Josip Bašić
Josip Bašić was born in 1926 on the island of Molat. Still a minor, he joined the resistance movement that existed on the Dalmatian islands. The Italians, who were occupying Dalmatia at the time, arrested him and sent him to a camp on the island. After the camp on Molat, the Italians sent him - together with other prisoners - to a work camp in Italy. After the capitulation of Italy he escaped from the camp, with a group of other prisoners. Fleeing the Germans, he joined the resistance movement. As a Partisan, he participated in the liberation of a substantial part of Croatia, in particular Dalmatia. After the Second World War he continued his military career; he worked as a lecturer at the Military Academy and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1970 he retired and returned to his native island, Molat. At the beginning of the war in the 1990s he helped organise defence and the maintenance of everyday life on the island. Two of his sons were members of the Croatian Army.