Lepa Radić

Lepa Svetozara Radić (; 19 December 1925 – 8 February 1943) was a Yugoslav Partisan and communist of Bosnian Serb origin who was posthumously awarded the Order of the People's Hero in 1951 for her role in the resistance movement against the Axis powers in the Second World War—becoming the youngest recipient at the time. She was executed at the age of 17 for shooting at German troops. As her captors tied the noose around her neck, they offered her a reprieve from the gallows if she would reveal her comrades' and leaders' identities. She responded that she was not a traitor and that her comrades would reveal themselves when they avenged her death.

Early life

Radić was born to a Bosnian Serb family on 19 December 1925 in the village of Gašnica near Bosanska Gradiška. After graduation from the elementary school in the nearby Bistrica, she attended the first grade of Women's School of Crafts in Bosanska Krupa and completed the remaining grades at school in Bosanska Gradiška.

As a pupil, Lepa emphasized hard work and seriousness, and was also interested in reading advanced literature. Starting with becoming a member of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (SKOJ), she eventually joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1941 at the age of 15.

World War II On 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia, the Axis powers established the Independent State of Croatia, which included Bosanska Gradiška and surrounding areas.

In November 1941, 15-year-old Lepa Radić and other family members were arrested by the Ustaše, but with the help of undercover partisan associates, Lepa and her sister, Dara, managed to escape from prison on 23 December 1941.

Reportedly, in her last moments at the scaffold, the Germans offered to spare Radić's life in return for her revealing the names of the Communist Party leaders and members in the shelter, but she refused their offer with the words: "I am not a traitor of my people. Those whom you are asking about will reveal themselves when they have succeeded in wiping out all you evildoers, to the last man." Lepa Radić was only 17 years old when she was publicly executed.

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