Bust of Batini placed in the city park in Pljevlja

Rafael Batini is one of hundreds of partisan fighters, sympathizers and collaborators who were shot by the Italian fascists from July 1941 to November 20, 1944 in a bay between two hills in the village of Senjak in Pljevlja

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Bust of Batini in the city park, Photo: Goran Malidžan
Bust of Batini in the city park, Photo: Goran Malidžan
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Bust of a revolutionary Rafael Batini, which thieves stole from the pedestal in the area of ​​the former Military Factory, was placed in the park in the center of the city, not far from the fountain on the 13th of July Square.

It was placed next to the bust of the revolutionaries Mirko Pejatović i Ljubomir Medenica.

Long-time president of the veterans' organization in Pljevlja Vidoje Despotović he said that Batini's bust was erected in 1985 in Sjenjak as part of the commemoration of the place of martyrdom of about 80 revolutionaries during the NOB, who were shot at that place by Italian-German units and Chetnik and Muslim militia units.

Despotović said that they decided to put it in a new location because the space is in Senjak, which is owned by a detained businessman. Dragan Brković, "left to oblivion".

Rafael Batini is one of hundreds of partisan fighters, sympathizers and collaborators who were shot by the Italian fascists from July 1941 to November 20, 1944 in a bay between two hills in the village of Senjak in Pljevlja. As a sign of memory and respect for the young man, the people of Pljevlja erected his bust a few meters away from the monument erected to all those shot in that place.

Two names are inscribed on the bust - Rafael Batini and Mišo Cvetković, and both belong to the same man. He received the first at birth and used the second during World War II.

Despotović says that he used the name Mišo Cvetković Batini so that the Germans, if they captured him, would not discover his Jewish origin.

"Batini was born in 1910 in Bitola and is a Jew by origin. He was a member of the Communist Party of Mexico. He finished university there, after which he returned to Bitola. Before the war, he was sentenced to three years in prison, and in 1941 he managed to escape from prison and move to Sandžak. He was party secretary in Nova Varoš, and then he was elected organizational secretary of the KPJ Regional Committee for Sandžak. On July 8, 1942, in the area of ​​the village of Meljak, he was captured by Chetniks from Meljak, who handed him over to the Italians in Pljevlja, and on June 12, 1941, he was shot with other patriots in Senjak," said Despotović.

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