Zalužnica

Zalužnica (Serbian Cyrillic: Залужница) is a village in the Gacka valley in present-day Lika-Senj County, Croatia. It is located around the road between the market town of Otočac and the Plitvice Lakes National Park. It was likely mainly populated in the early to mid-17th century. The existing village church dates from 1753 and anecdotal evidence suggests it was preceded by an earlier wooden built church. A peak population was reached in the late 19th century and from there progressively reduced due to migration and war. It was almost totally de-populated in 1995 during the war that saw the breakup of the former Yugoslavia when the high majority of the population left for Serbia. A handful of old people remained in the village unable or unwilling to make the long trek. A few new people subsequently established holiday homes over the last 10 years and a few returned from Serbia. More recently, local authorities have given Roma people use of the many empty farm properties. The annual Petrovdan celebrations were re-established in the 2000s attracting people with a connection to the village from Serbia and from abroad (see 'YouTube' for films from various years).

There are many people scattered around the world who have some connection with the village resulting from the many migrations away from the village throughout its history. For the village diaspora, there are many issues in trying to find their family ties and heritage. This is reviewed in the below section on 'Ancestor Records....'.