| MLADEN STOJANOVIĆ | ||
| Date of birth | 7 April 1896. | |
| Place of birth | Prijedor, Austria-Hungary |
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| Date of death | 2 April 1942. (46 years old.) | |
| Place of death | Josavka, kod Čelinca, Croatia |
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| Profession | lekar | |
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| Member of KPJ since | September 1940. | |
| War participations | Narodnooslobodilačka borba | |
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| War hero since | 7 August 1942. | |
Dr Mladen S. Stojanovic was born on 7 April 1896 in Prijedor. He was a physician. As member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia he was active even before the beginning of World War II. He joined the War of National Liberation in 1941, and was killed in battle in 1942 in the village of Josavka. He was proclaimed a National Hero of Yugoslavia on 7 August 1942.
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Mladen was born on 7 April 1896 in an Orthodox Serbian family. His father, Simo Stojanovic, was an Orthodox priest.
As a pupil, Mladen finished high school class by class in Tuzla and began manifesting an ever growing love for his native soil and its people, at that time under Austro-Hungarian occupation. As a pupil of the Tuzla high school he was a member of the progressive youth which had ties with the Young Bosnia movement. Several days after the assassination of Heir Presumptive Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria in Sarajevo, the Austrian authorities incarcerated Mladen Stojanovic in Tuzla on 3 July 1914, who was a high school graduate at that time. The trial was held from 13 to 30 September in the town of Bihac. Mladen Stojanovic was sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment, and his brother Sreten to 10 years. Mladen was granted amnesty after 3 years.
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In 1918, after the termination of World War I, Mladen continued his education and completed medical studies in Vienna. In 1930 he returned to his hometown Prijedor. In Prijedor he treated the underprivileged free of charge, and often gave money to poor patience for return trips home. He also treated at no cost patients from Krajina stating the following: “My biggest rewards are the grateful eyes of patients who get up from their beds and begin living again”.
Consequently his honesty and humanity ensured him the sympathy of the people. He gained great respect and authority among the people of the Kozara Mountain and the surrounding area and his name was mentioned in folk songs of the people of Krajina even before the national uprising.
Mladen joined the workers’ movement in Prijedor. By the end of September 1940 Dr. Mladen Stojanovic became member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Having acquired experience during his youth, he faced World War II as a veteran revolutionary. As a military physician he was stationed in Dalmatia at the time of the April collapse of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He then returned to Prijedor and continued his illegal activities.
On 22 June 1941 Dr. Mladen Stojanovic was arrested as a communist along with 40 other hostages and imprisoned in Prijedor by the Ustashe. On 17 July 1941 he managed to escape from the Prijedor prison by setting fire to some hay in his cell and fled to the villages of Kozara.
Eight days later, on 25 July 1941, during a Party meeting held in the village of Gornji and Donji Orlovci in the vicinity of Prijedor, Mladen Stojanovic was entrusted with the task of leading the uprising on Kozara. On 3 August 1941 he spoke at a national assembly at the church in the village of Marini. He also visited the communities of Karan and Balj. People trusted him infinitely, appreciated and respected him, responded to his call in large numbers and accepted without hesitation the doctrine of the National Liberation Movement. From that time on, his name could in no way be separated from the events that occurred on Kozara. Mladen inspired numerous courageous operations on Kozara which were of great significance.
During a Party meeting held in the village of Knezica on 15 August 1941, Dr. Mladen was elected commander of the Unified Insurgence Headquarters for the Kozara area. At that time the Germans were preparing for the First Anti-Partisan offensive against the insurgents of the Kozara region. At that time a series of clashes with the Ustashe and Germans began.
On 10 September 1941 five existing detachments were transformed into three strong and well-armed units headed by Dr. Mladen Stojanovic, who participated in the preparation of all movements and operations.
On 1 November 1941 the leaders of the “Kotarska district” from Bosanska Gradiska informed the Ustashe police in Zagreb about an insurgents’ attack on Gornji Podgradci.
On 16 November 1941 an attack was carried out on the village of Turjak and the 33rd company of Domobran's was captured. On that occasion Dr. Mladen stated that “the moral of Partisan companies is excellent. The number of people joining the companies is constantly increasing. The cooperation between the people and soldiers is becoming closer and deeper. From day to day the Partisan army is becoming the true army of its people.”
After the unsuccessful offensive on Kozara, the enemy left behind a strong garrison on Mrakovica. With that in mind Dr. Mladen said “Kozara cannot have two masters, only the Partisans” and on 5 December 1941 he led his combatants into battle on Mrakovica. Mrakovica was seized. The enemy had more than 120 casualties while 119 soldiers were captured. A large quantity of weapons and ammunition was seized, as well as a large amount of war material. This was the most significant operation of the Kozara detachment since its formation. The victory on Mrakovica significantly boosted the combating moral of the soldiers and the people. The detachment continued undertaking various operations.
On 28 December 1941 a poignant encounter occurred between the Partisans and the Muslim country-folk in the village of Orahova. At that time a song could be heard in many villages with the lyrics: “There goes Mladen, leading the Partisans, marching in all four directions”.
At that time the detachment already had app. 1000 soldiers. Acknowledging that Dr. Stojanovic had organized a force of app. 5000 rifles, 100 machineguns and 4 launchers, the Ustashe major staff division additionally stated in a document that he is “a prominent communist and in spite the fact that his entire movement has a communist basis, he was also able to attract a considerable number of country-folk”.
Under Mladen’s leadership the detachment undertook victorious armed operations in the villages of Turjak, Metalka, Podgradci and the railway Bosanska Kostajnica-Bosanski Novi-Prijedor. The free territory of the Second Krajina Detachment spread also toward Lijevce Polje as well as south of the Prijedor-Ivanjska railway.
In January 1942 Mladen left Kozara to take over a new post and new duties. As soon as he crossed the river Sana and entered the area of the Grmec Mountain, “he was met by a multitude of banners and an endless number of country-folk and youth” as was recorded by the author Branko Copic. The meeting of the legendary commander and the author inspired Copic, as advised by Dr. Mladen, to begin writing also poetry about the days and the accomplishments of war.
On 22 January 1942 after touring the Grmec region and upon returning to the headquarters of the First Krajina Detachment, Dr. Mladen received praises that his Kozara Unit “was the best organized and best arranged detachment in Bosanska krajina: in the military, political and every other sense”. During his stay on Grmec Dr. Mladen also visited other detachments and spoke to the people.
On 10 February 1942 during the Military-political Conference in Skender Vakuf (present day Knezevo) Dr. Mladen was elected head of Operational headquarters for Bosanska krajina. In order to suppress the activities of the Chetniks in Central Bosnia, and as head of Operational headquarters for Bosanska krajina he head out with a detachment of Kozara proletarians for the region of Central Bosnia.
On 8 February 1942, Dr. Mladen and the Kozara proletarian detachment set off toward the Lipovac settlement where a company, neither Partisan nor Chetnik, of the pre-war teacher Laza Tesanovic was located. The proletarians, who were walking along a narrow snow covered path and singing, were ambushed and attacked by order of Tesanovic. Twelve of Mladen’s combatants were killed while Dr. Mladen was among the wounded. The proletarians subsequently fought off the attack from ambush, buried their dead and transferred the wounded to Gornja Josavka. This event provoked bitter reactions among the people in the entire region of Bosanska krajina, and especially on Kozara. On 1 April 1942 Dr. Mladen, who was wounded in the head, was lying with other wounded soldiers in the hospital in Gornja Jošavka and was later on transferred to the nearby house of Danilo Vukovic. Dr. Danica Perovic, the physician who operated him, was constantly by his side. There was no special security because no one suspected that Rade Radic was preparing a Chetnik putsch. The last person to visit the wounded Dr. Mladen was Kosta Nadj. On this day, at 11 PM, a group of Chetniks burst into the house. They confiscated Dr. Mladen’s rifle and handgun, but they withdrew in the morning.
The day of 2 April 1942 was fatal for Dr. Mladen Stojanovic. He and Dr. Danica Perovic were alone in the house of Danilo Vukovic the entire day. The previous night the Chetniks had brutally murdered the wounded Partisans in the nearby hospital. Rade Radic demanded that Dr. Mladen should write a statement that would be favorable for the Chetniks, but the later defiantly declined. During the evening a new group of Chetnics arrived led by Stanko Vrhovac from Kokor. They carried Dr. Mladen out of the house and inhumanely and brutally shot him with two rifle bullets near the Mlinska Rijeka stream.
One of Dr. Mladen Stojanovic’s descendants is his grandson Mladen Grujic from Belgrade, born 22 September 1966, MP in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia as representative of the “New Serbia” political party.
Mladen Grujic inherited his name from his grandfather Dr. Mladen Stojanovic, while his affinity for political engagement he inherited from Dr. Mladen Stojanovic’s brother, Sreten Stojanovic and academic sculptor, MP, drawer, pedagogue, art critic and public servant and member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, born in 1898 in Prijedor.
Mladen Grujic’s mother Anka is the daughter of Dr. Mladen Stojanovic.
Mladen was an extraordinary person. He was and still is a legend for the people of Kozara, Prijedor and Krajina, a symbol of love and humanity, an epic hero. Among the heroes of Bosanska krajina Mladen Stojanovic occupies a special place. He has become a legendary hero not only in Krajina but also in the entire former Yugoslavia.
On 19 April 1942 the Second Krajina (Kozara) Detachment of the National Liberation Movement (abbreviated NOP) was named the “Dr. Mladen Stojanovic” Second Krajina NOP Detachment.
By the decision of the Supreme Command of the NOP and the Volunteer Army of Yugoslavia (abbreviated DVJ) on 19 April 1942 he was among the first combatants of the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia (abbreviated NOV and POJ) who were proclaimed National Heroes of Yugoslavia. In the “Supreme Command Bulletin” no. 17-19 regarding the proclamation of Mladena Stojanovic as national hero it is written as follows:
On 10 September 1972, on the same day when Josip Broz Tito unveiled the monument on Kozara, the “Dr. Mladen Stojanovic” Second Krajina NOP Detachment was awarded the Order of National Hero.