Blagaj, Croatia

Blagaj, also known historically as Blagaj on the Korana, is a village in Croatia's Karlovac County, near the town of Slunj. According to the 2001 Croatian census, the village had 38 inhabitants. It is known for the Blagaj castle, but also the 1941 Blagaj massacre.

History

WWII

On the night of 5—6 May 1941, an armed robbery resulted in the killing 5 members of the Mravunac family, following which "the Serbs" of Veljun and other environs of Blagaj were accused and rounded up. A court-martial in Zagreb condemned 32 of them to execution by firing squad on 7 May 1941. This event escalated into the Blagaj massacre, and alongside the earlier Gudovac massacre, many have treated it retrospectively as an indicator of future NDH treatment of the Serbs.