LIKA AND SENJ IN 1914 BETWEEN PEACE AND WAR

Prije stotinu godina Lika i Senj u sastavu Ličko-krbavske županije našli su se na povijesnom raskrižju između mira i rata. Posljednjih mjeseci mira umrli su senjski i modruški ili krbavski biskup Roko Vučić i gornjo-karlovački episkop Mihajlo Grujić. U ličko-krbavskoj unutrašnjosti pojavili su se tiskani ćirilični letci s pozivom na iseljavanje pravoslavnog stanovništva u Makedoniju i ostale nove srbijanske stečevine, a Društvo za uređenje i poljepšanje Plitvičkih jezera i okolice u Zagrebu zatražilo je predstavkom od Hrvatskoga sabora da se na jezerima ne gradi električna centrala na vodeni pogon. Atentat na austro-ugarskog prijestolonasljenika Franju Ferdinanda u Sarajevu snažno je odjeknuo u svim slojevima ličkih ljudi hrvatske i srpske narodnosti. U Senju su izbile protusrpske demonstracije, a neka Mica Kranjčević iz Brloga osumnjičena je da je odobravala atentat pucanjem iz pištolja. Kad je Austro-Ugarska objavila rat Srbiji, čime je započeo Prvi svjetski rat, skupina mobiliziranih vojnika pravoslavne vjere strgnula je hrvatsku zastavu u Otočcu, a vladin povjerenik u Gospiću zatražio žurno pojačanje oružničkih postaja u Ličko-krbavskoj županiji. Dok su domaći vojnici u sastavu 79. pukovnije grofa Jelačića iz Otočca i domobrani u sastavu 26. domobranske pukovnije iz Karlovca prvih mjeseci rata prolijevali svoju krv "za kralja i domovinu" na balkanskom i galicijskom bojištu, brojne politički sumnjive i nepouzdane osobe u ličko-krbavskoj pozadini bile su uhićene i pritvorene, pri čemu je samo na Udbini internirano 128 politički sumnjivih i nepouzdanih osoba pravoslavne vjere. Razbuktavanje rata do konca godine pogoršalo je gospodarske i socijalne prilike u Ličko-krbavskoj županiji, a uvedeni prijeki sud ostao je ondje zbog sigurnosnih razloga i dalje na snazi.A hundred years ago Lika and Senj as part of the Lika-Krbava County found themselves at an historic crossroads between peace and war. In subsequent months the Senj and Modruš or Krbava Bishop Roko Vučić and the Gornji-Karlovac Bishop Mihajlo Grujić died. In the Lika- Krbava interior there appeared printed leaflets in Cyrillic with an invitation to the emigration of the Orthodox population to Macedonia and other new Serbian acquisitions, whilst a society for the landscaping and beautification of the Plitvice Lakes and surroundings requested the Croatian Parliament not to build a water-powered electrical plant on the lakes via a petition in Zagreb. The assassination of the Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo reverberated greatly through all layers of the people of Lika of Croatian and Serbian nationality. Anti-Serb demonstrations erupted in Senj, and Mica Kranjčević from Brlog was suspected of approving the assassination by firing a pistol. When Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia, with which the First World War started, a group of mobilised soldiers of Orthodox faith pulled down the Croatian flag in Otočac, and the governing commissioner in Gospić requested the urgent strengthening of the weapons’ stations in Lika-Krbava County. Whilst the home soldiers of the 79th Regiment of Count Jelačić from Otočac and the home guard of the 26th Home Defence Regiment from Karlovac spilt their blood “for king and country” on the battlefields of the Balkans and Galicia in the first months of the war, many politically suspicious and untrustworthy individuals in the Lika-Krbava background were arrested and detained, wherein 128 politically dubious and unreliable people of the Orthodox faith were interned in Udbina alone. The flare-up of war by the end of the year worsened the economic and social conditions in Lika-Krbava County, and the set-up of martial law remained in place here due to security reasons

FRAGMENTS FROM THE ECCLESIAL AND LAY HISTORY OF PODGORJE IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES

Na temelju raspoloživih izvora i odabrane literature autor donosi neke podatke i spoznaje o nedovoljno istraženoj crkvenoj i svjetovnoj prošlosti Podgorja u modernom i suvremenom razdoblju. Podgorje je do razvojačenja 1873. i povratka Vojne krajine pod bansku vlast 1881. bilo podijeljeno između Smiljanske satnije u Ličkoj i Svetojurjevske satnije u Otočkoj pukovniji,. Samo je Karlobag bio vojni komunitet, kaštelanat i slobodna luka. Od 1809. do 1813. bilo je Podgorje pod francuskom upravom u sklopu Vojne Hrvatske kao dijela Ilirskih pokrajina, a zatim opet pod austrijskom (habsburškom) upravom. Domaći ljudi bili su Hrvati, uglavnom katolici i štokavci. Bili su to siromašni seljaci koji su u doba Vojne krajine obavljali i vojnu službu. Bavili su se obradom škrte zemlje, uzgojem stoke na velebitskim obroncima, izradom odjeće i opanaka, sječom stabala za jarbole, ribarenjem, prosjačenjem i rijetko kakvim obrtom. Žitelji uz more odijevali su se "po gradsku", a oni u planini "po bunjevačku", kako su 1850. pisali podgorski župnici. Između dvaju svjetskih ratova većina je Podgoraca još živjela ustaljenim pastoralnim životom prema obrascima koji su se prenosili s koljena na koljeno. Uvijek u nuždi, više gladni nego siti, oskudijevali su pitkom vodom, npr. u Cesarici, gdje je 1937. na tisuću stanovnika dolazila jedna šterna. Razvojno zaostajanje Podgorja za vrijeme monarhističke Jugoslavije nastavilo se poslije kušnji tijekom Drugoga svjetskog rata kroz dugo stajanje u mjestu za vrijeme socijalističke Jugoslavije. Dovršetak izgradnje Jadranske magistrale 1965. olakšao je razvoj turizma, osobito u Karlobagu koji je dobio motel i trajektno pristanište, ali su taj razvoj ometali nedostatak pitke vode, bacanje smeća u more, divlja gradnja objekata i drugi problemi. Istodobno je politički život bio pod partijskim monopolom, Katolička crkva odvojena od države i društveno marginalizirana, a iseljavanje ljudi i pad nataliteta poprimili su kataklizmičke razmjere. U takvim prilikama Podgorje je dočekalo Domovinski rat i državno osamostaljenje Republike Hrvatske.On the basis of available sources and selected literature, the author presents some information and insights about the insufficiently researched ecclesial and lay past of Podgorje in the modern and contemporary period. Until demilitarisation in 1873 and the return of the Military Frontier under the administration of the ban in 1881 Podgorje was divided between the Smiljan company in the Lika and the Sveti Juraj company in the Otok regiment. Only Karlobag was a military community, a ‘castellanat’ and free port. From 1809 to 1813 Podgorje was under French rule within Military Croatia as part of the Illyrian Provinces, and then again under Austrian (Habsburg) rule. The local people were Croats, mostly Catholics and speakers of Štokavian. They were poor peasants who during the Military Frontier period also served military service. They cultivated the poor land, bred cattle on the slopes of Velebit, made clothes and simple footwear, cut trees for masts, fished, begged and were rarely involved in any small business. Inhabitants along the sea dressed "po gradsku" ("in the town style"), whilst those in the hills "po bunjevačku" ("like the Bunjevci"), as Podgorje priests wrote in 1850. Between the two world wars, the majority of the people of Podgorje still lived the established pastoral life according to the ways that were passed from generation to generation. Always in need, more hungry than full, they lacked drinking water, e.g. in Cesarica in 1937 there was one well for the one thousand inhabitants. The developmental lagging behind of Podgorje during the time of the monarchical Yugoslavia continued after the ordeals of the Second World War through the stagnation of the place during socialist Yugoslavia. The completion of the construction of the Adriatic highway – the magistrale – in 1965 helped the development of tourism, particularly in Karlobag which gained a motel and ferry dock, however the lack of drinking water, the dumping of rubbish into the sea, the illegal construction of buildings and other problems hindered this development. At the same time political life was under the monopoly of the party, the Catholic Church was separate from the state and socially marginalised, and the emigration of people and the fall in the birth rate took on cataclysmic dimensions. Under such conditions Podgorje faced the Homeland War and the state independence of the Republic of Croatia