On that day, 26 August 1995, several people from Vrebac entered the village, passing through the military checkpoint located near the school. Among them were Đuro Ćurčić and Nikola Cetina, and they found devastation and emptiness.
The “painted” walls of the school — and even the cemetery had not been spared — the broken school signboard, the village without people, livestock wandering through the streets, killed animals, burned buildings blackened by smoke, looted houses, and the devastated temporary school classroom in the Community Hall (…from which a children’s work has been preserved and was publicly published for the first time in the Vrebac Calendar for 2025 / Serbian year 7533, for the month of June) — these were the images of Vrebac that remained recorded in history.
(Photo: Nikola Cetina)
The army left the village on that very day, which was celebrated with intense gunfire. Before leaving the village, the people of Vrebac registered their departure at the checkpoint, where the army had now been replaced by the police.
That same year, at the Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God (Pokrov), the parish priest of Sisak, Father Petar Oluić, at the invitation of Nikola Cetina, held prayers at Gradina and at the cemetery, which had also been appropriately decorated by an unknown talented painter.
The displaced residents of Vrebac began to return occasionally to the village and visit their properties. In 1997, the return process began — modestly, according to what each person was able to do.
Caught between their wishes and their possibilities, and faced with administrative and economic obstacles (documents, police checks, inability to find employment and exercise pension rights…), among the 287 residents of Vrebac who were in the village on 4 August 1995, the number of returnees — permanent residents — in the village almost never exceeded 30–45 people. The situation remains similar today.
The first to return to the village in 1997 were Dušan Pelaga Crnokrak and Dušan “Duda” Grubić, followed gradually by others.
Some came, while others, unfortunately, left again…
An exception were the summer months, when people came to visit their properties and relatives. This was accompanied by hope for a return, which, due to living conditions and objective limitations, rarely happened. Nevertheless, during those summer months, the village sometimes had more than 80 inhabitants, but over the years fewer and fewer people came. Life and obligations, the struggle for existence, did their part.
Despite everything, life continued even under these modest and difficult conditions. The devastated and looted properties were gradually restored. Efforts were made to provide the basic necessities for a somewhat normal life in households and agricultural activities — stoves, dishes, tables and chairs, beds, tools and equipment for fields and workshops, livestock…
However, the people of Vrebac — both those who returned and those living in the diaspora — did not neglect the common material and spiritual needs of the village either. The cemetery, the Community Hall, Gradina as a symbol of remembrance and spiritual renewal, roads, the water supply system……
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Here we wish to recall the great effort and dedication of the people of Vrebac in restoring the village’s social infrastructure and community life after their return. Today, this is almost forgotten, as are the devoted people of Vrebac who made it possible, but the work continued on these foundations and has continued to this day.
Many generations of Vrepčani have invested themselves, their work, and their material resources into Vrebac, and nothing began yesterday or today. The foundations were laid by the work of previous generations of Vrepčani, often even on ashes, and future generations will continue upon the foundations they inherit.
In the following text, an attempt is made to present, at least partially — because not all documents have been preserved, except memories — the contribution of the people of Vrebac to their village from the first sporadic individual returns in 1997 until 2017, the year in which the Serbian Cultural Society – Serbian National Reading Room and Library in Vrebac was founded.
This contribution is dedicated to preserving the memory of that time and to the continuity of life which, like a phoenix, was reborn despite everything.
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The cemetery began to be maintained in 1996, and already in the first years, wire fencing and the entrance gate were provided through a donation (donor: RM). Through the joint efforts of the people of Vrebac, the cemetery was fenced during the period 1998–2000.
Dishes for the Community Hall were also donated (donor: Milan Grubić), which were welcome for memorial gatherings (podušja) and occasional modest social gatherings. Another valuable donation was the material for the exterior carpentry of the Community Hall, which was made and installed in 2002–2003 by the Vrebac carpenter Jovan “Joco” Bobić (donor of material, production, and installation: RM).
The restoration and maintenance of Gradina also continued. Beginning in 1996, modest commemorations for the Vrebac victims of the Second World War began to be regularly held there.
In Zagreb, in 2004, the Association of Vrepčani and Friends of Vrebac was founded. Under its publication activities, a bulletin entitled “Vrebačke staze” (Vrebac Paths) was issued. Two issues were published, although issue no. 1 of the bulletin has not been preserved. After several years, the Association ceased to exist……
These were the beginnings. The social life of the village gradually returned to its established rhythms.
The Local Committee of Vrebac (Mjesni odbor Vrebac) was established in 2006 for the area of Vrebac, Zavode, and Pavlovac Vrebački. During those years, it demonstrated considerable activity.
Contacts were established with the City of Gospić, and although cooperation was modest and often lacked willingness on the part of the City, at least some of the urgent problems concerning the maintenance of the county road and village roads were addressed.
The asphalt road through the village was also renewed — from the school in the direction of Vrebačke staze to the end of the village.
Slowly, enthusiasm returned as well. The people of Vrebac responded to the work actions organized by the Local Committee.
It was not uncommon that, during grass-cutting at the cemetery and Gradina, as many as 15–20 people from Vrebac, Zavode, and Pavlovac would gather. Those who were unable to participate in the work contributed financially instead.
Although elderly, and some with limited physical abilities, they worked diligently. After the work was often completed, they would gather for a meal of roasted lamb on a spit.
This strengthened optimism and gave people the strength to continue.
The following years were active, and 2010 was a turning point.
In 2009, the Local Committee of Vrebac applied to the Foundation for the Promotion of Partnership and Development of Civil Society from Pula and received 15,000 Croatian kuna (approximately €2,000) for the purchase and installation of PVC windows and doors on the upper floor of the Community Hall. The windows and doors were purchased and installed the following year, while the company Kamen Pazin donated the stone window sills.
Excerpt from the application for the renovation of the Community Hall
That same year, a new stage was built in the Community Hall, replacing the old and deteriorated one.
Part of the new PVC windows and doors on the Community Hall and the renovated stage
(The old stage was higher — up to the line visible on the wall — and partially blocked the windows behind the stage, which therefore could not be used.)
A cross with a dedication was erected at Gradina and consecrated for the Pokrov celebration.
Sketch — the design according to which the cross at Gradina was built*
(…and several years later, a cross was built in Mogorić using the same template created by the Vrebac carpenter Jovan “Joco” Bobić)
and a photograph of the cross — as it appears today.
* At the request of our prematurely deceased parish priest, Father Dalibor Tanasić, this revised sketch was sent on 5 September 2013 to his new parish in Hrvatska Kostajnica. We do not know whether the cross was built there, but the photographs we requested after its completion never arrived.
A website of the Local Committee of Vrebac was also launched — Vrebački portal (Vrebac Portal).
That year, according to estimates, the people of Vrebac invested 60,325 kuna (approximately €8,000) into Vrebac through donations — see attached contribution.
The work continued in 2011 with smaller needs and more modest results, because the foundations had already been established. According to estimates, 11,120 kuna (approximately €1,500) were invested that year — see attached contribution.
At the end of the year, intensive activities began regarding the construction of the water supply system through Vrebac. Meetings with the City administration and the municipal utility company Usluga became frequent and intensive.
From among the people of Vrebac, Marko Narančić, president of the Local Committee, and Željko Narančić were actively involved in the construction project.
Persistence paid off, although resistance to the construction was evident — and success was finally achieved.
The following year, 2012, construction works began. The water supply system was completed in 2013, with approximately 7.5 kilometres of water supply network constructed.
That year, at the end of summer, households began to be connected to the new water supply system.
In 2013, the installation of public lighting began. Three lighting units were installed — but they did not illuminate the village that year.
In the following years, regular work actions continued, including the cleaning and maintenance of Gradina and the cemetery.
The tradition of holding commemorations for the Vrebac victims of the Second World War on 2 August (Uprising Day), as well as celebrating the village and church patron feast — the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God (Pokrov), 14 October — continued uninterrupted and remains alive to this day.
A turning point in the organization of social life in Vrebac came in January 2017, with the discovery of documents relating to the Serbian National Reading Room (and Library) in Vrebac, an association founded at the beginning of the last century, in the Archives of Yugoslavia in Belgrade.
Thanks to the persistence of Mirjana Ćurin, and with the assistance of Milan Medaković, an accomplished historian from the Archives and a fellow countryman from the Gračac area, we obtained a series of records about the work of the association, and especially the Rules of the Association from that period, as well as valuable documents and correspondence between Isa Bogdanović and the state authorities of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia concerning the first name of the Community Hall.
These documents became the foundation for the idea of restoring the Association and the reason for establishing the present-day society in Vrebac that same year, on 18 March 2017 — the Serbian National Reading Room and Library in Vrebac.
Traces of events in Vrebac have been recorded on the Vrebački portal (Vrebac Portal), which has become an indispensable chronicle of the village and a testimony to the lasting connection of the people of Vrebac with their homeland.
Material restorue in the same way!ation has largely been achieved through the great efforts and donations of the people of Vrebac and through generous assistance from the Serbian National Council, but what is still lacking is greater engagement on the social and spiritual level — strengthening connections with Vrebac and creating social cohesion among its people.
The Serbian National Reading Room and Library in Vrebac, the renewed cultural association that our ancestors so wisely and far-sightedly founded, probably before 1914, is today an indispensable part of the social life of the people of Vrebac.
Let us take part in the work of the Association and become involved in cultural projects in order to preserve tradition, national and cultural identity, and to renew and strengthen our ties with Vrebac.
In this way, we will best repay our ancestors and honour the great cultural heritage of Vrebac, preserve it, and leave it to the generations that come after us.
In cultural activities, foundations have been laid that must be expanded and further developed.
Maintaining traditional events, together with cultural projects such as the publication of Vrebac Calendars, books and monographs by Vrebac authors, or events such as the “Exhibition of Vrebac Calendars and Old Documents of the Association”, as well as engaging Vrebac creators — writers, poets, actors, and many other people from Vrebac who have achieved success in various fields of life and work, in different countries around the world — represents the path toward reviving Vrebac in a spiritual, cultural, and material sense.
Let us create from Vrebac an oasis of culture, prosperity, tolerance, and interethnic and international connection and cooperation!