Zalužnica () is a village in the Gacka valley in present-day Lika-Senj County, Croatia. It is located around the road between the market town of Otočac and the Plitvice Lakes National Park. It was likely mainly populated in the early to mid-17th century. The existing village church dates from 1753 and anecdotal evidence suggests it was preceded by an earlier wooden built church. A peak population was reached in the late 19th century and from there progressively reduced due to migration and war. It was almost totally de-populated in 1995 during the war that saw the breakup of the former Yugoslavia when the high majority of the population left for Serbia. A handful of old people remained in the village unable or unwilling to make the long trek. A few new people subsequently established holiday homes over the last 10 years and a few returned from Serbia. More recently, local authorities have given Roma people use of the many empty farm properties. The annual Petrovdan celebrations were re-established in the 2000s attracting people with a connection to the village from Serbia and from abroad (see 'YouTube' for films from various years).
There are many people scattered around the world who have some connection with the village resulting from the many migrations away from the village throughout its history. For the village diaspora, there are many issues in trying to find their family ties and heritage. This is reviewed in the below section on 'Ancestor Records....'.
Population
Manojlo Grbić lists that in 1768 Zaluznica comprised 68 households (the author estimates a population of around 600). A German publication, from 1847 has the population at 1,561 with 271 households.\https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Jahrbücher_für_slawische_Literatur,_Kunst_und_Wissenschaft p. 90 This probably presents the pinnacle of the population. The 1848–49 upheavals in the Austrian Empire, Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire, which required intervention of Russian forces on the side of the Austrians and the subsequent migrations to Northern Bosnia (Bosnia annexed by the Austrians in 1878) and the 'liberated' Lika border lands took its toll on the village population. The 1866 book by Vinko Sabljar, states 75 houses and a population of 990. A survey from 1895,Političko i sudbeno razdieljenje Kralj. Hrvatske i Slavonije i repertorij prebivališta po stanju od 31. svibnja 1895 had the population at 1139 with 178 households (made up of the main village and the hamlets of Draga Brakusa, Čelina, Gola Brdo and Cvijanović Kuca. In the first decade of the 20th century many people left for the US with the many millions of others from Europe.See Ellis Island online database Subsequently, the impact of the two World Wars (death and migration), the 1960/70s economic migration to cities both in Yugoslavia and central and Western Europe reduced the total population. Ultimately, the wholesale migration of the village to Serbia in 1995 due to war resulted in the near-total depopulation of the village. According to the 2011 census, there were 220 inhabitants living in 157 housing units. Based on anecdotal evidence from various visits to the village after this date, the number of permanent inhabitants is significantly lower, estimated at less than 30.
Family names and households in the village is listed by Radoslav Grujić in 1915: Agbaba - 1 household, Borčić/Delić - 1, Borovac - 20, Brakus - 46, Dorontić - 5, Grbić - 1, Grozdanić - 1, Hinić - 40, Ivančević - 31, Kosić - 6, Krainović/Krajnović - 4, Milinović - 2, Mirković - 5, Novaković - 4, Popović - 33, Srbinović/Srbjanović - 1, Srdić - 1, Uzelac - 10, Vukovojac - 12.
Where there are only 1 or 2 houses of the same surname, they are likely to be most recently settled in the village. For example, the Srdić and Grbić surnames are mainly to be found in Vrhovine. The Grozdanić name is mainly found in Ponori and associated hamlets. Borovac, Brakus, Hinić, Ivančević, Popović, and Vukovojac amongst a few others appear in the earliest Austrian army records; from at least 1756.
As many households had the same family name although not related (in living memory) the practice of giving nicknames, called 'špicnamen' (German origin) to differentiate themselves, was widespread. These nicknames originated for a variety of reasons and similarly to how surnames originated. In many cases, it referred to the given name of the head of the family at a point in time, although for the most populous surnames different nicknames evolved.
Grujić also documented some of the špicnamen: Baćini, Bekuti, Brašnari, Guslice, Kuća, Seperi, Šamendulje, Vargani Hinić, Čulumi, Mezani a.k.a. Ivančević (an army record in the early 1800s lists a Čulumi from Zalužnica), Dejići, Dvogroške, Sajići, Šare a.k.a. Popović, Karapandže, Keseri, Pišnjaci a.k.a. Brakus, Korice a.k.a. Krajnović.
The rough plan to the right is an incomplete view of farmhouses from the 1970s, including some of the 'špicnamen'. Major exceptions are farmhouse details for Draga Brakus and the Hinić concentrated around Um.
Language
Given the relative isolation, mixed origins, neighbouring Croats who spoke a different dialect (and accent) and the influence of the ruling Austro-Hungarian state, the language used by people in Zalužnica and other nearby Serb villages developed its own character. From an academic perspective the people spoke the Štokavian dialect and over-time mixed Ijekavian and Ekavian variants in everyday language, which again reflects their origin e.g. in the mainly Serbian ekavian sub-class the word for 'milk' is 'mleko' compared to mljeko in the ijekavian form. Some words in an otherwise mainly shared south Slav lexicon were different e.g. the Serbian 'hleb' for 'bread' compared to Croatian 'kruh'. Some Zalužnica villagers used the slang 'krua-leba'. German words (and corrupted forms) also became inter-mingled into everyday use, influenced by the direct Habsburg rule, e.g. German 'grau' for 'grey' as opposed to the Slavic 'siv', 'šnider' for 'tailor' instead of 'krojač', 'stoff' used for 'cloth' instead of 'tkanina'. There could be some Latin-based influence, originating from close by Venetian territories on the coast or from true vlachs e.g. 'čeno' for 'dog' instead of Slavic 'pas'. The rural upland setting naturally stamped its own influences.
Surrounding area
Zalužnica sits on the eastern slope of the Gacka valley and the main pass to the Plitvice plateau from the valley. It sits around the main road running from Plitvice Lakes National Park to Otočac via Vrhovine. By car, it takes about 45 minutes to drive from the village to Plitvice and 20 minutes to Otočac. To the west, at the edge of the village, the road splits. What used to be the Markovac country lane before 1995 is now the main road to Otočac and the next village is Podum/Podhum (Serb village). Taking the road to the south-west, the first village is Sinac (Croatian village). Otočac is the major market town in the Gacka Valley. Before 1995, it was populated by a Croat majority and large Serb minority. At the centrally located school house on the main road, a country lane runs northwards towards Doljani and Škare. Following the main road eastwards towards Plitvice, the first village is Vrhovine (high majority Serb village) about 15 minutes drive. Vrhovine is probably the highest above sea level in the immediate area ('Vrh' literally means the 'top' or 'peak'); 700m above sea level compared to Zalužnica's 500 m. Vrhovine has a railway station. While there were a few households off the beaten track there are was no other settlement between the villages; to the immediate south, south-east and north-east are mountain peaks. Beyond the schoolhouse and church along the main road is a limestone cavern and underground river, which until WW2 was the main drinking water supply for the village. A number of common use wells were dug around the village that tapped into the same underground water supply. Farmhouses are predominately located along the main and Škare roads at the base of large hills.
Farming
Farming in Zalužnica was a matter of self-subsistence made difficult by the limestone geology and rough terrain. The mainstays of the average farm was sheep, cattle, pigs, grains, and potatoes. Plum orchards were a very important resource from which the local spirit called Šlivovic (otherwise rakija) was made. The winters are typically harsh, and the summers are hot. Until the early 1960s, most work on farms was manual throughout the year using bullocks/ox (or a few families who could afford to keep horses) as the main power source for heavy farm work. By the mid-1970s, farming became almost fully mechanised. Farms were small with many small fields scattered around the village resulting from historical family inheritance customs, which further limited the scope for larger farmsteads. For those farms away from the main road electricity was only connected in the late 1950–60s and piped water in the 1970-80's.
History
From its establishment due to conflict, the village and its people continued to be moulded by almost constant conflict throughout its history. The main exceptions were the economic migration to the US in the early 1900s and the relative prosperity of the 1960–1980s. It is therefore no surprise that village life was ended during conflict in 1995.
The regular occurrence of war and conflict has seemingly destroyed most social and communal documents. The church records are missing. Most readily available documentation provides small snippets of tangential information; Austro-Hungarian Army records (18th to 20th century), 19th and early 20th century ecclesiastical and population surveys, and the Ellis Island information (1890 to 1920).
Pre-1300s The presence of a notable opening at ground level to an underground river and caverns would have likely attracted people through the ages. In addition, the narrow pass at the eastern part of the village provides one of the few access points from the Gacka valley to the extensive lakes system of Plitvice.
Beyond Draga Brakus towards the Vatinovac peak is the Bezdanjača cave where around 200 burials were discovered dating to the middle to late Bronze Age (1500–750 BC).
While there are Roman remains in Lika, there's nothing of note within the area of the village. Vrhovine had been a Roman settlement, called Arapium.
From 1300, Otočac became part of the Frankopan family estate, which probably extended to include the area that became Zalužnica.
Prior to the Ottoman incursions, there was possibly a Croatian settlement. Fras claims that in the general vicinity of the village there are traces of church ruins of which nothing is known other than its name of Sv.Mihovil. (Note: The reference to Fras is taken from a 1988 Croatian translation and not from the original book.).
The name of the village evolved. A history of the Otočac regiment by Franz Bach, mentions the village in the mid-18th century as "Sct Peter (Založnica)", for example on page 51. The book by Vinko Sabljar lists the village as "Založnica (Zalužnica, Sveti-Petar)". The name refers to the church in the village, its full title 'Sveti Petar i Pavao' (St Peter & Paul).
Ottomans
In the aftermath of the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 the Ottomans pushed northwards further into south-eastern Europe, progressively taking control of Serbia, Bosnia, and Dalmatia hinterland. Venice maintained control of key cities on the coast. The spread of the Ottoman Empire forced large numbers of Slavic and other peoples into Austrian and Hungarian territories. The limited record in Venetian, Austrian and Hungarian lands report the arrival of people variously called Rascians, Serbs, and Vlachs from the 1500s.