Blagaj, also known historically as Blagaj on the Korana, is a village in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Karlovac County Karlovac County () is a county in central Croatia, with the administrative center in Karlovac. It borders Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. The city of Karlovac is a fort from the times of the Military Frontier. It was built as a six-side st ...

, near the town of

Slunj Slunj is a town in the mountainous part of Central Croatia, located along the important North-South route to the Adriatic Sea between Karlovac and Plitvice Lakes National Park, on the meeting of the rivers Korana and Slunjčica. Slunj has a popu ...

. According to the 2001 Croatian census, the village had 38 inhabitants.Popis stanovništva 2001., www.dzs.hr
/ref> It is known for the

Blagaj castle Blagaj () is a medieval ruined castle located on the right bank of the Korana river in modern Karlovac county, Croatia. Around it formed an eponymous village, Blagaj. It has a rectangular floorplan, and was once one of the larger castles in th ...

, but also the 1941

Blagaj massacre The Blagaj massacre was the mass killing of around 400 Serb civilians by the Croatian nationalist Ustaše movement on 9 May 1941, during World War II. The massacre occurred shortly after the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and the establi ...

Architecture

Blagaj castle

History

WWII

On the night of 5—6 May 1941, an armed robbery resulted in the killing 5 members of the Mravunac family, following which "the

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

" of

Veljun Veljun is a village in Croatia, under the Slunj township, in Karlovac County. Demographics In 1890, the ''obćina'' of Veljun (court at Veljun), with an area of , belonged to the ''kotar'' of Slunj (Slunj court and electoral district) in the ' ...

and other environs of Blagaj were accused and rounded up. A

court-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

in Zagreb condemned 32 of them to execution by

firing squad Firing may refer to: * Dismissal (employment), sudden loss of employment by termination * Firemaking, the act of starting a fire * Burning; see combustion * Shooting, specifically the discharge of firearms * Execution by firing squad, a method of ...

on 7 May 1941. This event escalated into the

, and alongside the earlier

Gudovac massacre The Gudovac massacre was the mass killing of around 190 Bjelovar Serbs by the Croatian nationalist Ustaše movement on 28 April 1941, during World War II. The massacre occurred shortly after the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and the e ...

, many have treated it retrospectively as an indicator of future

NDH The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, after the invasion by the Axis powers. Its territory cons ...

treatment of the Serbs.

Demographics

References

Populated places in Karlovac County {{Karlovac-geo-stub