Španovica, known as Novo Selo under the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, is a village in

Pakrac Pakrac is a town in western Slavonia, Croatia, population 4,842, total municipality population 8,460 (census 2011). Pakrac is located on the road and railroad connecting the regions of Posavina and Podravina. Name In Croatian the town is known ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. It is located on the

– Požega main road, south of the

Papuk Papuk is the largest mountain in the Slavonia region in eastern Croatia, near the city of Požega, Croatia, Požega. It extends between Bilogora to the northwest, Krndija to the east, and Ravna Gora (Slavonia), Ravna gora and Psunj to the south ...

mountain in western

Slavonia Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...

. It has a population of 23, according to the 2011 Croatian census.

History

Španovica was established in the second half of the 19th century when

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

from

Ravna Gora Ravna Gora (Slavic meaning "flat hill") may refer to several places: Serbia * Ravna Gora (highland), a highland in Serbia known for its relation with the Chetnik movement * Ravna Gora (Ivanjica), a village near Ivanjica * Ravna Gora (Vlasotince), ...

, in the mountainous region of

Gorski Kotar Gorski Kotar () is the mountainous region in Croatia between Karlovac and Rijeka. Because 63% of its surface is forested it is popularly called ''the green lungs of Croatia'' or ''Croatian Switzerland''. The European route E65, which connects B ...

, settled there. The surrounding villages were inhabited by ethnic

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

. The inhabitants of Španovica and their Serb neighbours coexisted peacefully until the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when the village became a stronghold of the

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...

movement, which began arresting Serbs from the surrounding area. In the summer of 1942, Ustaše official

Vjekoslav Luburić Vjekoslav Luburić (6 March 1914 – 20 April 1969) was a Independent State of Croatia, Croatian Ustaše official who headed the system of concentration camps in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during much of World War II. Luburić al ...

oversaw the "cleansing" of the surrounding Serb villages, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Serb villagers and the deportation of many others to detention camps. Some residents of Španovica took part in these operations. That autumn, the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

captured Španovica from the Ustaše. Serb villagers whose relatives had previously been killed by the Ustaše subsequently burned most of the village to the ground, killing an undetermined number of Croat civilians and forcing the survivors to flee to the nearby town of

. After World War II, Španovica was renamed Novo Selo and repopulated by Serbs from

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

. Its previous Croat inhabitants were prohibited from returning. During the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...

, Novo Selo was initially under the control of Croatian Serb rebels. It was captured by the

Croatian Army The Croatian Army ( or HKoV) is the land force branch of the Croatian Armed Forces. It is numerically the largest of the three branches of the Croatian Armed Forces. The HKoV is the main force for the defense of the country against external threa ...

in December 1991, and its Serb inhabitants fled. The village's earlier name was subsequently reinstated. By 2020, only around a dozen of Španovica's former inhabitants had returned to the village. That year, director Jadran Boban released a documentary film about Španovica and its history, titled ''Ono drugo selo'' ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spanovica Populated places in Požega-Slavonia County