Categories

Ljubinka Škodrić, PhD
Institute for Contemporary History, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

 

Ivan Smiljanić, PhD
Institute of Contemporary History, Ljubljana, Republic of Slovenia

 

SUICIDE AMONG FEMALE PARTISANS 1941–1945: CASE STUDIES FROM SLOVENIA AND SERBIA

Vol. XLIV, 1/2026, pp. 75–100
https://doi.org/10.29362/ist20veka.2026.1.sko.75-100

 

ABSTRACT/RESUME:

Ac­cor­ding to the ava­i­la­ble da­ta, su­i­ci­des among Yugo­slav par­ti­sans du­ring the Second World War re­pre­sen­ted a sta­ti­sti­cally small sha­re of the to­tal num­ber of de­aths, but nevertheless amo­un­ted to hun­dreds of ca­ses that are sig­ni­fi­cant for any analysis of the par­ti­san mo­ve­ment. In so­ci­a­list Yugo­sla­via, par­ti­sans who to­ok the­ir own li­ves were not mar­gi­na­li­sed. Many of them were ho­no­u­red with mo­nu­ments, in­sti­tu­ti­ons were na­med af­ter them, and they received awards such as the Or­der of the Pe­o­ple’s He­ro. However, the­ir de­aths ra­i­sed com­plex and un­com­for­ta­ble que­sti­ons, espe­ci­ally re­gar­ding the Marxist et­hi­cal view that su­i­ci­de constituted an unac­cep­ta­ble esca­pe from cap­ti­vity and tor­tu­re, which a “true” par­ti­san was expec­ted to en­du­re ho­no­u­rably wit­ho­ut be­trayal. In the post-war pe­ri­od at­ti­tu­des towards par­ti­san su­i­ci­des were sha­ped less by Marxism and mo­re by tra­di­ti­o­nal cul­tu­ral va­lu­es, including re­li­gi­on, li­te­ra­tu­re, and bro­a­der so­ci­al ide­als of he­ro­ic de­ath. The su­i­ci­des of fe­ma­le par­ti­sans form a distinct sub­ca­te­gory, as woman fa­ced, in the event of capture, the ad­di­ti­o­nal thre­at of sexual vi­o­len­ce. The cir­cum­stan­ces that led to the­se su­i­ci­des can ge­ne­rally be di­vi­ded in­to se­ve­ral ca­te­go­ri­es: ho­pe­less mi­li­tary si­tu­a­ti­ons, pri­son con­di­ti­ons involving ine­vi­ta­ble tor­tu­re, and, oc­ca­si­o­nally, emo­ti­o­nal de­spa­ir following personal los­ses. For fe­ma­le par­ti­sans, the fe­ar of sexual vi­o­len­ce ad­ded anot­her layer of tra­gedy. Si­mi­lar pat­terns of su­i­ci­des ap­pe­a­red across Yugo­sla­via, but this study fo­cu­ses on Ser­bia and Slo­ve­nia, as both were un­der strict re­gi­me of oc­cu­pa­ti­on and expe­ri­en­ced strong par­ti­san movement in­vol­ving many women. In Slo­ve­nia, abo­ut 250 par­ti­sans are re­cor­ded to ha­ve di­ed by su­i­ci­de, around 15 of them women (6%), whi­le in Ser­bia, 23 ca­ses of fe­ma­le par­ti­san suicides ha­ve be­en do­cu­men­ted so far. These com­pa­ri­sons re­ve­al cul­tu­ral dif­fe­ren­ces: in Serbia, he­ro­ic su­i­ci­des were mo­re openly ce­le­bra­ted, re­flec­ting a tra­di­ti­o­nal na­ti­o­nal epic that ho­no­u­red such de­aths, whi­le in Slovenia the dominant Catholic tradition, which strictly rejected suicide, influenced a more subdued treatment of the phenomenon.

 

KEYWORDS: Se­cond World War, Yugo­sla­via, Slo­ve­nia, Ser­bia, su­i­ci­de, Na­ti­o­nal Li­be­ra­ti­on Mo­ve­ment, fe­ma­le par­ti­sans, par­ti­sans

 

REFERENCES:

  • An­tic, Ana. “The New So­ci­a­list Ci­ti­zen and ‘For­get­ting’ Aut­ho­ri­ta­ri­a­nism: Psychi­atry, Psychoa­nalysis, and Re­vo­lu­ti­on in So­ci­a­list Yugo­sla­via”. In: Me­mory, An­ni­ver­sa­ri­es and Mental He­alth in In­ter­na­ti­o­nal Hi­sto­ri­cal Per­spec­ti­ve. Edi­tors Re­bec­ca Wynter, Jen­ni­fer Wallis and Rob El­lis, 65–88. Cham: Pal­gra­ve Mac­mil­lan, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22978-7_3
  • Bar­ba­gli, Mar­zio. Fa­rewell to the World. A Hi­story of Su­i­ci­de. Cam­brid­ge: Po­lity Press, 2015.
  • Barry, Ro­bert L. Bre­a­king the Thre­ad of Li­fe. On Ra­ti­o­nal Su­i­ci­de. New Brunswick, Lon­don: Tran­sac­ti­on Pu­blis­hers, 2012.
  • Ba­ti­nić, Je­le­na. Women and Yugo­slav Par­ti­sans. A Hi­story of World War II Re­si­stan­ce. New York: Cam­brid­ge Uni­ver­sity Press, 2015. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316118627
  • Bi­tu­njac, Mar­ti­na. Že­ne i usta­ški po­kret. Uklju­če­nost, su­dje­lo­va­nje, ne­prav­da. Za­greb: Sred­nja Eu­ro­pa, 2023.
  • Bo­silj­čić, Slo­bo­dan. Ti­moč­ka kra­ji­na. Za­je­čar: Isto­rij­ski ar­hiv „Ti­moč­ka kra­ji­na” Za­je­čar, 1988.
  • Brayley, Mar­tin. World War II Al­li­ed Women’s Ser­vi­ces. Lon­don: Osprey Pu­blis­hing, 2001.
  • Broz, Bran­ko. Moj ži­vot uz Ti­ta. Za­greb: Spek­tar, 1982.
  • Bud­na Ko­drič, Na­ta­ša, Jo­že De­žman, Ja­nez Lu­ši­na. Go­renj­ski par­ti­zan – Go­renj­ski odred. Kranj: Par­ti­zan­ski knji­žni klub, 1992.
  • Cen­tral­na Sr­bi­ja, pri­re­dio Alek­san­dar Vi­to­ro­vić. Be­o­grad: No­lit, Pro­sve­ta, 1967.
  • De­dić, Gor­da­na, Mi­li­voj Pa­nić. Su­i­cid u voj­noj sre­di­ni. Be­o­grad: Me­di­ja cen­tar „Od­bra­na“, 2015.
  • De­di­jer, Vla­di­mir. „O par­ti­zan­skom sa­možr­tvo­va­nju i he­roj­skom sa­mo­u­bi­stvu“. Glas Srp­ske aka­de­mi­je na­u­ka i umet­no­sti, Ode­lje­nje isto­rij­skih na­u­ka, knj. 3, 1983.
  • De­di­jer, Vla­di­mir. No­vi pri­lo­zi za bio­gra­fi­ju Jo­si­pa Bro­za Ti­ta, 2. Ri­je­ka: Li­bur­ni­ja, 1981.
  • De­vić, Ne­ma­nja. „Sa­mo­u­bi­stva u gra­đan­skom ra­tu u Sr­bi­ji 1941–1945. go­di­ne“. U: Ubi­stvo i sa­mo­u­bi­stvo u na­uč­nom i umet­nič­kom stva­ra­la­štvu. Te­mat­ski zbor­nik na­uč­nih ra­do­va. Ure­di­li i pri­re­di­li: Iva­na Že­nar­ju Ra­jo­vić, Se­na Mi­ha­i­lo­vić Mi­lo­še­vić, Ma­ri­na Mi­ja­to­vić, Pe­tar Ristanović, 421–439. Le­po­sa­vić: In­sti­tut za srp­sku kul­tu­ru Pri­šti­na–Le­po­sa­vić, 2024.
  • De­vić, Ne­ma­nja. Za par­ti­ju i Ti­ta: par­ti­zan­ski po­kret u Sr­bi­ji: 1941– Be­o­grad: Slu­žbe­ni gla­snik, In­sti­tut za sa­vre­me­nu isto­ri­ju, 2021.
  • Di­mi­tri­je­vić, Dra­go­slav Be­li. Ko­smaj­ski par­ti­za­ni, II. Be­o­grad: Be­o­grad­ski iz­da­vač­ko-gra­fič­ki za­vod, So­pot: Op­štin­ski od­bor SUBNOR-a, 1983.
  • Durk­he­im, Émi­le. Sui­ci­de. A Study in So­ci­o­logy. Lon­don and New York: Ro­u­tled­ge, 2002.
  • Ga­brič, Aleš. „Greh in ka­zen“. U: Vi­to­mil Zu­pan. Va­žno je pri­ti na grič. Ži­vlje­nje in de­lo Vitomi­la Zu­pa­na (1914–1987). Ured­ni­ci Ne­la Ma­leč­kar, Ifi­ge­ni­ja Si­mo­no­vić, Aleš Ber­ger, Alen­ka Pu­har, 260–276. Lju­blja­na: Mla­din­ska knji­ga, 2014.
  • Ga­la, Alek­san­der. Ogenj­ca. Tra­ge­di­ja par­ti­zan­skih ra­njen­cev. Lju­blja­na: Par­ti­zan­ska knji­ga, 1977.
  • Gli­šić, Ven­ce­slav. Do­si­je o Bla­go­ju Ne­ško­vi­ću. Pri­lo­zi za bio­gra­fi­ju. Be­o­grad: Slu­žbe­ni glasnik, 2011.
  • Go­de­ša, Bo­jan, Bo­ris Mla­kar i Moj­ca Šorn, Ta­de­ja To­min­šek Rih­tar. „Žr­tve dru­ge sve­tov­ne voj­ne v Slo­ve­ni­ji“. Pri­spev­ki za no­vej­šo zgo­do­vi­no, XLII, 1 (2002), 121–130.
  • Gr­gič, Sil­vo. Zlo­či­ni oku­pa­to­rje­vih so­de­lav­cev. 1. knji­ga: iz­ven bo­ja po­bi­ti in na dru­ge na­či­ne umo­rje­ni, ra­nje­ni in uje­ti slo­ven­ski par­ti­za­ni. Lju­blja­na: Dru­štvo pi­scev zgo­do­vi­ne NOB Slove­ni­je, No­vo me­sto: Ti­skar­na No­vo me­sto, Do­lenj­ska za­lo­žba, 1995.
  • He­ro­i­ne Ju­go­sla­vi­je. Za­greb: Spek­tar, 1980.
  • Jan­car-Web­ster, Bar­ba­ra. Women and Re­vo­lu­ti­on in Yugo­sla­via 1941–1945. Den­ver, Co­lo­ra­do: Ar­den Press 1990.
  • Jawor­ski, Ka­tri­na. The Gen­der of Su­i­ci­de. Knowled­ge Pro­duc­ti­on, The­ory and Su­i­ci­do­logy. Sur­rey, Bur­ling­ton: Ash­ga­te, 2014.
  • Jo­i­ner, Tho­mas. Why Pe­o­ple Die by Su­i­ci­de. Cam­brid­ge: Har­vard Uni­ver­sity Press, 2005.
  • Klajn, Hu­go. Rat­na ne­u­ro­za Ju­go­slo­ve­na. Be­o­grad: Sa­ni­tet­ska upra­va JNA, 1955.
  • Kost­nap­fel, Jan­ko. Z voj­no po voj­ni. Lju­blja­na: Dru­štvo pi­scev zgo­do­vi­ne NOB Slo­ve­ni­je, 1994.
  • Kost­nap­fel, Jan­ko. Za­kaj voj­na. Lju­blja­na: Uni­graf, 2007.
  • Le­ster, Da­vid. „Su­i­ci­de ra­tes be­fo­re, du­ring and af­ter the world wars“. Eu­ro­pe­an Psychi­atry, 9 (1994), 262–264. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S092493380000362X
  • Li­na­si, Mar­jan. Žr­tve dru­ge sve­tov­ne voj­ne na ob­moč­ju mest­ne ob­či­ne Slo­venj Gra­dec. Slo­venj Gra­dec: Mest­na ob­či­na, 2002.
  • Li­ška, Mi­klavž. „Pa­dli bor­ci in žr­tve fa­ši­stič­ne­ga te­ror­ja v ob­či­ni Šen­tjur pri Ce­lju“. U: Med Bo­čem in Bo­hor­jem, ured­nik Mar­jan Ža­gar, 382–405. Ro­ga­ška Sla­ti­na: De­lav­ska uni­ver­za, 1984.
  • Mar­ko­vić, Sa­ša. Sta­za­ma sme­lih. Mo­no­gra­fi­ja na­rod­no­o­slo­bo­di­lač­kog ra­ta na po­druč­ju opštine Po­ža­re­vac. Po­ža­re­vac: Kul­tur­no pro­svet­na za­jed­ni­ca op­šti­ne Po­ža­re­vac, 1979.
  • Mi­la­di­no­vić, Mi­lan M. Osnov­na mo­ral­na svoj­stva ko­mu­ni­sta. Su­bo­ti­ca: Rad­nič­ki uni­ver­zi­tet, 1973.
  • Mi­la­di­no­vić, Mi­lan M. Osnov­ne mo­ral­ne vred­no­sti so­ci­ja­li­stič­ke re­vo­lu­ci­je u Ju­go­sla­vi­ji 1941–1945. Le­sko­vac: Bi­bli­o­te­ka Na­rod­nog mu­ze­ja, 1980.
  • Mi­lić, An­đel­ka. „Pa­tri­jar­hal­ni po­re­dak, re­vo­lu­ci­ja i sa­zna­nje o po­lo­ža­ju že­ne“. U: Sr­bi­ja u moder­ni­za­cij­skim pro­ce­si­ma 19. i 20. ve­ka, II, Po­lo­žaj že­ne kao me­ri­lo mo­der­ni­za­ci­je, na­uč­ni skup. Ured­nik La­tin­ka Pe­ro­vić, 551–559. Be­o­grad: In­sti­tut za no­vi­ju isto­ri­ju Sr­bi­je, 1998.
  • Min­do­lje­vić Dra­ku­lić, Alek­san­dra. Su­i­cid. Fe­no­me­no­lo­gi­ja i psi­ho­di­na­mi­ka. Za­greb: Medicinska na­kla­da, 2013.
  • Na ra­ti­šti­ma i stra­ti­šti­ma. Pro­svet­ni rad­ni­ci po­gi­nu­li u na­rod­no­o­slo­bo­di­lač­koj bor­bi 1941–1945, I. Be­o­grad: Dru­štvo za iz­u­ča­va­nje na­rod­nog uči­telj­stva Ju­go­sla­vi­je, Pro­svet­ni pre­gled, 1985.
  • Ostrov­ška, Mi­li­ca. Kljub vse­mu od­por. Knji­ga 3: od ju­na­ške bor­be v Stu­den­cih dne 15. ju­li­ja 1944 do osvo­bo­di­tve. Ma­ri­bor: Ob­zor­ja, 1968.
  • Pan­te­lić, Iva­na, i Sta­ni­sla­va Ba­rać. „‘Traj­nost re­vo­lu­ci­je za­vi­si od to­ga u ko­joj me­ri u njoj uče­stvu­ju že­ne’. Ko­mu­ni­stič­ka par­ti­ja Ju­go­sla­vi­je i ide­o­lo­ge­ma no­ve že­ne (1919–1940)“. U: No­vi čo­vek. Kon­sti­tu­i­sa­nje srp­skog i ju­go­slo­ven­skog dru­štva u 20. ve­ku kroz ide­o­lo­gi­je i jav­ne po­li­ti­ke, ure­dio Alek­san­dar Sto­ja­no­vić, 79–122. Be­o­grad: In­sti­tut za no­vi­ju isto­ri­ju Sr­bi­je, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31212/no­vi.co­vek.2023.24.pan.79-122
  • Pan­te­lić, Iva­na. Par­ti­zan­ke kao gra­đan­ke. Dru­štve­na eman­ci­pa­ci­ja par­ti­zan­ki u Sr­bi­ji 1945–1953. Be­o­grad: In­sti­tut za sa­vre­me­nu isto­ri­ju, Evo­lu­ta, 2011.
  • Pa­vlo­vić, Ste­van K. Hi­tle­rov no­vi an­ti­po­re­dak. Dru­gi svet­ski rat u Ju­go­sla­vi­ji. Be­o­grad: Clio, 2009.
  • Pe­ri­ca, Vje­ko­slav. „Kult na­rod­nih he­ro­ja i pa­tri­ot­ska mi­to­lo­gi­ja ti­to­i­zma“. U: Mi­to­vi epo­he so­ci­ja­li­zma, 93–129. No­vi Sad: Cen­tar za isto­ri­ju, de­mo­kra­ti­ju i po­mi­re­nje, Srem­ska Kamenica: Fa­kul­tet za evrop­ske prav­no-po­li­tič­ke stu­di­je, 2010.
  • Pe­ta ze­malj­ska kon­fe­ren­ci­ja KPJ (19–23. ok­to­bar 1940). Izvo­ri za isto­ri­ju SKJ. Pri­re­di­li Pe­ro Da­mja­no­vić, Mi­lo­van Bo­sić, Dra­gi­ca La­za­re­vić. Be­o­grad: Izda­vač­ki cen­tar Ko­mu­nist, 1980.
  • Pi­rje­vec, Jo­že. Par­ti­za­ni. Za­greb: Sred­nja Eu­ro­pa, 2023.
  • Po­po­vić, Stra­hi­nja. Bo­ško i Ve­ra Vre­ba­lov. No­vi Sad: In­sti­tut za isto­ri­ju, 1983.
  • Ra­tej, Ma­te­ja. Be­gun­stvo pro­fe­sor­ja To­fa­na. Kul­tur­no­zgo­do­vin­ski pre­rez Ma­ri­bo­ra v dvaj­se­tih le­tih 20. sto­le­tja. Lju­blja­na: Mo­dri­jan, 2015.
  • Ri­e­mer, Jef­frey W. “Durk­he­im’s ‘He­ro­ic Su­i­ci­de’ in Mi­li­tary Com­bat”. Ar­med For­ces & Society, Vol. 25, No. 1, Fall 1998, 103–120. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X9802500106
  • Sa­ni­tet­ska slu­žba u na­rod­no­o­slo­bo­di­lač­kom ra­tu Ju­go­sla­vi­je 1941–1945, Knj. 3. Na­sta­nak i ra­zvoj sa­ni­tet­ske slu­žbe u oru­ža­nim sna­ga­ma na­rod­no­o­slo­bo­di­lač­kog po­kre­ta u Slo­ve­ni­ji, Sr­bi­ji, Voj­vo­di­ni, Ko­so­vu i Me­to­hi­ji. Be­o­grad: Voj­no­i­zda­vač­ki i no­vin­ski cen­tar, 1989.
  • Se­fe­ro­vić, Men­sur. Ra­zme­đa Živ­ke Dam­nja­no­vić. Be­o­grad: Na­rod­na knji­ga, 1982.
  • Slo­ven­ke v na­rod­no­o­svo­bo­dil­nem bo­ju I-II. Zbor­nik do­ku­men­tov, član­kov in spo­mi­nov. Ljublja­na: Za­vod Bo­rec, 1970.
  • Smi­lja­nić, Ivan. “‘We our­sel­ves pro­udly cho­se de­ath.’ The Con­cept of He­ro­ic Par­ti­san Su­i­ci­de in Slo­ve­nia in the Yugo­slav Con­text”. Pri­spev­ki za no­vej­šo zgo­do­vi­no, LXIV, 2 (2024), 187–224. DOI: https://doi.org/10.51663/pnz.64.2.09
  • Ško­drić, Lju­bin­ka i Ne­ma­nja De­vić. “Su­i­ci­de among Mem­bers of the Pe­o­ple’s Li­be­ra­ti­on Mo­ve­ment in Oc­cu­pi­ed Ser­bia 1941–1944”. Istra­ži­va­nja. Јour­nal of Hi­sto­ri­cal Re­se­arc­hes, 35, (2024), 216–235. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19090/i.2024.35.216-235
  • Ško­drić, Lju­bin­ka. Že­na u oku­pi­ra­noj Sr­bi­ji 1941–1945. Be­o­grad: Ar­hi­pe­lag, In­sti­tut za sa­vre­me­nu isto­ri­ju, 2020.
  • Te­pa­vac, Mir­ko. Moj Dru­gi svet­ski rat i mir. O ra­tu po­sle ra­ta. Au­to­bi­o­graf­ski za­pi­si. Za­greb: Ra­zlog, 2012.
  • To­ma­nić, Bo­ris. Zbor­nik mr­tvih. Žr­tve Dru­gog svet­skog ra­ta na po­druč­ju Aran­đe­lov­ca i Topole. Aran­đe­lo­vac–Be­o­grad: Na­rod­ni mu­zej Aran­đe­lo­vac, In­sti­tut za sa­vre­me­nu isto­ri­ju, 2023.
  • Vi­ning, Mar­ga­ret. “Women Jo­in the Ar­med For­ces: The Trans­for­ma­ti­on of Women’s Mi­li­tary Work in World War II and Af­ter (1939–1947)”. In: A Com­pa­ni­on to Women’s Mi­li­tary Hi­story. Edi­ted by Bar­ton C. Hac­ker and Mar­ga­ret Vi­ning, 233–289. Le­i­den: Brill, 2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004206823_008
  • Vu­ji­no­vić, Mi­o­drag, Mi­lo­ljub S. Pan­to­vić. He­roj Tre­pu­ša. Ča­čak: Me­đu­op­štin­ski isto­rij­ski arhiv Ča­čak, 1983.
  • Wie­sin­ger, Bar­ba­ra N. „Rat par­ti­zan­ki. Že­ne u oru­ža­nom ot­po­ru u Ju­go­sla­vi­ji 1941–1945“. Hi­sto­rij­ska tra­ga­nja, 4 (2009), 201–226.
  • Zajc, Mar­ko. “Su­i­ci­de as a Slo­ve­ni­an Me­tap­hor: on the In­tel­lec­tu­al Hi­story of Su­i­ci­de as a Me­tap­hor in So­ci­a­list Slo­ve­nia”. Pri­spev­ki za no­vej­šo zgo­do­vi­no, LXIV, 2 (2024), 225–248.
  • Zu­pan, Vi­to­mil. Le­vi­tan: ro­man, ali pa tu­di ne. Lju­blja­na: Can­ka­rje­va za­lo­žba, 1982.
  • Že­ne Sr­bi­je u NOB. Ured­nik Bo­sa Cve­tić. Be­o­grad: No­lit, 1975.
  • Ži­va­no­vić, Bo­ško, Dam­njan Po­po­vić, Mi­o­drag Jo­va­no­vić. Po­mo­ra­vlje u na­rod­no­o­slo­bo­di­lač­koj bor­bi 1941–1945. Sve­to­za­re­vo: Sre­ski od­bor sa­ve­za bo­ra­ca NOR, 1961.