Bihać

This article describes the city in Bosnia-Herzegovina. For the German music video and commercial director see Zoran Bihać .

Bihać Бихаћ
Basic data
State :	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Entity :	Federation of BiH
Canton :	Una-sana
Coordinates :	44 ° 49 '  N , 15 ° 52'  E Coordinates: 44 ° 48 '45 "  N , 15 ° 51' 59"  E
Height :	163  m. i. J.
Area :	900  km²
Residents :	61,186 (2013)
Population density :	68 inhabitants per km²
Telephone code :	+387 (0) 37
Postal code :	77000
Structure and administration (as of 2016)
Community type:	city
Mayor :	Šuhret Fazlić (Građanski savez)
Website :	www.bihac.org

Bihać ( Serbian - Cyrillic Бихаћ ; German outdated Wihitsch , Wihitz or Wihatsch ) is a city in the far northwest of Bosnia and Herzegovina . It is located near the border with Croatia on the Una River and is the capital of the Una-Sana canton in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina . The municipality of Bihać, which in addition to the actual city also includes the surrounding area, has around 61,000 inhabitants. More than 90% of the population are Bosniaks .

geography

The city lies in the valley of the Una , which here expands into a broad basin. Above and below the urban area, however, the river runs through narrow gorges. To the southeast of Bihać the mountains of the Grmeč Mountains rise to over 1100 m, in the west the Croatian border runs on the Plješevica mountain range , the highest peak of which (1649 m) dominates Bihać.

The municipality continues from Bihać for about 40 km in a southerly direction along the Croatian border as far as Kulen Vakuf and includes other places such as Martin Brod and Donja Gata . The southernmost part of the municipality is Bosanski Osredci .

climate

The climate is humid, temperate and Central European. The summers are warm and dry, the winters cold with abundant rainfall. The average temperature in January is 0.4 ° C, in July 21 ° C. The annual average temperature is 10.6 ° C; the average annual rainfall is 1308 mm. The lowest temperature ever recorded was −24.8 ° C (on January 24, 1963), the highest at 38.6 ° C (on July 28, 1983).

history

Early history

The Unatal seems to have been particularly important in prehistoric times. At Ripač, about 10 km southeast of Bihać, extensive pile dwellings have been found, which began in the Bronze Age . A little closer to Bihać, near Jezerine, a large cemetery from the La Tène period with numerous urns and valuable grave goods was discovered, and another in Ribić, a suburb of Bihać.

Until 1918

The city was first mentioned in a document from King Béla IV in 1260 , where it is referred to as the property of the Cistercian monastery of Topusko . The city was in Latin documents Castrum bichiciense in German Wihitsch . In the Middle Ages Bihać was temporarily the seat of the Croatian-Hungarian kings. King Béla IV. Had the city surrounded by a wall in the 13th century, which is where the ring road now runs. From the 13th to the 16th century, the Croatian Sabors met several times in Bihać . In 1592 the city was conquered by the Ottomans and became part of the Paschaliks Bosnia , whose history it has shared since then. As an Ottoman fortress close to the border with the Austrian military border , Bihać was besieged more than 63 times by the Austrian armies during the Turkish Wars, but was never captured. Bihać was then considered impregnable due to its high and strong walls.

Croatian castle of Bihać around 1590, before the Ottoman conquest

Captain's Tower and Tower of Saint Anthony

Alija Izetbegović Bridge

Una bank near Bihać

As a result of the Berlin Treaty in 1878, the city, which was predominantly inhabited by Muslims, came under the administration of Austria-Hungary together with Bosnia-Herzegovina . But it was not until September 1878 that Bihać was captured by Austro-Hungarian troops under General Reinländer against fierce resistance. From 1888 the fortification walls were dismantled with the exception of a few remains.

1918 to 1990

After the end of the First World War and the subsequent collapse of Austria-Hungary, the city belonged to the newly founded Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes , which was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929 . Here Bihać became a district town in the Vrbas Banschaft . During the Second World War , Bihać was attacked by German troops on April 13, 1941 and then became part of the vassal state Independent State of Croatia, which was allied with National Socialist Germany . For the victims of by the Ustasha crimes committed in 1941 massacre of 1981 was Bogdan Bogdanović designed memorial park in garavice inaugurated.

Just a few days after the attack, resistance to the occupation formed in the city and its surroundings, which culminated in April 1942 with the partisans taking over the city and the proclamation of the Bihać Republic . On November 26 and 27, 1942, the first meeting of the Anti-Fascist Council for National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) took place here, which formed the basis for the later Yugoslav government under Tito . On January 29, 1943, the German troops succeeded in retaking the city. It remained under German occupation until it was liberated by the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army on March 28, 1945.

During the time of socialist Yugoslavia , Bihać belonged as a district town to the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina , which was newly formed within Yugoslavia, and developed into the economic and administrative center in northwestern Bosnia .

Since 1990

In the Bosnian war , the area around Bihac in 1992 made up 1995 by Serb militias from the Republika Srpska on one side and from the Republic of Serbian Krajina encircled on the other side enclave , which extends over the entire length of the war under the control of Bosnian government forces was and UN protection zone was declared. At times, those responsible around Fikret Abdić from the area north of the city agreed a separate peace with the besiegers. However, this was rejected by the leadership of the Bosnian army corps in Bihać , which temporarily led to fighting between Bosniak- dominated troops. In the summer of 1995, the situation in the Bihać enclave worsened dramatically. According to estimates by the UN at the time, around 150,000 refugees crowded into the enclave, which was now increasingly under Serbian artillery fire and into which the Serbs pushed their positions. International observers also anticipated a humanitarian catastrophe for Bihać as early as July 1995.

On August 4, 1995, the Croatian army began a large-scale military offensive, Military Operation Oluja , with the recapture of the Serb-occupied territories in Croatia. This operation lasted four days; the entire Republic of Serbian Krajina was reintegrated into Croatian territory. The impending danger for the previous enclave of Bihać was averted at the last minute by this Croatian offensive. At the same time, probably in a coordinated military operation, Croatian and Bosnian units also fought successfully in western Bosnia against the Serbian units, which saw themselves increasingly on the defensive. In a few weeks, the whole of western Bosnia was again in the hands of the Bosnian-Croatian Federation , and the Bosnian heartland could henceforth be reconnected with the Bihać area.

On July 24, 2014, Bihać was granted city status (degree) by the parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina .

Since the refugee crisis in Europe from 2015 , Bihać has been used by migrants as a place to stay before crossing the border into the European Union . In the summer of 2019, reports of inhumane conditions in the Vučjak refugee camp located on the municipal area attracted greater media attention. According to eyewitnesses, there was no electricity, hardly enough food and no sanitary facilities. Almost all residents suffered from scabies and were otherwise ill. In November 2019, the regional government of the canton of Una-Sana imposed a curfew on Vučjak and another camp near Bihac after more crimes were recorded in the region and local residents protested. According to the Bosnian media, refugees mainly broke into houses and stole food and cars. There had also been violent conflicts among the refugees. After around 500 of the 600 migrants or residents in the camp went on a hunger strike on December 5th , Bosnia dissolved the refugee camp on December 10th. The 600 residents were taken to a former barracks.

City structure

North:

• Bakšaiš
• Hatinac

East:

• Gornje Prekounje
• Donje Prekounje
• Brklja
• Čavkići

South:

• hatch

West:

• Ceravci
• Ozimice I
• Ozimice II
• Repušine

Center:

• Old town / center

population

At the 1991 census, the municipality of Bihać had 70,732 inhabitants. Of these, 46,737 identified themselves as Bosniaks (66.07%), 12,689 as Serbs (17.93%) and 5,580 as Croatians (7.88%). A further 8% stated that they were either Yugoslav or of another nationality or did not provide any information.

At the 2013 census - the first after the Bosnian War - Bihać only had 56,261 inhabitants, including 49,550 Bosniaks (88.1%), 3265 Croatians (5.8%) and 910 Serbs (1.6%).

Culture and sights

Bihać (Wihitsch) after the Ottoman conquest, copper engraving from 1686

View of downtown Bihać

The beautiful old town is located on the left bank of the Una and was built on a hill that overlooks the Una valley.

Sights include the Church of St. Antonius , of whom only the church tower and some of the foundation walls of the nave have been preserved since the Second World War. The Antonius church tower - also simply called Bihaćka kula ("Bihaćer tower") by the inhabitants - is the building in the old town that dominates the city skyline.

Immediately next to the church tower at the southern exit of the old town is the captain's tower , a defiant remnant of the medieval city fortifications, which now houses a museum on the city's history. The old city walls have also been preserved in the southern part of the old town.

North of the old town is the Fethija Mosque , originally a Gothic church that was converted into a mosque in 1592.

Educational institutions

Bihać is the seat of the University of Bihać .

Regular events

The Bihaćko ljeto theater festival (“Bihać Summer”) has been held annually in June since 1998 . In July, the will on the part of the river Una above Bihac international Una regata organized.

Town twinning

Novo mesto ( Slovenia ) Bondeno ( Italy )

economy

In the former Yugoslavia, Bihać was developed into an industrial city. Factories such as Kombiteks , Krajinametal and Polietilenka were the carriers of economic development. Today Bihać is the seat of one of the largest breweries in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which produces two brands of beer, Preminger and Unski biser . Bihać dairy, owned by the German company Meggle , is one of the leading companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. BIRA (Bihać branch cooling systems) is one of the successful export-oriented factories in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Significant results are being achieved in the tourism industry today. Bihać rafting on the Una River is considered one of the best in the region. The agricultural sector lives from its fertile soil.

traffic

Bihać railway station

Bihać is the most important traffic junction in the north-west of the country. It is located at the intersection of main roads 5 to Jajce and Sarajevo and 14 to Bosanska Krupa and Novi Grad .

The city has a train station on the Una Railway , which is located in the eastern part of the city. From here trains go to Sarajevo, while the route to the south is not served.

The civil airport Bihać, which is currently under construction, is scheduled to open in 2023.

Personalities

• Borislav Stanković (1925–2020), basketball player, coach and official
• Ekrem Čaušević (* 1952), university professor and translator ->
• Irfan Ljubijankić (1952–1995), politician and diplomat, facial surgeon and composer
• Sead Lipovača (* 1955), front man of the band Divlje Jagode
• Alen Islamović (* 1957), rock musician and singer ( Divlje Jagode , Bijelo Dugme )
• Faruk Šehić (* 1970), writer and journalist
• Nihad Hasanović (* 1974), writer and translator
• Alen Bešić (* 1975), literary critic, translator and poet
• Azra Kolaković (1977–2017), turbo folk singer, composer
• Džanan Musa (* 1999), basketball player

Illustrations

• 

  Fethija Mosque in the northern part of the old town

• 

  The captain's tower (right) and the turbe in the city center

• 

  "Djevojka sa Une"

• 

  AVNOJ Museum in Bihać

literature

• Adnan Alijagic, The Battle for Bihac. An important theater of war and its particularities 1992–1995 , diploma thesis, Graz 2007. ISBN 978-3-640-17258-0 Excerpts from books.google.de
• Džafer Mahmutović, Stari Bihać , Bihać 2001

Web links

Commons : Bihać  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of the city
• Bihać - place of assembly of the medieval Croatian parliament

Individual evidence

1. ↑ TEMPERATURES AND PRECIPITATIONS. (No longer available online.) In: fzs.ba. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015 ; Retrieved January 19, 2015 . 
2. ↑ Dzafer Mahmutović, Stari Bihac, Bihac 2,001th
3. ↑ At the Berlin Congress in 1878, Austria-Hungary received the right to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina against the protest of the Ottoman Empire in order to compensate for the increase in Russian power in the Balkans.
4. ↑ History section on the homepage of the city ( Memento from October 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
5. ^ Jože Pirjevec: Tito. The biography. Munich 2018, p. 116
6. ↑ SPIEGEL TV GmbH: SPIEGEL TV from January 28, 2019 | mirror TV. Accessed January 31, 2019 . 
7. ↑ mdr.de: Refugees in Bosnia: Beaten up, hungry and left to their own devices | MDR.DE. Accessed January 31, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Dramatic situation in refugee camp in Bosnia. ORF.at, July 17, 2019, accessed on July 23, 2019 . 
9. ^ Clemens Verenkotte: Bosnia-Herzegovina - refugee camp on a former garbage dump. Deutschlandfunk, July 22, 2019, accessed on July 23, 2019 (German). 
10. ↑ ^{a b} Keno Verseck: Refugee crisis in Bosnia: Humanitarian catastrophe at the gates of the EU . In: Spiegel Online . November 25, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed November 25, 2019]).
11. ↑ ^{a b} migrant camp Vucjak: Bosnian authorities solve squalid camps . In: Spiegel Online . December 10, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed December 10, 2019]).
12. ↑ Agencija za statistiku Bosne i Hercegovine: Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava i stanova u Bosni i Hercegovini, 2013. Rezultati popisa. (pdf, 19.7 MB) Sarajevo, June 2016; P.56
13. ↑ Plan for the restoration of the Fethija Mosque ( Memento from November 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
14. ^ Ex-YU Aviation Portal