the Communist Party, and partisans! Fight, people, for your freedom! Do not surrender to the evildoers! I will be killed, but there are those who will avenge me!" Lepa had been a member of the Communist Party since she was 15. Around that same time, her family had been arrested by the Ustaše, a Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization. Lepa and her sister, Dara, escaped. She then joined the 7th partisan company of the 2nd Krajiški Detachment. She was captured by the Nazis in February, 1943, after using up all of her ammunition, during a fierce gunbattle. She and her comrades continued to fight with their bare hands, until they were overpowered by blows by German rifle butts.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #communism #socialism #fascism #nazis #bosnia #serbian #antifascism