Kozarac (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Kozarac
Козарац

Basic data

State :

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Entity :

Republika Srpska

Municipality :

Prijedor

Coordinates :

44 ° 58 ' N , 16 ° 50' E Coordinates: 44 ° 58 '25 " N , 16 ° 50' 27" E

Height :

220 m. i. J.

Area :

6.3 km²

Residents :

4,818 (2013)

Population density :

765 inhabitants per km²

Telephone code :

+387 (0) 52

Postal code :

79 202

Others

City Festival :

Dani Kozarcana (Kozarac People's Day)

Kozarac ( Serbian - Cyrillic Козарац ) is a place in the northwest of the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina , around 35 kilometers northwest of Banja Luka at the foot of the Kozara Mountains . The place is from the municipality of Prijedor managed.

geography

Kozarac is located on the nearby Kozara Mountains . The Kozara National Park , one of the country's three existing national parks , occupies a large part of the Kozara Mountains .

population

At the time of the 1991 census , Kozarac had 8,028 inhabitants. Of these, 7,334 (91.36%) were Bosniaks , 385 (4.80%) Serbs , 89 (1.11%) Croats , 114 (1.42%) Yugoslavs and 106 (1.32%) with another nationality. Today the Bosniaks in Kozarac are again in the majority. The often cited population of 27,000 refers to the area of the municipality of Kozarac, which was dissolved in 1963 and which also includes other places such as B. Kozaruša included.

history

The listed Kozarac Castle.

Kozarac was first recorded in writing in documents from 1334 under the name Kozara (Cazara, Kotzura). On February 10, 1360 Kozarac became a "Free Royal City". In 1518 Kozarac was conquered by the Ottomans and remained part of the Ottoman Empire until 1878 . From 1687 to 1835 Kozarac was a higher administrative center and seat of a court. From 1850 the Ottoman general Omar Pascha suppressed an uprising in Bosnia against the Turkish occupation, Kozarac was destroyed in the process. In 1878, after Russia's victory over the Ottomans , the Berlin Congress placed the Ottoman provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina under Austro-Hungarian administration. In 1908, after the annexation, Kozarac officially fell to Austria-Hungary. Immediately after the First World War, Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In the spring of 1941, during the Second World War, the country was occupied by troops from the German Empire and Italy. The state was divided into individual republics; Bosnia-Herzegovina was declared a fascist vassal state with Croatia called the Independent State of Croatia . After the Second World War, with the establishment of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a federal state was created with the six republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia with the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. Until the declaration of independence on March 2, 1992 Kozarac belonged to the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bosnian War

After investigations by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia , an offensive by the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS) began on May 24th and 25th, 1992 , which was commanded by Duško Tadić , among others . Kozarac was circled. The next day the population had to leave their homes and go to the city. Several city police officers were killed in the process. The men were then separated from the women and children and transported to prison camps. Many prisoners were tortured and killed in the Keraterm , Trnopolje and Omarska camps . Sexual assaults occurred in the Trnopolje camp, where mostly women and children were imprisoned. A memorial in Kozarac commemorates the residents of Kozarac who were murdered during the war. Inside are the 1,226 names of those killed in Kozarac. An electric candle protrudes from the round for each victim.

religion

According to an ecclesiastical document from 1334, Kozarac belonged to the diocese of Zagreb until the Ottoman occupation and was the seat of the parish of Sana.

The Mutnik Mosque was built over 300 years ago and is one of the oldest mosques in Bosnia and Herzegovina . The mosques destroyed during the war were rebuilt.

There are two Serbian Orthodox churches in Kozarac. The older church was built in 1887. In 2001 a new Orthodox church was built. Currently, the interior of the church is painted with Byzantine frescoes. Both churches are dedicated to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul .

There is also a Roman Catholic church in Kozarac . The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary is also known as Mehmed's Church. According to a legend, the church was built on behalf of the Austrian Karl Schmutzer, who opened a sawmill at the foot of the Kozara Mountains near the village of Kozarac.