Erne Kiš 1909-1941

Erne Kiš 1909–1941 is a biographical monograph published by Nada Lazić in 1984 in Beli Manastir and Sombor, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the birth of this revolutionary from Baranja and Bačka. The book is illustrated and presents the life and work of Erne Kiš, a significant figure in the workers' and communist movements in Baranja and Bačka before and at the beginning of World War II.

Erne Kiš was born in 1909 into a working-class family. As a young man, he joined the revolutionary workers' movement, was active in illegal communist organizations in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, participated in strikes, agitation, and organized workers and peasants. The book follows his path from early revolutionary activities, through arrests and imprisonment, to increasingly intensive activities on the eve of the war.

A special chapter is dedicated to 1941 – the attack of the Axis powers on Yugoslavia, the beginning of the occupation of Baranja and Bačka by Hungary, and Kiš's role in the preparations for the resistance. Erne Kiš died in 1941 (killed by the occupiers), and the author presents him as a symbol of the fight against fascism and class oppression in this area.

Lazić, as in his other works (e.g. Baranja 1941–1945), relies on archival materials, testimonies of participants and party documentation. The book is written in the typical style of Yugoslav socialist historiography of the 1980s - with an emphasis on the revolutionary dedication, heroism and ideological consistency of the protagonist.

This work represents an important contribution to the knowledge of the local history of Baranja and Bačka, the labor movement in Vojvodina and Slavonia, and the anti-fascist struggle in the Danube region before and at the beginning of the war. Today it is used as a source for regional history and biographies of prominent communists from the period.