Lepa Svetozara Radić ( 19 December 1925 – February 8, 1943) - Anti- Fascist Freedom Fighter

Lepa Svetozara Radić, was born  on December 19, 1925 in the village of Gashnica near Gradishka (the modern territory of the Republika Srpska – now part of Bosnia and Herzegovina).
She graduated from elementary school in neighboring Bistrica, the first grade of the Women's Craft School, with her somewhat older sister Dara, in Bosanska Krupa - with the help of Uncle Voje, who served as a lugar for several years in Podgrmeče - while she finished the other grades in Bosanska Gradiški.
 Already as a student, she emphasized diligent work and seriousness. Already then,reading advanced literature, Lepa had a strong influence  from her uncle Vlade Radic, who was involved in the labor movement. On 10 April 1941, after the successful invasion of Yugoslavia, the Axis powers established on its former territory the puppet state Independent State of Croatia, which, in particular, consisted of Bosanska Gradiška and its surroundings.
In 1941, at the age of fifteen, she joined the Communist Party, and joined the anti-fascist partisan resistance movement. During the Kozar offensive, Lepa’s father, Svetozar, and her 15-year-old brother, Milan, were killed.  At the time of the first offensive against the Kozara insurrections in November 1941, the Ustashi arrested Lepo and all the remaining members of the Radic family for their dissident activities. However, with the help of illegal Partisan associates, after 20 days of harassment in the Ustasha prison in Gradiska, they were released.
After leaving the prison on December 23, 1941, along with her sister Dara, Lepa became a fighter of the 7th partisan company of the 2nd Krajina Detachment. Shortly thereafter, she was a nurse in the company, and then a listener of the youth course in the village of Lamovita, under Kozar, and a activist on the Prijedor field.
During the Neretva battle in February 1943, Lepa Radic was responsible for transporting the wounded to the shelter in Grmec.. During the battle against the 7th Division of the SS she was captured while organizing a rescue of some 150 women and children seeking refuge from the Axis. She attempted to protect her charges by firing at the attacking Nazi SS forces with a barrage of her remaining ammunition , transferred to Bosanska-Krupu. First, the Germans kept her in isolation and tortured her in an attempt to extract information over the course of three days . She refused to divulge any information about her comrades and was sentenced to death by hanging.
 On February 8, 1943, Lepa Radić was brought to the hastily constructed gallows in full view of the public. Moments before her hanging, Radic was offered a pardon if she revealed the names of her Partisan comrades, but she  passionately responded, “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." with a noose around her neck she shouted: “Long live the Communist Party and the partisans! Fight, people, for your freedom, do not give up to the villains! They’ll kill me, but there are those who will take revenge for me! And with that, she was hanged.
On 11th February German soldiers reported the execution had taken place and that the "bandit" had "shown unprecedented defiance." This brave act would  eventually propel her into the history books and  consequently her legacy lives on .She died at just 17 in her fight against the Nazis, but they were never able to break her heroic and courageous spirit. Her execution was captured in a series of haunting photographs. By the decree of Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito on December 20, 1951,Lepa Radic was awarded posthumously the title of People’s Hero of Yugoslavia for her role in the resistance movement against the Axis powers—becoming the youngest recipient at the time.
 She will never grow old. Hers was the ultimate sacrifice made in the name of peace and freedom.No Pasarán!