Odžak (municipality)

Odžak Оџак
Basic data
State :	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Entity :	Federation of BiH
Canton :	Posavina
Coordinates :	45 ° 1 ′  N , 18 ° 20 ′  E Coordinates: 45 ° 1 ′ 0 ″  N , 18 ° 20 ′ 0 ″  E
Height :
Residents :	21,289 (2013)
Telephone code :	+387 (0) 31
Postal code :	76290
Structure and administration (as of 2016)
Community type:	city
Mayor :	Jakov Ivanković
Website :	www.odzak.ba
Others
Patron saint :	Assumption of the Virgin Mary
City Festival :	annually on August 15th

Odžak is a large municipality ( Općina ) in Bosnia and Herzegovina with about 21,000 inhabitants. The mostly Croatian community is located in northern Bosnia and belongs to the canton Posavina of the Federation . The main town of the municipality is the town of Odžak .

The Odžak municipality is surrounded by the rivers Bosna (east), Save (north) and Vučijak mountain (west). The northern municipal boundary forms part of the border with Croatia . The municipalities of Bosanski Šamac , Modriča and Vukosavlje are in the vicinity of Odžak .

population

In 1991 the municipality of Odžak had 30,651 inhabitants, of whom designated themselves

• 54.15% as Croatians
• 20.32% as Bosniaks
• 19.85% as Serbs
• 5.68% as Yugoslavs & Others

The population composition in the individual village and town communities was as follows:

PLACE	TOTAL	CROATS	BOSNIAKS	SERBES	YUGOSLAVES & OTHERS
Ada	638	628	-	1	9
Donja Dubica	3,254	2.137	1	979	137
Donji Svilaj	1,576	1,408	2	143	23
Gnionica	818	25th	5	760	128
Gornja Dubica	1,596	1,579	-	3	14th
Gornji Svilaj	1,810	1.004	1	748	-
Josavica	252	-	-	240	12
Novi Grad	1,907	226	4th	1,587	90
Novo Selo	2,669	2,626	-	5	38
Odžak	9,386	1,404	6,205	599	1,178
Posavska Mahala	1,199	1,165	-	6th	28
Potočani	2,250	2,029	-	176	45
Srnava	880	703	2	133	42
Vrbovac	1,721	1,404	-	287	30th
ALL IN ALL	30,056	16,338	6.220	5,667	1,831

The 2001 census did not take place because of the lack of financial and political support from the state. The current size is 177 km² and in 2013 about 21,000 inhabitants lived in this association municipality. Around 5,400 live with their families because of work abroad and around 5,804 live abroad as refugees. The center of the Odžak municipality is in the town of the same name, but the inhabitants live in another 14 populated villages.

In 1991 there were 1,300 unemployed in Odžak, according to the employment office. In 1991 the unemployment rate was 20.65% and the employed 79.35%.

Today a total of 2,300 people are employed in Odžak in the following sectors:

• in 161 private companies (1,118)
• in public companies in the administrative district of economics (46)
• in public institutions, insurance companies, education, healthcare (350)
• in 262 manufacturing and service companies (786)

history

Bosnian War

The Bosnian War reached Odžak on April 21, 1992. Town and municipality were affected by fierce fighting between Serbian and Croatian troops . After the Croatians withdrew in 1992, the community was under Serb control for almost the entire war. Through the Treaty of Dayton in 1995, most of the Odžak community became part of the new entity, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine) , but was completely destroyed and uninhabitable at that time. Today the community is mostly inhabited by Croats and Bosniaks . The war damage has disappeared in the city center, but is still partially visible, especially in the places previously inhabited by Serbs.

The southern part of the municipality (including the previously mostly Serbian settlements Gnionica and Josavica) remained under Serbian control after the war and split off as an independent municipality Vukosavlje from Odžak.

Flood 2014

In May 2014, Odžak and the surrounding villages were one of the areas hardest hit by the floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Over 5,000 residents had to be evacuated from their homes. The situation was particularly precarious on May 17, when the dam at the mouth of the Bosna and the Save broke. The Sava had reached the highest water level ever measured of 891 cm at the nearby measuring point Šamac and flooded most of the houses. Since agriculture is traditionally strong in Odžak, a large number of animals died.

Economy and Infrastructure

Agriculture is the most important branch of the economy and largest employer, but has major problems as a result of the breakdown of sales markets with the break-up of Yugoslavia and damage caused by the war.

Other industries in Odžak municipality are:

• agriculture
• the livestock / animal breeding
• growing vegetables
• the fruit growing
• beekeeping
• forestry

Industry is also an important factor in Odžak. These are only small or rarely medium-sized companies that are privately owned. The following industries exist in Odžak:

• Textile and leather industry
• Chemical industry
• Food industry
• Metal industry
• Timber industry

Education

There are the following educational institutes in Odžak:

• Preschool - Kindergarten "Paola Cerueto"
• Primary school - OŠ (Osnovna škola) "Vladimir Nazor"
• Middle School - SŠ (Srednja škola) "Pero Zečević"
• School system for children with disabilities

Community structure

The following village and town councils belong to the Odžak municipality:

• Ada (formerly: Mrka Ada)
• Bijele Bare
• Donja Dubica
• Donji Svilaj
• Gornja Dubica
• Gornji Svilaj
• Jošava
• Lipik
• Mala Brusnica
• Novi Grad
• Novo Selo (also called "Balegovac" in the population)
• Osječak
• Papučija
• Posavska Mahala (also called "Vlaška Mala" in the population)
• Potočani
• Prnjavor
• Prud (belonged to Bosanski Šamac County before the Dayton Agreement )
• Trnjak
• Vojskova
• Vrbovac
• Zorice

By the Treaty of Dayton , the places Gnionica, Jošavica and Srnava were assigned to the Republika Srpska . The former had a Serb majority before the war, while Srnava had a Croatian majority.

Kirchweih (Blagoslov) in the municipality Odžak

The Roman Catholic form of the church consecration (Croatian: kirvaj or blagoslov) is celebrated as a religious festival on the occasion of the consecration of a Christian church. The anniversaries of the parish fair play an important social role for the Croatian population in Odžak and the surrounding area. On the day of the church consecration, people attend the church service in the respective community and then celebrate together on the village square and / or visit friends and relatives from the community.

Day	Municipality / village	Blagoslov (Croatian)	Kirchweih (German)
xx.04.	Potočanski Lipik	Mali Uskrs	Little Easter Day ( White Sunday )
04/23	Donji Svilaj	Sv. Juraj (Jurjevo)	Saint George
04/23	Vrbovac	Sv. Juraj (Jurjevo)	Saint George
04/25	Novo Selo	Markov Dan	Mark (Evangelist)
04/25	Potočani	Markov Dan	Mark (Evangelist)
04/25	Gornji Svilaj	Markov Dan	Mark (Evangelist)
xx.05.	Ada	Prva nedjelja u svibnju	First Sunday in May
xx.05.	Posavska Mahala	Prvi Dan Duhova	Pentecost Sunday
13.06.	Osječak	Sveti Anto Padovanski	Anthony of Padua
13.06.	Papučija	Sveti Anto Padovanski	Anthony of Padua
06/21	Gornja Dubica	Sveti Alojzije	Aloisius of Gonzaga
June 24th	Jošava	Sveti Ivan Kritelj	John the Baptist
June 24th	Zorice	Sveti Ivan Kritelj	John the Baptist
07/20	Vojskova	Sveti Ilija Prorok (Ilina)	Elijah (the Prophet)
08/15	Odžak	Velika Gospa	Assumption of the Virgin Mary
08/16	Prud	Sveti Rok	Rochus of Montpellier
12.09.	Gornji Svilaj	Ime Marijino	Mary name

xx = movable festival, the date of which is different every year

Sports

Volleyball in particular plays a special role in Odžak and its surrounding communities. Almost every community has a volleyball field in the center of the village, on which numerous junk tournaments take place in summer. Most of the players of the multiple Bosnian champions and cup winners " OK Napredak " Odžak therefore mostly come from the surrounding communities of Odžak.

In 2007 a modern multi-purpose hall was built, which meets the requirements of international volleyball matches. The majority of the investments of approx. 800,000 EUR were borne by the Republic of Croatia.

The following sports clubs from Odžak and the surrounding area should be emphasized:

BASKETBALL

society	league	League name
KK Odžak	2nd league	A1 Liga Herceg-Bosne

VOLLEYBALL

society	league	League name
OK Napredak Odžak	1st League	Premier League
OK Napredak Odžak	2nd division (women)	Druga League
OK Balegovac Novo Selo	2nd league	Druga League

SOCCER

society	league	League name
NK Odžak 102	3rd league	Druga Liga Sjever FBiH
NK Mera Vojskova	4th league	Prva Županijska Liga Posavine
NK Mladost Donji Svilaj	4th league	Prva Županijska Liga Posavine
NK Mladost Gornja Dubica	4th league	Prva Županijska Liga Posavine
NK Sloga Prud	4th league	Prva Županijska Liga Posavine
NK Dragovoljac Novo Selo	5th league	Druga Županijska Liga Posavine

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.uskinfo.ba/vijest/evakuisano-5000-ljudi-nasip-u-prudu-pukao-voda-u-pojedinim-mjestima-do-tri-metra/2470  ( page no longer available , search in Web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.