About Jastrebarsko

Population - 5,493

The name Jastrebarsko is derived from jastreb, the Croatian word for hawk or falcon. In 1257 Croato-Hungarian King Bela IV awarded Jastrebarsko the status of a free royal trading center by the means of a golden bull. This status helped Jastrebarsko combat the interests of local feudal lords until the abolishment of the feudal system by Banship Josip Jelačić in 1848. From 1518 to 1848 Jastrebarsko was heavily influenced by the Croato-Hungarian noble family Erdödy. The Banships, Petar II and Toma II Erdödy, were known for their victories against the spreading Ottoman Empire. Jastrebarsko started to rapidly develop following the 1848 abolishment of feudalism. The Zagreb–Karlovac railway was built in 1865, providing the town with a major source of employment. Jastrebarsko was home to important Croatian Roman Catholic cardinal, Aloysius Stepinac (1898–1960). He was was a cardinal of the Catholic Church, as well as Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 until his death in 1960, including the fascist rule of the Ustaše over the Axis puppet state the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. He was tried by the communist Yugoslav government after the war and convicted of treason and collaboration with the Ustaše regime. The trial was depicted in the West as a typical communist show trial, biased against the archbishop; In a verdict that polarized public opinion both in Yugoslavia and beyond, the Yugoslav authorities found him guilty on the charge of high treason (for collaboration with the fascist Ustaše regime), as well as complicity in the forced conversions of Orthodox Serbs to Catholicism. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison, but served only five at Lepoglava before being transferred to house arrest with his movements confined to his home parish of Krašić.