Podhum is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

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 ...

. It is connected by the D52 highway. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it was the site of the Podhum massacre of Croat civilians by Italian occupation forces; up to 118 people were killed and more than 800 were sent to Italian concentration camps, where many more also died in captivity. A large

Spomenik The authorities of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia established many World War II memorials during the country's existence. Several memorial sites were established between 1945 and 1960, though widespread building started after the fou ...

monument in a park in Podhum now marks the place where Italian forces executed male villagers ranging in age from 16 to 60 years on July 14, 1942. The monument was designed by Croatian sculptor Šime Vulas (1932-2018).

History

A 22 December 1939 decision as part of

agrarian reforms Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution. Lan ...

by Ban Šubašić to confiscate the forest property in Podhum and surroundings of the

Thurn and Taxis The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (, ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the '' Briefadel''. It was a key player in the postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, and beca ...

family,

Kálmán Ghyczy Kálmán Ghyczy de Ghicz, Assakürt et Ablánczkürt (12 February 1808 – 28 February 1888) was a Hungary, Hungarian politician, who served as Minister of Finance between 1874 and 1875. He became representative of Komárom County in 1843. During ...

and Nikola Petrović resulted in a legal dispute known as the

Thurn and Taxis Affair Thurn may refer to: * Thurn, Austria, a town near Lienz, Tyrol * Thurn Pass, an Alpine mountain pass in Austria * Thurn und Taxis The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (, ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the ''Briefadel''. It ...

, in part because of the relative status of the family and in part because of the proximity to the Italian border. The morning of 5 November 2017, a fire burned down an old home and threatened to spread to an adjacent one, but the

volunteer fire department A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction. Volunteer and retained (on-call) firefighters are expected to be on call to respo ...

Jelenje Jelenje is a village and municipality in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. As of 2021, the municipality had a population of 5,096 with 94.6% Croats. The village itself had an urban population of 395. History After the Lujzijan ...

arrived and put out the fire by around 6:00.

References

Bibliography

* * Populated places in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County {{PrimorjeGorskiKotar-geo-stub