Lička Jesenica is a settlement in the

Lika Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by t ...

region of

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 ...

, in the municipality of Saborsko,

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 ...

History

In 1933,

Chetnik The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...

formations were organised on the territory of Srpske Moravice,

Gomirje Gomirje is a settlement in north-western Croatia, situated at the far east of the mountainous region of Gorski kotar in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. It is part of the Vrbovsko municipality. The population is 343 (as of the 2011 census). H ...

and Lička Jesenica. They had a minor political influence until 1941 when a large number of them were killed in the first wave of liquidations.

WWII

In May 1941, the Ustaša government began targeting known and suspected JRZ members with arrests. The prominent JRZ members in Lička Jesenica at the time were Dušan Vukelić, Miljenko Milaković, Ilija Žutić and Stanislav Nasadil. On 28 May in the afternoon, the first mass arrests were made by the Ustaše in

Plaški Plaški is a village and a municipality in Karlovac County, Croatia. It is part of the region of Lika. Geography Plaški is situated in the lower part of the Ogulin-Plaški valley. Together with Gorski kotar and Lika, the Ogulin-Plaški valley ...

, including of a teacher from Lička Jesenica. Initially, they were held in the jail in Plaški, then transferred to the Ogulin castle. There, they were held for about 20 days, forced to sing "Sprem'te se, sprem'te četnici" (a

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" (). The next day, they were transported by train to the

Danica concentration camp Danica was the first concentration and extermination camp established in the Independent State of Croatia during World War II. It was established in Koprivnica (located in modern-day Croatia) on 15 or 20 April 1941 in the deserted building of form ...

. In late June or early July 1941, the priest in Jesenica 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. On 4 July 1942, Partisans destroyed of track between Blato and Lička Jesenica. Italian soldiers arrived from

on an armoured train and the Partisans retreated. On 1–7 and 8 September, Partisans destroyed about of railway between the Blato-Lička Jesenica and Javornik stations. They burned 4 railway guardposts between Blato and Lička Jesenica and destroyed the water pump in Lička Jesenica. Italian railway guard troops engaged the Partisans in a 2 day battle. The Partisans killed 1 and wounded 8. After the Partisans left, it was estimated the repairs would take several days.

Culture

Orthodox church of St Elias in Lička Jesenica was built in 1751. The village feast celebrating St. Elias, the saint protector of the village, is traditionally held on August the 2nd.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, the settlement of Lička Jesenica has 100 inhabitants. This represents 22.52% of its pre-

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

population according to the 1991 census. The 1991 censusIzdanje Državnog zavoda za statistiku RH: Narodnosni sastav stanovništva RH od 1880-1991. godine. recorded that 98.42% of the village population were ethnic

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 ...

(437/444), 0.23% were ethic

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

(1/444) and 1.35% were of other ethnic origin (6/444).
:

Sights

* St. Elias Orthodox Church * Jasenica river * the old bridge over the Jasenica river, dating back to 1810

Notable natives and residents

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Populated places in Karlovac County Serb communities in Croatia {{Karlovac-geo-stub