- Kerestinec
Kerestinec is a village west of
Zagreb , infamous for certain important events inCroatia n history.The name of Kerestinec comes from Hungarian word "kereszt" which stands for "cross". According to historical sources, there was a wooden chapel of Holy Cross near the Erdödy castle. Since the Erdödys were a Croatian-Hungarian noble family, a lot of Hungarian words were used in that time, and this is why Kerestinec bears such a name.In the history
In
1573 , during theCroatian and Slovenian peasant revolt , government forces led by podban (deputy viceroy) ofCroatia ,Gašpar Alapić , defeated rebels in a battle near Kerestinec.The pesants have rebeled once again in 1936, and this time against the Serbian
gendarmerie who had their base in the castle. This so-called Kerestinec rebellion was crushed by the Yugoslav army. All rebels were tried and sentenced to long term imprisonment or to death. Later, the death penalties were diminished.Before the outbreak of
World War II , the government of Yugoslavia built a prison near Kerestinec and used it to detain political prisoners, mainlyCommunists . In March 1941, at the eve of the Axis invasion, a large number of left-wing intellectuals from Zagreb were arrested and interned in Kerestinec. A few weeks later Yugoslavia collapsed and the prison was taken over by authorities of the newly formedIndependent State of Croatia . Following German invasion of USSR, theCroatian Communist Party started aresistance movement that would later become known as Partisans. TheUstaša regime decided to retaliate by killing some of Kerestinec prisoners. OnJuly 9 1941 the first group, includingBožidar Adžija ,Otokar Keršovani andOgnjen Prica , was executed.The Party reacted by organizing an impromptu prison break. On July 13 the guards were overpowered and all the remaining prisoners managed to escape. But the attempt soon proved to be poorly organised and uncoordinated. Very quickly, most of the prisoners, including
August Cesarec , were recaptured and shot inMaksimir woods.Today
Today, Kerestinec is one of the neighborhoods of the Town of
Sveta Nedelja . Buildings of note in the village are theErdödy castle and theparish church of the Holy Cross.In terms of economy, Kerestinec is also the seat of several companies and numerous private enterprises.
Kerestinec is also the cultural center of Sveta Nedelja. The leader of cultural development is the local
Cultural society Kerestinec . Other groups are the Sport-fishing club "Som", "TOP" Kerestinec Football club, Volunteer Fire Department Kerestinec and several other unions.External links
* [http://www.svetanedelja.com Town of Sveta Nedelja official website]
* [http://kerestinec-online.bloger.hr Kerestinec news portal]
* [http://kudkerestinec.bloger.hr Cultural society Kerestinec official blog]
* [http://www.dvd-kerestinec.hr/aktualno.html Volunteer Fire Department Kerestinec official website]
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