Plaški Плашки[1] | |
|---|---|
Municipality | |
 Plaški | |
  Plaški Plaški within Croatia | |
| Coordinates:45°05′N15°22′E / 45.083°N 15.367°E /45.083; 15.367 | |
| Country |  Croatia |
| County |  Karlovac County |
| Area | |
• Municipality | 156.5 km2 (60.4 sq mi) |
| • Urban | 25.6 km2 (9.9 sq mi) |
| Population (2021)[3] | |
• Municipality | 1,650 |
| • Density | 10.5/km2 (27.3/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 1,031 |
| • Urban density | 40.3/km2 (104/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Area code | 31 |
| Website | plaski |
Plaški is a village and a municipality inKarlovac County,Croatia. It is part of the region ofLika.
Plaški is situated in the lower part of theOgulin-Plaški valley. Together withGorski kotar and Lika, the Ogulin-Plaški valley formsMountainous Croatia. The town of Plaški is situated 28 km south fromOgulin and shares borders with municipalities of Ogulin,Josipdol andSaborsko.
Since records began in 1960, the highest temperature recorded at the local weather station was 39.1 °C (102.4 °F), on 8 August 2013.[4] The coldest temperature was −28.5 °C (−19.3 °F), on 12 January 1985.[5]
In 1895, theobćina of Plaški (court at Plaški), with an area of 289 square kilometres (112 sq mi) (highest in thežupanija), belonged to thekotar of Ogulin (Ogulin court but Plaškielectoral district) in thežupanija ofModruš-Rieka (Ogulin high court and financial board). There were 1423 houses, with a population of 9187 (highest in Ogulin kotar). Its 8 villages and 116 hamlets were divided for taxation purposes into 10porezne obćine, under the Ogulin office.[6]: iv, v
The municipality consists of severalsettlements:[7]
Serbian and Croatian are co-official at the municipal level in Plaški.[8]: 2 As of 2023, none of the legal requirements for the fulfillment of bilingual standards have been carried out. Cyrillic is not used on official building signage, street signs, traffic signs or seals. Cyrillic is not used on any official documents, nor are there public legal and administrative employees proficient in the script. Of the officially bilingual municipalities in Croatia, it shared not having Cyrillic even on official building signage only withGračac and the recently officially bilingualOrehovica.[8]: 133, 134
In 33 BC theRomans, led by the future EmperorOctavian Augustus, won a battle against anIllyrian tribe, theJapods, in the area east of Plaški.Roman coins have been found in Plaški which proves that this region was inhabited in Roman times.
The name Plaški was first mentioned in 1163 in documents of theDiocese of Split of theRoman Catholic Church. The second mention of the village dates from 1185 and relates to the establishment of the newKrbava diocese, which the parish of Plaški became a part of. Plaški county (Comitatus Plazy) was a separate administrative region until 1193, when it became part ofModruš county and came to be owned by theFrankopan family. In the name of Frankopans Plaški was governed by the Zebić family of nobles, who were their loyal vassals (even today a part of Plaški is calledZebići).
In 1492 just before theBattle of Krbava Plaški was raided by theTurks led by Jakub-Paša and Plaški was abandoned. In a document ofBernardin Frankopan from 1500 Plaški is described as defense fort against the Turks. Another document from 1550 confirms Plaški's status as defense fort and also mentions it as one of four centres in theMilitary Frontier of theHabsburg Empire.
By decision of the Military Council inGraz,Serbs were allowed to resettle the area. The Serbs came in three waves: 1609, 1639 and 1666. Together withTounj, Plaški was centre of a military company that was part ofOgulin's regiment. TheEparchy of Upper Karlovac of theSerbian Orthodox Church was founded in 1711 and had its first seat inGomirje monastery and from 1721 to 1941 the seat was in Plaški. The Orthodox cathedral was built from 1756 to 1763.
After theinvasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941 Plaški was initially occupied by theRoyal Italian Army, who threw children confections and adults cigars upon arrival. According to eyewitness Simo Šumonja, 2000 Italians were stationed in Plaški.[9]: 349
On 16 April 1941,UstašaJosip Tomljenović [sr] ordered the Croat corporal Mirko Žepalo of the Plaškigendarmerie, which at the time consisted of 5 Serbs and himself, to disarm his colleagues and fill their positions with Croats loyal to theNDH. Žepalo was reluctant, but the next day he told his colleagues, "Gentlemen, what must be, must be" (Croatian:Gospodo, što mora biti, mora), upon which they turned in their arms and returned to their homes.[9]: 350
April and the first half of May that year were relatively peaceful. About 150 Serbian villagers from Plaški and its environs surrendered their weapons to the local gendarmerie during this time. There were no mass imprisonments here yet, but in and around Plaški, 12 economically and politically prominent people were placed under house arrest.[9]: 352
On 28 May in the afternoon, the first mass arrests were made by the Ustaše in Plaški, including of the priest, theepiscopal vicar, the innkeeper, the chief of the railway station Plaški, the baker Pero Klipa from Plaški, a merchant from Plaški and a teacher fromLička Jesenica. Initially, they were held in the jail in Plaški, then transferred to theOgulin castle. There, they were held for about 20 days, forced to sing "Sprem'te se, sprem'te četnici" (aChetnik anthem) while sweeping the streets by their captors. Around 6 June, late in the evening, they were led out of the Ogulin tower into its courtyard and lined up in a zig-zagging column. They were all forced to sign a document with "I the undersigned with my own hand sign that in the time of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia I acted against the interests of the Croat nation, the Ustaša movement and the Poglavnik" (Croatian:Ja niže potpisani vlastoručno se potpisujem da sam za vrijeme Kraljevine Jugoslavije radio protiv interesa hrvatskog naroda, ustaškog pokreta i Poglavnika). The next day, they were transported by train to theDanica concentration camp. Pero Klipa survived thnks to his Italian father in law, who in while Plaški assisted the Italians there in writing a letter requesting his release, which came on 6 November.[9]: 354, 355
Beginning in the first days of June and throughout the month, theSerbian Orthodox priests, monks and members of the ecclesiastical court of Plaški were arrested for questioning at Ogulin, starting with Milan Dokmanović. A total of 19 Orthodox priests were arrested. Only 1 escaped, being on an official trip at the time. Also in early June,župan Jurica Marković confiscated the furniture from the episcopal house in Plaški. In early July, the bishop in Plaški, theprota andčinovnik of the ecclesiastical court in Plaški and thecatechist in Plaški had not yet been sent away. According to a 15 July document from thekotarski načelnik of Ogulin, all Orthodox priests from the territory of the kotar of Ogulin were sent to concentration camps, with the exception of thebishop in Plaški, who was too old.[9]: 356, 359
Trains carrying concentration camp inmates from Ogulin toGospić over the course of 50 days about twice a day and perhaps more by night, each train with about twenty wagons full of inmates. One of the inmates threw a piece of shoe with a letter tied to it out of the wagon at Plaški, which a child, Simo Šumonja, then carried to the post office. The letter explained that he was travelling from Danica to Gospić. These trains stopped passing through in August.[9]: 358
A 2 July was issued order for all Velike župe, including that of Modruš (with seat inOgulin), to make room for 2500Slovenes each, who were to occupy the homes of 2500 Serbs, to be deported to theGMS, prioritising businessmen and merchants. Plaški was to accommodate 800 Slovenes. As of mid-July, there were not enough empty Serb homes to accommodate the exchange.[9]: 365
On 30 July, many Serb villagers of Plaški were arrested at the market in Ogulin, having come there to sell. Beginning with the next market on 6 August, the Serbs stopped coming out of fear that it would happen a third time.[9]: 361
At 2:30 on 20 June 1942, Plaški was attacked from all sides with rifle and machine gun fire by the Partisans. The attack lasted until 3:30, but was repelled without Axis losses and with unknown Partisan losses. The attack was a diversion for an operation that removed 12 metres (39 ft) of track, blocking railway traffic between Plaški and Vojnovac, but not for long.[10]
On 4 July, Partisans destroyed 450 metres (1,480 ft) of track betweenBlato andLička Jesenica. Italian soldiers arrived from Plaški on an armoured train and the Partisans retreated.[11]
Before theCroatian War of Independence, Plaški was a municipality with a majority ofSerb population. In the census of 2001, the town of Plaški had 1,468 with total municipality population of 2,292,[12] of which 48.4% wereCroats, and 46.1% Serbs. Much of theCroat population is made up of thoseforced to leaveBosnia replacing Serbs who, in 1995, fled duringOperation Storm. The Serbs constituted 46% and Croats constituted 51% of the population in the 2011 census.[13]
On 1 January 1894,Vajin Vrh andTrojvrh, until then part of Plaški obćina, were annexed byJosipdol obćina.[14]: 209
In 1913, there were 8gendarmeries in Delnice kotar:Ogulin,Drežnica,Generalski Stol,Jasenak,Saborsko,Josipdol,Modruš and Plaški.[15]
Subdivisions ofKarlovac County | ||
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