Jasenak, Croatia

Jasenak is a village in Karlovac County, Croatia. It is located in the municipality of Ogulin, on the Jasenačko polje, a karst polje. In 2021, its population was 175. It is the site of the former Bjelolasica Olympic Centre. The village is known for its proximity to Bjelolasica mountain.

History

In the 1930s, Simo Kosanović of Jasenak was the caretaker of Hirčeva kuća in Bijele stijene.

WWII

1941

When Ante Pavelić arrived in Delnice on 13 April 1941, he was awaited by a small group of Frankists. They asked Pavelić for assistance against some Royal Yugoslav Army soldiers who were in the hills nearby, and received from Pavelić a number of Ustaše in response. More concretely, a large group of Yugoslav soldiers had been retreating from the Italian border through Jelenje, Lokve, Mrkopalj and Jasenak. Upon entering Mrkopalj, they were met by a Croat force belonging to , but the Yugoslav soldiers refused to disarm.

At the beginning of June, the Ustaše arrested about ten villagers, to whom they read the names of some prominent individuals in and around Jasenak, requesting that they come to Ogulin. They then let all villagers go, so when the villagers who were let go relayed their message to those named on the list, the named complied. From Ogulin they were taken to Gospić, then to the Jadovno concentration camp where they were killed.

In late June or early July 1941, the priest in Jasenak was arrested. In early July, he had not yet been sent away. As of a 15 July document, all he had been sent to a concentration camp.

Around July 8, the Ogulin kotar began the process of deporting the families to the Sisak concentration camp on a list of 55 people marked for moving to make room for Slovene arrivals, from Jasenak, Josipdol, Munjava, Trojvrh and Vajin Vrh. The deportations were never carried out thanks to Pavelić interrupting the process, but thanks to the mass arrests scaring the Serbs off, none of the attempted arrests in this area succeeded, since none of the named could be found at their house. So great was the fear that women would flee at the sound of a suspicious car. So the ''kotarski predstojnik'' of Ogulin proposed to wait 8 to 10 days until the atmosphere was calmer.

1942

At 10:00 on 24 February 1942, a group of about 300 "Communists" with automatic weapons arrived in the area of Ogulin nd above Hreljin and Kučaj. Until 14:00, they blocked the road to Ogulin, after which they retreated to Gomirje. For 3–4 days they appeared from time to time in the area of Ogulin, Hreljin, Vrbovsko and Gomirje, then Gornje Dubrave, Gomirje and Jasenak.

Demographics

In 1835, Jasenak belonged to Ogulin. There were 18 houses, with a population of 244. Its residents were Eastern Orthodox. It had a ''Gemeinde-Fruchtmagazine''.

Climate

A weather station exists there at an elevation of . The minimum recorded temperature for the winter of 2024–2025 was , on February 20th.

Infrastructure

Forestry

The forestry offices of Ogulin srez were in Ogulin, Drežnica and Jasenak.

Security

In 1913, there were 8 gendarmeries in Delnice kotar: Ogulin, Drežnica, Generalski Stol, Jasenak, Saborsko, Josipdol, Modruš and Plaški.

Gallery

Bjelolasica - Panorama.jpg, Bjelolasica piste
Jasenak - Spomenik palim borcima NOB.JPG, WWII monument

Notes

References

Bibliography

Biology

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History

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Linguistics

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Populated places in Karlovac County

{{Karlovac-geo-stub