Glina, Croatia

Glina was first mentioned as a city in June 1284. Later in September 1737, during the threat of the Turks, the Croatian Sabor met in Glina. It was also a post of Ban Jelačić when he became the commander the Military Frontier during the Turkish threat.

During the mid-18th century, Count Ivan Drašković created Freemason lodges in several Croatian cities and towns, including Glina, where officers and other members shared ideas of the Jacobins from the French Revolution, until Emperor Francis II banned them in 1798. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Glina was a district capital in the Zagreb County of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia.

During World War II, Glina was part of the Independent State of Croatia established by the Axis powers as a result of the Invasion of Yugoslavia. There were two major Ustashe massacres of Serbs in Glina in 1941.[2] In April 1941 around 450 to 500 Serbs was living in Glina, while on 12 May in Prekopa massacre according to Slavko Goldstein almost all Serbs ie between 300 and 400 were killed and about 100 people survived due to various circumstances. On 11–12 May 1941, between 260–300 Serbs were executed in the local Serbian Orthodox church, which was afterwards burned.[3][4] A similar massacre occurred on 30 July when 700 Serbs were gathered under the threat of forced conversion and were executed.[5] This massacre was followed by another in Glina Orthodox Church three months later on 2 August 1941, where according to Goldstein 100 Serbs were killed.[6] The dates as well as the number of victims in the second massacre is disputed in sources. According to Italian reports, in total, more than 18,000 Serbs were killed in the district of Glina during the war.[7] The Yugoslav Partisans attacked Glina and Hrastovica in late November 1943. The position was held by the Nazi Germany army with support from the Danish 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland. The Partisans liberated and entered the town on January 11, 1944.[8]

After the end of war in 1964, the Committee for the Construction of Memorials to the July Victims of Fascist Terror in Banija and Kordun sent a request to the Veterans Associations of the People’s Liberation War of Yugoslavia (SUBNOR) to finally build a memorial as the failure to do so was particularly affecting the brotherhood and unity of the people in this region.[2] A memorial house was thereafter built on the site of the destroyed Orthodox church and in 1985, its Executive Committee requested assistance in creating a permanent display for the museum which read: "the Ustasha slaughtered around 1,200 Serbs from the surroundings of Glina on August 2, 1941", noting that it marked the beginning of the Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia.[2]

In the early summer of 1991, the first major armed clashes between Croatian forces and rebelled Serbs took place in the Glina area. On June 26, a day after the declaration of independence of Croatia, a group of armed Serbs attacked the local police station.[9] The second armed attack followed a month later, on July 26. Serb militias were reported to have used ethnic Croats as human shields in the conflict. Civilians from both sides died as a result of the fighting in Glina. [9] Croatian Police and National Guard units had to withdraw while Croats from Glina (including Jukinac) took refuge in Donji and Gornji Viduševac, villages north of Glina that were free at the time. Subsequently, Glina was completely controlled by the Yugoslav People's Army and the Serb rebels. The remaining non-Serb population from Glina and the surrounding area were mostly expelled while many were taken to internment camps. During the war, Serbs occupied the territory up to the Kupa river, which was followed by many crimes against the civilians in Glinsko Novo Selo, Stankovci and Bučič area.[10] In 1995, future President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić held a meeting in Glina during which he stated, among others that Glina would never be part of Croatia and advocated for it to be a part of Greater Serbia.[11][12] A total of 396 Croatian civilians and soldiers were killed in Glina during the war. On 6 August 1995, Glina was returned to Croatia by the Croatian Army during Operation Storm. At the same time, most ethnic Serbs fled. In December 2015, the bodies of 56 Serb civilians and soldiers killed during the action were exhumed from a mass grave in the Gornje Selište municipality.[13]

The area of Glina suffered extensive damage during the 2020 Petrinja earthquake.[14]

The settlements part of the administrative area of Glina, total population 9,283 (census 2011),[1] include: