After a fierce, six-hour battle, on the night between 4 and 5 August 1942, Partisan units under the direct leadership of the Supreme Headquarters captured Livno. Also located in the city at the time was an office of the Berlin company Light Metals Trading (Hansa Leichtmetall), which, as part of the civil-military engineer Organisation Todt, had the task of finding new sources of metal and wood for the needs of the German war industry. Livno was defended by about 900 Home Guards and Ustashas – who were joined by employees of the German firm, the engineers and geologists, because they expected, in case of capture, to be shot (the Partisans were considered bandit gangs, which kill prisoners). Eight employees were captured, among whom there were director Anton Jorge and his wife (who, in a state of shock, bravely came first before the Partisans, singing loudly the German national anthem), and engineer Hans Ott (an extremely resourceful man, old officer, who also worked for the German intelligence service). Soon after the capture, Ott proposed a prisoner exchange – which was accepted by both Tito and the German Plenipotentiary General in the NDH, Glaise von Horstenau (they communicated via the temporary released Ott). Negotiations about the exchange list were conducted by Marijan Stilinović (from the Partisan side) and a group of German officers led by Colonel Walter Funk, in Zagreb, on 26 August 1942. The meeting, according to Stilinović's testimony, began "with Turkish coffee and rakia", "a talk about anything and everything" and "telling corny jokes", and the negotiations themselves were completed quickly and in a friendly atmosphere; the problem, in essence, were the Croatian authorities, who refused to hand over some of the wanted persons, claiming (falsely) that they were dead. Nevertheless, the exchange (although incomplete) had been agreed, and executed on a meadow in Studena Vrela (near Posušje), on 5 September, also in a friendly atmosphere (as can be noticed by the smiling faces in the photo). Eight German employees, 12 Home Guard officers and 12 residents of Livno and Glamoč (alleged traitors) were exchanged for 49 members and sympathisers of the Partisan movement. The negotiations between the Partisans and the Germans were continued in November of the same year.
Text: Ivan Ž.
Photographer: unknown.
Date: 5 September 1942.
Date: 5 September 1942.
Location: Studena Vrela (district of Ljubuški), Yugoslavia.
Original caption: unknown.
File source: Petar V. Brajović, "Jugoslavija u Drugom svetskom ratu" (p. 93).
NOT ALLOWED: removing source credits from the files – using text without crediting the original author – using files and information for political propaganda and commercial purposes.
Nakon žestokih, šestočasovnih borbi, u noći između 4. i 5. avgusta 1942. godine, partizanske jedinice pod neposrednim rukovodstvom Vrhovnog štaba zauzele su Livno. U gradu se u to vreme nalazila i kancelarija berlinskog preduzeća Trgovina lakim metalima (Hansa Leichtmetall), koje je, u sklopu vojno-civilne građevinske Organizacije Tot, za zadatak imalo pronalaženje novih izvora metala i drveta za potrebe nemačke vojne industrije. Livno je branilo oko 900 domobrana i ustaša – kojima su se pridružili i službenici nemačkog preduzeća, inženjeri i geolozi, jer su očekivali da će u slučaju zarobljavanja biti streljani (partizani su smatrani razbojničkim bandama, koje ubijaju zarobljenike). Zarobljeno je osam službenika, među kojima su bili i direktor Anton Jorge i njegova supruga (koja je, u stanju šoka, hrabro prva izаšla pred partizane, glasno pevajući nemačku himnu), i inženjer Hans Ot (jedan izuzetno snalažljiv čovek, stari oficir, koji je radio i za nemačku obaveštajnu službu). Ubrzo po zarobljavanju, Ot je predložio razmenu zarobljenika – što je prihvaćeno i od strane Tita i nemačkog opunomoćenog generala u NDH, Gleza fon Horstenaua (komunicirali su preko privremeno puštenog Ota). Pregovore oko spiska za razmenu vodili su Marijan Stilinović (sa partizanske strane) i grupa nemačkih oficira predvođena pukovnikom Valterom Funkom, u Zagrebu, 26. avgusta 1942. Sastanak je, prema Stilinovićevom svedočenju, otpočeo "uz tursku kavu i rakiju", "razgovorom o svemu i svačemu" i "pričanjem otrcanih viceva", a sami pregovori završeni su brzo, i u srdačnoj atmosferi; problem su, u suštini, bile hrvatske vlasti, koje su odbijale da izruče neka od traženih lica, tvrdeći (lažno) da su mrtva. Ipak, razmena (iako nepotpuna) je dogovorena, i izvršena na jednoj poljani u Studenim Vrelima (kod Posušja), 5. septembra, takođe u srdačnoj atmosferi (kao što se može primetiti po nasmejanim licima na slici). Razmenjeno je osam nemačkih službenika, 12 domobranskih oficira i 12 zarobljenih stanovnika Livna i Glamoča (navodnih izdajnika) za 49 pripadnika i simpatizera partizanskog pokreta. Pregovori između partizana i Nemaca su nastavljeni u novembru iste godine.
Tekst: Ivan Ž.
Fotograf: nepoznat.
Datum: 5. septembar 1942.
Datum: 5. septembar 1942.
Mesto: Studena Vrela (srez Ljubuški), Jugoslavija.
Originalni natpis: nepoznat.
Izvor fajla: Petar V. Brajović, "Jugoslavija u Drugom svetskom ratu" (str. 93).
NIJE DOZVOLJENO: uklanjanje naziva izvora sa fajlova – korišćenje teksta bez navođenja izvornog autora – korišćenje fajlova i informacija u političko-propagandne i komercijalne svrhe.
