Drvar (, ) is a town and municipality located in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The 2013 census registered the municipality as having a population of 7,036. It is situated in western Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the road between Bosansko Grahovo and Bosanski Petrovac, also near Glamoč.
Drvar lies in the vast valley, the southeastern part of Bosanska Krajina, between the Osječanica, Klekovača, Vijenca and Šator mountains of the Dinaric Alps. The southeast side of boundary extends from the Šator over Jadovnika, Uilice and descends to Lipovo and the Una River.
This extremely hilly region comprising the town of Drvar and the numerous outlying villages covers approximately 1,030 square kilometers (640 square miles). The town itself is mainly spread out from the left side of the river Unac, and its elevation is approximately 480 meters (1,574 feet).
Name
The word Drvar stems from the Slavic word drvo which means 'wood'. During the period of SFR Yugoslavia, Drvar was named Titov Drvar in honor of Josip Broz Tito.
History
Early history
The first writings on Drvar date back to the 9th century. In the first half of the 16th century (approximately 1530) residents of this area, under the leadership of a Vojnović from Glamoč, migrated to the surroundings of Zagreb (Metlika Zumberak and four surrounding villages). The greater area was populated in Roman Times as evidenced by the remains of Roman roads and.
Austro-Hungarian Rule
In 1878 Drvar, along with the rest of Bosnia, was subjugated to Austro-Hungarian rule. Around 1893 German industrialist leased the right to exploit fir and spruce forests in the mountains of Klekovača, Lunjevače, Srnetica and Osječenica. Steinbeis operated in the area until 1918 when, after the First World War, the company was taken over by the new Yugoslav state. During the 25 years that Steinbeis operated in the area, he created a complete infrastructure for processing forest products including the construction of modern lumber mills in Drvar and Dobrljin, and the construction of a network of roads and 400 km of narrow-gauge railway, and telephone and telegraph lines. During this time Drvar grew into an industrial town employing approximately 2,800 persons in which homes, hospitals, restaurants, cafe and retails shops were built. Additional factories appeared in Drvar, including a cellulose factory opened by Alphons Simunius Blumer.
Eventually, poor labor conditions led to the first organized strikes in Drvar in 1906. These strikes continued until 1911 when the Austro-Hungarian Empire banned all such activities.
20th century
In 1918 the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed, which was then followed by the rise of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, but this did not help the plight of the workers in Drvar, who became better organised and rose up to strike again in 1921.
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
From 1929 to 1941, Drvar was part of the Vrbas Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1932, an economic crisis resulted in the layoff of 2,000 workers.
World War II
On 10 April, Ustaše, aligned with Nazi Germany, declared the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and claimed as part of its territory the entire area known as Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Drvar, this resulted in the beginning of the presence of the Ustaše government, the movement chiefly responsible for the World War II Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia in which Serbs, Jews, Roma, Croat and Bosniak resistance members and political opponents were sent to concentration camps and killed. In the beginning the Ustaše contingent in Drvar consisted of the Croatian population residing in Drvar, but they were soon reinforced by others who came from outside Drvar.
In June 1941 Ustaše arrested a large group of prominent Drvar citizens, and took them to Risovac near Bosanski Petrovac, where they were tortured, killed and thrown into a pit. After Ustaše imprisoned all Serb men from Drvar during June and July 1941, they began with preparation to imprison and kill all Serbs from Drvar, regardless of their age and sex, including all women and children.
The genocidal activities of the Ustaše forced targeted Serb population to organize an uprising known as Drvar uprising. The rebels were organized into Kamenički, Javorje, Crljivičko-zaglavički, Boboljusko-cvjetnički, Trubarski, Mokronog and Tičevski and Grahovo area Grahovsko-resanovski guerrilla detachments.