Ante Bakotić, leader of the breakout from Jasenovac (1921-1945), died.

Ante Bakotić was born in Sinj on June 14, 1921 as the fourth child in a family of six. He finished elementary school in his native Sinj, where he also enrolled in high school, which he interrupted for unknown reasons and began studying carpentry. Due to the poor working conditions and mistreatment of the master, he left his apprenticeship and applied to the military technical school in Kruševo, Serbia, which he completed. After finishing school, he went to Sarajevo and got a job in the military industry. He became a member of the KPJ in 1939.

In the spring of 1942, he was caught with a group of partisans in the Neretva valley and deported to the Jasenovac concentration camp. He was one of the detainees with a long prison term. In the camp, until the end of September 1944, there was a Party organization headed by Mila Bošković, who was later declared a national hero of Yugoslavia, which was already working on preparations to break out the detainees. The work of the organization was discovered, and on September 21, 1944, almost all of its members were killed. Since then, the remaining communists in the camp have been trying to reorganize. Ante Bakotić appears as the leader of the camp’s Party organization, which continues to operate and renews work that culminates in the spring of 1945. Jasenova prisoners made a breakthrough by freeing themselves on April 22, 1945, right before the end of the Second World War. The number of detained men on the night of April 21 to 22 amounted to 1,073 detainees. That night, they decided that in the morning, April 22, around 10 am, they would launch an assault. During the agreement on the beginning of the breakthrough, the most prominent role was played by Ante Bakotić, the secretary of the camp’s Party organization Camp 3 Ciglana in Jasenovac, who signaled the start of the assault with the shout “Forward comrades”.

Ante Bakotić did not survive the breakout of the camp inmates from Jasenovac. He died near the eastern entrance to the camp. His death is described by two detainees in their memories.

Cedomil Huber:

»When we left through the gate, Ante was fatally mown down. I stopped to help him. He ordered me to go forward and that someone had to stay alive. With his last strength, I saw, he dragged himself to the bank of the Sava River and lost himself in its waves.

Mile Ristic:

»I remember seeing Anto Bakotić striding along the road, his lungs swelling like blacksmith’s bellows. I invited him to come down to me and to follow this blind spot. He just waved his hand and didn’t go downstairs. So he was hit by a bullet and fell into the Sava.

SOURCE: Ante Bakotić

ADDITIONAL LITERATURE: THE BREAKTHROUGH OF JASENOVAC CAMPS

Camp Jasenovac

If anyone is interested: The memorial plaque at the hero’s birthplace in Sinj was taken down by many, even the brother of the current minister! Even Bulj does not honor him

One song for those who will relativize the character of the Ustasha regime: "Jasenovac and Gradiška stara" visit the center of Sinj (4.8.2025)