Hero Lika, defender of the Republic of Croatia in the Homeland War.

Nikola

Vukovar

"Nikola was special and ambitious. He defended me from going to actions together with him. He always looked after me because I had two children and was married."

Nikola Hodak was born on June 19, 1967 in Drežnica Seliste near Rakovica. He grew up there in the family of Jure and Olga together with his sisters Jadranka and Božica and brother Anto. He attended the first four grades of elementary school in Drežničko Seliste, and then finished it in Rakovica. He did not enroll in high school but devoted himself to work because the family lost his father Jure early on, who supported the family by working in Austria as a guest worker.

"Nikola was always special and ambitious. He stood out among us with his character and behavior. People adored him. He worked in the Plitvice Lakes National Park, and before the war he was employed at the DIP Karlovac. He went to the police on December 14, 1990, and I went to the police ten days later. First, we were part of the Slunj Police Station, and then the Drežnik Grad Police Station."

After the "Bloody Easter" in Plitvice, the situation in that area between Serbs and Croats became increasingly worse, and in the summer of 1991, an armed conflict began. Nikola and Ante side by side defended the area of ​​the municipality of Slunj where it was necessary.

"Nikola forbade me to go to the actions together with him. He always looked out for me because I had two children and was married. In addition, we always went to shifts separately. For example, we both went to defense positions in Saborski for three months, starting in August 1991, but we were never together. If I went on shift, he would stay in Drežnik and vice versa."

Until October 8, 1991, the JNA was stationed at the Koran bridge near Plitvice. On that day, she launched an attack towards Grabovac, to which she had to pass through Drežnica Selište. The brave defenders of the village decided to stand in their way despite being outnumbered and having armor.

"It was a warm and sunny day. We didn't expect them to attack. However, that day they headed towards Grabovac via Vaganec and via Drežnički Selište. When they were leaving Saborsko, I took two trombones from the policemen from Duga Resa, and Nikola took them. On the day when we were attacked, he tried to destroy a JNA machine gun with one of them, but in a panic he forgot to remove the fuse and the trombone mine did not activate even though he hit that machine gun."

The JNA penetrated to Grabovac, but this did not discourage the defenders who descend to the village at night to find civilians in the village and establish a line of defense at the entrance to the village from the direction of Grabovac. Then, along the main road, today D1, at the house of Ivan Vuković, an armored combat vehicle suddenly appeared.

"We climbed to the elevated part above the road. Nikola fired the trombone, the fire flashed across the BOV, which continued to move. At one point Nikola said to me - Hit me! When I unbuttoned his shirt, I was covered in his blood. He was shot just above the heart. He died in my arms. I will regret for the rest of my life that I took those two trombones from the policemen from Duga Resa."

Brother Ante and comrades took Nikola into an ambulance van. The next day, he was placed in a coffin and buried in the Korita cemetery near Rakovica. After 12 days, the body of the fallen hero was transferred to the cemetery in Drežnik Grad, where it still rests today. At the place of his death, next to the highway connecting the north and south of Croatia, there is a monument that depicts Nikola in a stylized way, in wood, with an anti-armor weapon on his shoulder.

Do you have any stories about this person?

Read more stories

Like the hero