BEAUTY QUEEN, MOTHER OF SIX, AND A HEROINE: Ljiljana volunteered in ’99, put on the uniform, and died defending Kosovo and Metohija! (PHOTO)

Heroine Ljiljana Žikić Karađorđević was a civilian engineer of organizational sciences who died as a volunteer in the Yugoslav Army during the NATO aggression on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the terrorist attacks by Albanian militants from Kosovo and Metohija while serving in the 125th Motorized Brigade.

She was crowned Miss Yugoslavia in 1978.

Posthumously, she was awarded the Order of Merit in the Field of Defense and Security, First Class. In the Svet newspaper, on April 26, 1999, verses from her patriotic poem were recorded: “I will defend Serbia even when I am dead…” In addition to this, she also wrote the poem “Not even my grave will say that I am gone”.

She died in combat on April 1, 1999, in the village of Ljubenić, Peć municipality, when she fell into an ambush by Albanian terrorists. She was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit in the Field of Defense and Security, First Class. Her memory lives on through her six children.

Tragically, her story has been largely forgotten, and many Serbs do not even know about her, as stated by the Facebook page “Jedna je Srbija” (There Is Only One Serbia).

Ljiljana Žikić Karađorđević was a volunteer in the Serbian army during the bombing of Yugoslavia. The words of her poem, which she left as a legacy to her people, remain etched in Serbian history, like a scar on the skin.

Ljiljana was born on March 9, 1957, in Kragujevac. As a child and teenager, she attended music and ballet school. She was involved in the children’s theater “Joakim Vujić”. In 1978, she won the title of Miss Serbia. She graduated from the Faculty of Organizational Sciences in Belgrade as an engineer of organizational sciences. She was married twice and had six children.

She was one of those fearless women willing to lose everything for their country. Unfortunately, she lost her life on April 1, 1999, near the village of Ljubenić while carrying out a combat mission.

She was awarded the Order of Merit in Defense and Security, First Class. Modern Serbian history is filled with examples of women sacrificing themselves for their people, yet many remain unknown to the very nation they died for.

Their loved ones and a few newspaper articles keep their memories alive.

Ljiljana wrote a poem as her farewell, an epitaph, a monument, and a boundary stone between courage, faith, betrayal, honor, life, and death. In her poem “I will defend Serbia even when I am dead,” published on April 26, 1999, in “Svet,” she warned her people to preserve at least a grain of shame within themselves.

Her poetry collection “Kako ti je” (How Are You)” is dedicated to her children. Her deeply moving poem, one that sends chills down the spine and provokes thought, can be read here.

Her six children continue to honor her memory, her life, and her courage.

There is an initiative to name a street in Kragujevac after her.