In 33 BC the
Romans, led by the future Emperor
Octavian Augustus, won a battle against an
Illyrian tribe, the
Japods, in the area east of Plaški.
Roman coins have been found in Plaški which proves that this region was inhabited in Roman times. The name Plaški was first mentioned in 1163 in documents of the
Diocese of Split of the
Roman Catholic Church. The second mention of the village dates from 1185 and relates to the establishment of the new
Krbava diocese, which the parish of Plaški became a part of. Plaški county (
Comitatus Plazy) was a separate administrative region until 1193, when it became part of
Modruš county and came to be owned by the
Frankopan family. In the name of Frankopans Plaški was governed by the Zebić family of nobles, who were their loyal vassals (even today a part of Plaški is called
Zebići). In 1492 just before the
Battle of Krbava Plaški was raided by the
Turks led by Jakub-Paša and Plaški was abandoned. In a document of
Bernardin Frankopan from 1500 Plaški is described as defense fort against the Turks. Another document from 1550 confirms Plaški's status as defense fort and also mentions it as one of four centres in the
Military Frontier of the
Habsburg Empire. By decision of the Military Council in
Graz,
Serbs were allowed to resettle the area. The Serbs came in three waves: 1609, 1639 and 1666. Together with
Tounj, Plaški was centre of a military company that was part of
Ogulin's regiment. The
Eparchy of Upper Karlovac of the
Serbian Orthodox Church was founded in 1711 and had its first seat in
Gomirje monastery and from 1721 to 1941 the seat was in Plaški. The Orthodox cathedral was built from 1756 to 1763.
WWII 1941 After the
invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941 Plaški was initially occupied by the
Royal Italian Army, who threw children confections and adults cigars upon arrival. According to eyewitness Simo Šumonja, 2000 Italians were stationed in Plaški. On 16 April 1941,
Ustaša ordered the Croat corporal Mirko Žepalo of the Plaški
gendarmerie, which at the time consisted of 5 Serbs and himself, to disarm his colleagues and fill their positions with Croats loyal to the
NDH. Žepalo was reluctant, but the next day he told his colleagues, "Gentlemen, what must be, must be" (), upon which they turned in their arms and returned to their homes. April and the first half of May that year were relatively peaceful. About 150 Serbian villagers from Plaški and its environs surrendered their weapons to the local gendarmerie during this time. There were no mass imprisonments here yet, but in and around Plaški, 12 economically and politically prominent people were placed under house arrest. On 28 May in the afternoon, the first mass arrests were made by the Ustaše in Plaški, including of the priest, the
episcopal vicar, the innkeeper, the chief of the railway station Plaški, the baker Pero Klipa from Plaški, a merchant from Plaški and a teacher from
Lička Jesenica. Initially, they were held in the jail in Plaški, then transferred to the
Ogulin castle. There, they were held for about 20 days, forced to sing "Sprem'te se, sprem'te četnici" (a
Chetnik anthem) while sweeping the streets by their captors. Around 6 June, late in the evening, they were led out of the Ogulin tower into its courtyard and lined up in a zig-zagging column. They were all forced to sign a document with "I the undersigned with my own hand sign that in the time of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia I acted against the interests of the Croat nation, the Ustaša movement and the Poglavnik" (). The next day, they were transported by train to the
Danica concentration camp. Pero Klipa survived thnks to his Italian father in law, who in while Plaški assisted the Italians there in writing a letter requesting his release, which came on 6 November. Beginning in the first days of June and throughout the month, the
Serbian Orthodox priests, monks and members of the ecclesiastical court of Plaški were arrested for questioning at Ogulin, starting with Milan Dokmanović. A total of 19 Orthodox priests were arrested. Only 1 escaped, being on an official trip at the time. Also in early June,
župan Jurica Marković confiscated the furniture from the episcopal house in Plaški. In early July, the bishop in Plaški, the
prota and
činovnik of the ecclesiastical court in Plaški and the
catechist in Plaški had not yet been sent away. According to a 15 July document from the
kotarski načelnik of Ogulin, all Orthodox priests from the territory of the kotar of Ogulin were sent to concentration camps, with the exception of the
bishop in Plaški, who was too old. Trains carrying concentration camp inmates from Ogulin to
Gospić over the course of 50 days about twice a day and perhaps more by night, each train with about twenty wagons full of inmates. One of the inmates threw a piece of shoe with a letter tied to it out of the wagon at Plaški, which a child, Simo Šumonja, then carried to the post office. The letter explained that he was travelling from Danica to Gospić. These trains stopped passing through in August. A 2 July was issued order for all Velike župe, including that of Modruš (with seat in
Ogulin), to make room for 2500
Slovenes each, who were to occupy the homes of 2500 Serbs, to be deported to the
GMS, prioritising businessmen and merchants. Plaški was to accommodate 800 Slovenes. As of mid-July, there were not enough empty Serb homes to accommodate the exchange. On 30 July, many Serb villagers of Plaški were arrested at the market in Ogulin, having come there to sell. Beginning with the next market on 6 August, the Serbs stopped coming out of fear that it would happen a third time.
1942 At 2:30 on 20 June 1942, Plaški was attacked from all sides with rifle and machine gun fire by the Partisans. The attack lasted until 3:30, but was repelled without Axis losses and with unknown Partisan losses. The attack was a diversion for an operation that removed of track, blocking railway traffic between Plaški and Vojnovac, but not for long. On 4 July, Partisans destroyed of track between
Blato and
Lička Jesenica. Italian soldiers arrived from Plaški on an armoured train and the Partisans retreated. == Demographics ==