Stanislav Sočivica



Stanislav "Stanko" Radović Sočivica (born 1715) was a merchant and hajduk (rebel), who served the Republic of Venice and fought the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans. He held the rank of harambaša, or capo principale. Stanko has attained legendary status in the Imotski and Cetina-regions of Croatia.

Life
He was born in ca 1715, in Simijova, a place in Bileća, near Trebinje, in the Herzegovina region, then in the Ottoman Empire. His father was Vuk Sočivica. In his youth, there was an infamous Turkish family, the Umetalčić, which headed from Poplat (Berkovići) to Vranjska (nearby), to collect Haraç (tax). Stanko meets the brothers and tricks them, killing them and taking all the money. In retaliation, the Ottomans slay 70 people. The next day, Stanko and his people leave for Dalmatia, and Stanko's father died on the way. They arrived in Proložac or Prolog (Imotski), which at the time was under the Republic of Venice, and buys land to build a house on (Ciciljani house) and goods, with the Ottoman money. As the Ottoman closed in on him, and destroyed his house, he joined the rebel bands (hajduks) in 1745, serving Venice against the Ottoman Empire. Sočivica mainly fought in Dalmatia and the border regions of the sanjaks of Herzegovina, Bosnia and Montenegro. In 1766, he fought in Prolog and Livanj region, during the time of Ahmet-beg II Firdus.

His life was the subject of a book by Dalmatian writer Ivan Lovrić (1776).