The second winter since the struggle against the occupier began was very cold. The temperature on February days was far below freezing. A several-decade-thick layer of snow covered the plains of Banat, and at Kumana, that hotbed of revolutionary thought and suitable combat action, the whiteness was boundless and even less passable. Through such a gloomy winter evening, at dusk, two travelers made their way through the thick snow cover toward the village. One could easily assume that they were freezing and lost and that, heading for the village, they wished to warm up and sink into such a dear and warm family home. This could be a logical conclusion for an outsider.
However, these two did not want to warm up; they wanted freedom. They fought for it against the occupiers who had blocked their village, searching specifically for them and their comrades. Žarko Milankov and his companion knocked on the door of a house at the end of the village, inquiring of the villagers about the situation, what the enemy was doing, and other matters. After being informed, they returned to the endless whiteness of the fields, toward the hut where they were hiding. Years of revolutionary practice and the situation they were in, living in deep secrecy, required that their arrival remain unnoticed. Thus, they reversed their shoes, leaving behind a trail that made it seem as if two lost villagers had come to the village.
Already noticeably tired, upon reaching the hut, they alternated sleeping. The much-needed rest was interrupted by heavily armed gendarmes and enemies who surrounded the hut where the revolutionary was hiding. He had been betrayed. Such a fate is not what a man who fought not only for his own good but also for the good of all the villagers of Kumana, and even the villagers they had addressed the night before, deserved. Žarko did not anticipate such a vile act. Perhaps no other villager of Kumana would have done it, not even a villager from Melenac, Miloševo, Kikinda, or other places in relation to the parliamentary candidate from a few years ago, whom they had so unreservedly applauded, whose name they mentioned with enthusiasm and hope because he spoke of a new, better, and happier life, and asked for struggle and sacrifice from them. In that struggle, he was among the leaders.
As the encirclement of gendarmes and German villains tightened, Žarko made crucial decisions in absentia: to deal the enemy the greatest possible blow and not fall alive into their hands. This was how the revolutionary decided, as the Party taught him. After a short but fierce skirmish, the penultimate bullet was fired into the head of a comrade, and the last into his own. The long-time revolutionary and communist Žarko Milankov fell bravely and defiantly.
48 years earlier, in 1896, also in February, Žarko was born into a poor laborer family. Having not completed even primary school, after his father's early death, Žarko earned his bread by working on the estates of wealthier villagers. In his early youth, he felt the full weight of life, which was already filled with exploitation, injustice, and poverty for him.
Later, after returning from World War I and getting married, he had to continue working with his four cadastral acres of very poor land. Such a life and all the hardships it carried gave birth to a clear and ultimately rebellious and defiant attitude towards everything at the time in a clear-headed and persistently rebellious peasant. This transformed into revolutionary activity with Žarko's acceptance into the KPJ (Communist Party of Yugoslavia) in the 1930s, which elevated Žarko and made him popular, highly respected by most of his villagers, villagers from surrounding places, and large cities like Kikinda and Zrenjanin, in short, the whole of Banat. The idea of "Little Moscow" in a certain sense also contained the idea of one of those who contributed to such an epithet, Žarko, one of the most prominent revolutionaries of Kumana. That says it all.
Respecting your curiosity, dear reader, we will also present the biographical data that led us to write about Žarko here, with the hope of reminding or informing you for the first time about this revolutionary, an older citizen of your Municipality, as an example from whom we should draw strength for new, greater successes.
Immediately after being admitted as a member of the KPJ, Žarko Milankov was elected a member of the Local Committee of the KPJ, in which capacity he developed very active work, especially in assisting party organizations in the village and, as assigned, in other nearby places. In 1934 and 1935, Žarko Milankov became one of the central political figures. As a good agricultural worker, diligent and honest, naturally intelligent, he gained authority and respect not only among communists but also among the masses. He became a true son of his people. This particularly came to the fore when Žarko led the fight against Hođer's fascist Yugoslav National Party. By proclaiming the expulsion of comrades, gathering poor and middle peasants, the communists, along with their sympathizers, enrolled en masse to take control and expose it completely. This had far-reaching consequences in the May Day elections of 1935 when the fascists did not even appear with their list. During the pre-election activities, Žarko organized mass trips of Kumančani to meetings in Zrenjanin, Kikinda, and other places where parliamentary candidates and other speakers, including communists Mirko Tomić and Žarko Milankov himself, spoke. After that, following the formation of the new Provincial Committee of the KPJ for Vojvodina in 1935, led by Kumančanin Laza Milankov, Kumana became the center of activity, and Žarko was one of the most active, visiting many places in Vojvodina and providing assistance to party organizations.
That same year, a union of agricultural workers was formed, with Žarko being one of the most prominent organizers. In the well-known chamomile pickers' strike in Vanj, he spoke at the meeting, then led a large column through the village to the union house. Other significant actions of the union under Žarko Milankov's leadership followed, such as those during threshing, etc.
After the arrest of Lazar Milankov, Secretary of the Provincial Committee in 1936, Žarko Milankov was among many arrested, who, of all the cell secretaries, had the best demeanor, leaving only his cell intact. While in prison, municipal elections were held in which citizens nominated him for president of the municipality. Žarko received the majority of 700 votes, and voters often shouted: "Long live Žarko Milankov." Upon returning from prison, Žarko was elected a member of the new local and district committee of the KPJ, continuing his rich activity in the newly formed National Front, where he attracted huge crowds as an experienced speaker. This contributed to Žarko Milankov being on the list of parliamentary candidates in 1938. He was offered a bribe of 100,000 dinars to withdraw his candidacy, which he, despite being very poor, refused. As a candidate, he spoke at a meeting in Melenci before about 5,000 villagers, as well as in other places, and in Zrenjanin before around 80,000 citizens. As a candidate of the National Front, he received the majority of 1,300 votes in Kumana, and in the Novi Bečej district, just 30 votes fewer than the united opposition candidate. However, he could not become a member of parliament due to the D'Hondt electoral system.
In 1941, on March 27, the party organization in Kumana organized a rally and demonstrations, where Žarko, in his speech, exposed the traitorous government and publicly called on the masses to rally around the KPJ in its fight against fascism. When Germany attacked the USSR in 1941, Žarko, together with other communists, went underground and organized a partisan unit, and when he was tired, he became its commissioner until his death.
Žarko was the best worker, an excellent mower, and the best corn harvester; at the thresher, he took care of every person, replacing them when they were tired. He loved people, gathered them, and, according to their words, was like the queen bee in a hive. He lived a hard life and thus always fought. In short, he was great. Thus, he fell, engraving himself deeply into the hearts of his villagers, leaving them with the duty to continue what he had started.
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