What were the last words of Lepa Radić before she was executed by the Nazis in 1943?
It is a Second World War story of a very courageous young woman called Lepa Radic.
Lepa was only 17 years old. She was a Bosnian-Serbian girl who inhabited Yugoslavia when German soldiers arrived and conquered her nation. She resolved that she had to take on them, but she joined the Yugoslav Partisans who were part of the resistance against the invaders.
She was captured by the German soldiers in February 1943. They accused her of picking up arms against the occupiers. When they held her as a prisoner, the Germans offered her the following conditions: We will not kill you; you will live, but you must name us the names of your Partisan friends and comrades.
Lepa refused right away. She was most loyal to her friends and also believed strongly in the freedom cause. She would not betray them. She understood that it was possible to die by saying no.
A plan to have her hanged was made by the German soldiers on February 8 in 1943. On the eve of execution she said her last defiant words to the soldiers:
You will know who they are when they arrive to take vengeance on my behalf.
Her words were a strong prophecy: the struggle was not going to be ceased until the victory was gained. The heroic act of Lepa Radic and her great sacrifice was her means of remaining to be a symbol of resistance. The final courageous act made the leader of the Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, recognize her bravery by awarding her the greatest award, the Order of the National Hero, in 1951.

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