Books written by Hrvoje Kačić published since 2002.
The
third edition of the book Serving my country
- croatia
rediviva,
by Hrvoje Kačić was published by The
Institute of Social
Sciences ivo Pilar (The
Institut društvenih
znanosti “Ivo Pilar“), Zagreb, in
December 2006..
The
first edition was published in 2002.
The book was edited by Dr Vlado Šakić, who also wrote the Editorial Note. The foreword was written by Prof. Kathleen Wilkes, and the book also contains an essay by Mr Michael Foot. The book has 241 pages, including a 30-page appendix containing documents, an index of names, a list of abbreviations, and 21 documentary photographs from the period of the aggression on Croatia.
The first Croatian edition of the book, U službi domovine - Croatia rediviva (Serving My Country, Croatia Rediviva), was published in 2003, and the whole edition was sold out by 2005. In December 2006, it went into a second printing. Both editions were published by The Matica hrvatska, Zagreb, in their series Special Issues. The book was reviewed by Dr.Trpimir Macan, Mate Maras and Đuro Vidmarović and edited by Jelena Hekman. The Croatian foreword was written by dr.Trpimir Macan. Furthermore, the book included the translation of the foreword to the third English edition written by Prof. Kathleen Wilkes, and an essay by Michael Foot, UK MP.
The hardback book has 479 pages, two inside-cover illustrations of the devastation of Dubrovnik and Vukovar during the JNA aggression on Croatia, an index of names, a list of abbreviations, and an 18-page appendix with copies of illustrated and written documents.
In November 2006, the German edition of the book under the title Mit der Wahrheit in die Welt- Croatia rediviva (With the TRUTH inTo the World- Croatia rediviva) was published by Volksbund der Deutschen Kroatiens, Zagreb, in their “Humanitas” collection, printed by “Tonimir”, Varaždinske toplice. The editors were Jasminka Petter, Stjepan Juranić, Stjepan Šulek and Gjuro Vidmarović. The book includes a foreword by Dr. Alois Mock, and an afterword by Academician Vladimir Ibler, as well as a review by Prof. Kathleen Wilkes, (a translation of her foreword to the English edition). The book has 251 pages, 22 pages of documentation, an index of names, a list of abbreviations and 32 documentary photographs (7 colour and 25 black-and-white).
The
front cover of the German edition In
June 2009, the Spanish
version of the book under
the title Al servicio
de mi
patria
- Croatia
Rediviva (Serving
My Country -
Croatia Rediviva) was published.
This first edition in
Spanish
is published by the Institut
društvenih znanosti “Ivo Pilar“,
Zagreb, and the
Croatian Heritage Foundation (Hrvatska
matica iseljenika), Zagreb. The book has
535 pages, 28
pages
of documentation, an index of names, a
list of abbreviations and it is illustrated by documentary
photographs.
The
foreword was writen
Dr. Trpimir Macan, historian
and long-time editor with The Croatian Lexicographical Institute "Miroslav
Krleža" and
by the editor Željka Lovrenčić,
MA. The book includes
also an esei by Michael Foot and a review by Prof. Kathleen
Wilkes (a
translation in Spanish of her foreword to the English edition). Printing
is underway for the
publishing of the book in
Ukrainian, by the Publishing
House “Tempora”-
Kiev. The foreword was written by Prof. Maksim
Kameneckij.
The all
editions contain a wealth of documents and
personal recollections of the events that marked the establishment of
independent Croatia. This has been particularly appreciated
by the authors of
the reviews and forewords. to all the editions.
The
author, Prof. Hrvoje
Kačić, in the Great Hall of
the Senate House, University of Zagreb, (he
was
expelled from the University in 1952 by the decision of the
political
disciplinary committee). It was in this Great Hall that he attended the
graduation ceremony in 1956, when he graduated from the Zagreb
University, the Law School, and in 1965, when he was awarded a
doctorate in law. The same
Great Hall witnessed the awarding of honorary degrees to Prof. Kathleen
Wilkes,
the eminent British scientist (author of the foreword to the English
edition)
and to the world-known statesman, Dr. Alois Mock, (author of the
foreword to
the German edition).
The
books are available in bookshops or can be purchased via the Internet
at the
following addresses: Prodajna
knjižara
Matice hrvatske, Matičina
ul. br. 2, 10 000 Zagreb, tel. 38510 4819 318 E-mail: prodaja@matica.hr Knjižara
Ljevak,
Trg bana Jelačića
17, 10 000 Zagreb, tel. 38510 4812 992, E-mail: knjizara-ljevak@zg.t-om.hr. Knjižara
Sv. Antun,
Kaptol 6, 10 000
Zagreb, tel./fax 38510 4828 823, E-mail: naklada.sv.antuna@zg.t-com.hr ANIMA
SUVENIRNICA,
Pred dvorom 2, 20
000 Dubrovnik, tel. 020 324 066, E-mail: antoniocorak@gmail.com
ALGEBRA
doo, Placa 9, 20 000 Dubrovnik, tel
38520
323 217 Quotations
from chosen reviews and
presentations of
the book by Hrvoje Kačić, supplied by eminent Croatian and
international
politicians, writers and scientists when the books were
introduced to the
public. Mr Kačić's book is undoubtedly unique in its approach to the
description of historical events during the recent
Liberation War, when
Croatia was defending itself from Serbian aggression and in his
personal views
of the complex diplomatic activities leading to the establishment of
Croatia as
a sovereign state as well as in its evidence of war ravaging,
particularly of
his birthplace Dubrovnik, during the Serbian and Montenegrin aggression
on the
Dubrovnik area in 1991/92.
Mr.Vladimir
Ibler, Academician
and Professor at Zagreb
University Law School, when presenting the English edition of the book
said:
“...
When it comes to ...
colleague Kačić's book, ...
I would like to stress at least some of the reasons why I hold that
Kačić's
work is worth careful reading and re-reading. ...
What the readers will find to be
most valuable is
the author's presentation of the events he participated in or, at
least, was
not far from in space and time... Using legal language, he was an
"eye-witness" and not experiencing at second-hand. ...In
these dramatic situations and
circumstances ...
in the years when our country was coming into being, the aggressors
tried to
enforce their right to self-determination and they did not hesitate to
use
forbidden methods or even the most despicable crime of genocide in its
various
forms... In these situations, the witness - I mean Mr Kačić,
the author, - and
his testimony, particularly when in written form and supported by
evidence, in
its full meaning, has a double impact, a double effect, a double value:
1.
firstly, it can be used to establish the
facts, and 2.
secondly, it can be used to challenge and
expose false, untrue claims. ...Already
in the very course of
unfinished historical
processes there appeared very sophisticated
misrepresentations, distortions
and insinuations (see Appendix 4, General Adžić's speech, p. 219 of the
English
edition and Appendix 6, the letter of the Serbian Government, signed by
Dragutin Zelenović, p. 225 of the English edition). I am certain that
parts of
Kačić's book can be used to fight falsifications spread by the enemies
of Croatia. ...I
would like to raise the question
how Kačić's book
relates to international law, to the UN Charter. What should the views
be on
the exertion of power against Croatia, especially after its
recognition...
Article 51 of the UN Charter allows the Republic of Croatia to defend
itself.
It guarantees Croatia the right to "individual self-defence", and
this important right ... has been reasserted many times even after the
implementation of the UN Charter. ...
The Declaration of Rights and Duties
of States
contains Article 12, and the UN General Assembly Resolution 375(IV)
says:
"Every country has the right to individual self-defence or collective
self-defence from an armed attack" ... Kačić's text...
provides a certain
and proven factual basis for the application of international law
standards ...
Kačić's text comprises and contains confirmable and confirmed facts
justifying
the use of weapons by the Republic of Croatia. This is important!
Because there
is evidence that there are attempts to proclaim, whether deliberately,
malevolently, or out of sheer ignorance that Croatia should not have
taken up
arms. Kačić's text can and has to be used to strike down any openly
hostile
activities or the opinions of uninformed, barely educated
individuals..." Dr.
Žarko Domljan, The
Chairman of the
Croatian Parliament in its first term, scientific consultant, wrote in
his
review of Mr. Kačić's book Serving
My Country - Croatia Rediviva: “...
The texts collected in
this book .... offer an
interesting insight into one of the most dramatic periods in Croatia's
recent
history and they are a welcome supplement to the existing literature
dealing
with the Patriotic War ... They are especially valuable for their ...
English
... translation, which will place them among the relatively few works
on the
Patriotic War which consistently present the Croatian case ... The
texts ... are thematically and
temporally linked,
revealing some facts and details which ... the Croatian public was not
aware of
until now. This is because the author ... a competent lawyer,
particularly
familiar with international law, could, in the actions and,
particularly, in
the decisions taken by international factors, understandably spot some
details
which other writers missed or were not able to interpret adequately ...
In the
earliest days of our struggle for the international affirmation of
Croatia, Mr
Kačić was head of the parliamentary delegations to the Council of
Europe and,
therefore, his evidence of this period is extremely valuable.“ Prof.
Katheleen Wilkes, Professor at St. Hilda
College in
Oxford, lecturer at many
universities throughout the world and holder of a Zagreb University
Honorary
Degree, wrote in her foreword to the first English edition of the book:
“…
It is an honour
to be asked to write a foreword to
Hrvoje Kačić's book. I found it quite eye-opening; for in the besieged
city of Dubrovnik I, along with many others, had very little access to
news from
"outside". Indeed, I had to be more concerned with trying to get news
about, and appeals for, Dubrovnik out than getting news in - I had
access just
to one much-overworked telephone/fax. In particular, I read with
astonishment
that in Zagreb even Tudjman himself thought that in Dubrovnik there was
no
stomach for the defence of the city, or that it might yield to the
blandishments that invited it to consider a status as an "autonomous"
province within the so-called "Greater Serbia"; and this scepticism
about the determination of Dubrovnik's (hugely courageous) defenders
and
citizenry, and about its loyalty to Croatia, clearly spread to the
world
outside and, obviously, to the Serbian generals and politicians - a
fact which
helps explain some of their otherwise inexplicable changes of tactics.
Equally
surprising was the discovery that it had been widely assumed that
Dubrovnik's defence was largely provided by mercenaries; this was
something that Cyrus
Vance, for example, had taken to be a fact. From inside the city, most
of us were
unaware of these lying and dangerous rumours. But Kačić, as the reader
will see
from this book, hit such canards firmly on the head.
He was in an exceptional position. An independent in
politics – thus owing his allegiance to Croatia rather than
to any political
party – he shows in this volume his independence of spirit
time and again. He
was often in Dubrovnik, usually accompanying heads of state, foreign
ministers,
ambassadors and diplomats, people like Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Bernard
Kouchner; but also in Zagreb, Belgrade, The Hague, talking to the
European
Parliament, to parliamentarians of the NATO countries, to the Council
of
Europe, to Cyrus Vance, even to generals in the JNA and much, much
more. He
took every opportunity to argue, to explain, to correct
misapprehensions such
as those mentioned in the previous paragraph. A "roving ambassador"
in every sense; for Croatia in general and Dubrovnik in particular.
Possibly the single greater disaster to befall Croatia, though, was the
appalling siege and eventual fall of Vukovar, that most courageous
of Croatian cities. Returning briefly to Dubrovnik, the news
that Vukovar had
been overwhelmed was our worst day – the worst, at any rate,
until our “black
Friday”, December 6, 1991. Vukovar was a symbol to us, as it
was to everyone in Croatia, of extraordinary bravery against extreme
odds. Kačić keeps our minds
on Vukovar; this is necessary, because the tragic brutality in the
onslaught
against this city never received the press coverage in the west that it
should
have done. Whilst never overlooking the disasters that hit other towns,
villages, and cities throughout Croatia, he shows how Vukovar and
Dubrovnik –
“top right” and “bottom left”
in this most eccentrically-shaped of countries –
encapsulate, and serve to illustrate, both the human and cultural
catastrophes,
and the sheer courage of the citizenry, throughout the country.
The reader should be aware that this volume is a
collection of articles, speeches, addresses, reports, letters,
interviews; most
were written in 1991-2, some in the 1-2 years following. Each piece was
delivered, recorded, or written at the date given. This means that each
can be
read as a free-standing chapter, without reference to others; but also,
of
course, makes some slight degree of repetition inevitable. It also
means that
none of them makes reference to events that followed (for example, only
a few
make reference to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina which came hard on
the
heels of the war against Croatia, and none to the events in Kosovo that
followed that; nor, of course, to the downfall of Milošević
in 2000). Thus, the
items in the book constitute almost a diary-like account of the war
against Croatia as it proceeded. Several pieces use the present tense,
some the past. The present
tense - for example, in speeches or appeals - adds a great sense of
immediacy,
and brings vividly to life the situation as it was seen and felt in
these years
so crucial to Croatia. It is important to see each chapter in the
context and
time at which it was written or presented…”
Mr.
Michael Foot, editor of the Evening
Standard, and later the Tribune.
He was elected Member of Parliament where
he spent 42 years and the Speaker in the House of Commons on behalf of
the
Labour Party. He published many books, and
his book
“The
Uncollected Essays Old And New, 1953-2003”,
edited by Brian Brivati, deals
with people who have most influenced and fascinated him –
natural choices such
as Bevan, and Bevin, Churchill and Gorbachev, Indira Ghandi and Willy
Brandt -
and places - Hampstead, Wales, Venice, Dubrovnik - which remained
closest to
his heart. Here are some parts from his essay “Dubrovnik,
Serving My Country,
Subtitle 2003, after reading
the text by Hrvoje Kačić. “…
Just a few
months before, in mid September 1991,
Jill and I were completing our annual holiday in Dubrovnik. Rumours of
war had
been heard in Belgrade: indeed some professors at their university had
been
preaching a doctrine which sounded more like Hitler's fascism than any
natural
product of Yugoslavia. Serbia must have the right to rule wherever the
Serbs
lived: the first time I heard the phrase 'ethnic cleansing'.... The
new book on the subject
which Kathy Wilkes
introduces has an authenticity all its own. No previous writer on the
subject
has had the same combined experience of the subject as Hrvoje Kačić.
His
knowledge of the old Dubrovnik and the new Croatia, the country he has
sought
to serve, according to his title, is one with the deepest roots but
with a
quite modern flowering. Croatia
was not supposed to exist at all; according
to the most wretched Serbian gibe, it was just a German invention. And
in the
chancelleries of Europe where such nonsense was accepted, why should
not old Dubrovnik be wiped off the map altogether?
Fortunately for us, all the men, women and
children of Dubrovnik had a different idea. Kačić has a special insight
into
that story and a special obligation to tell it. Little
Slovenia had given bullying
Belgrade a bloody
nose on the actual battlefield which should have taught the military
chieftains
in Belgrade a lesson. Instead they drew the opposite moral.
They would act
more fiercely, more viciously. Who was giving the military orders in
Belgrade? It was not easy to tell. Slobodan Milosevic was the recently
elected President.
Sometimes he would give orders. Sometimes it looked like an army off
the leash.
Both the political and the military leaders might be looking for a
chance to
repair the ignominy of the Slovenian defeat. Kathy
Wilkes singles out as the greatest
disaster to
befall Croatia the appalling siege and eventual fall of Vukovar. This
new book
calls it the crucifixion of Vukovar.... Vukovar was a
Croatian town roughly
the same size as Dubrovnik at the very top of the Eastern-most frontier
of the
new Croatia, nearest to the very top of the easternmost frontier of the
new Croatia, nearest to the Serbian border, just as Dubrovnik was at
the furthest point to the east. But
the people of Dubrovnik felt the lash of Vukovar across their own
backs. Indeed
, their would-be assailants from the nearby mountains posts
threatened them
with the same fate. So the massacre of the Croatian men, women and
children of
Vukovar maybe had a military purpose after all ....
It was a terrible insult when
the assailants of Dubrovnik sought to brand the defenders as fascists
or Ustase, the friends of the fascists.
It was worse still when they sought to use the example of Vukovar to
intimidate
the defenders of Dubrovnik. Worse still again, they started to apply
the same
methods in the villages round Dubrovnik or when allied forces from
Montenegro seized the neighbourhood township of Cavtat. All these
threats and incursions could have
produced the surrender which the people in charge in Belgrade certainly
expected. But there was no wavering inside old Dubrovnik, as Kathy
Wilkes was
so eager to tell the world. And there had also been a
properly directed
military defence. Higher up on one mountain above those seized by the
JNA, a
handful of defenders were there to ensure that if the victors of
Vukovar sought
to repeat their final tactics in Dubrovnik, they would pay a terrible
price for
it. Month after month, the defenders of Dubrovnik – men,
women and children, as
Kačić emphasises – held their own. All
this evidence was available when
Jill (December
1991) and I returned to Dubrovnik, just about Christmas time, to make a
film
about the siege. Croatia was now involved in the larger war next door,
when the
military authorities in Belgrade resolved that the people of Bosnia
must be denied the right to vote for their independence, just as
Croatia had been denied the
same right two years before. How could such monstrous demands and
proscriptions
be allowed to continue in our civilised Europe without effective
protest? Could
they not hear the appeals from Kathy Wilkes and Vesna Gamulin in
Dubrovnik? Theirs was the true voice of civilised
Europe…”
Dr.
Alois Mock, in the 1980s and 1990s Minister
of Foreign Affairs and Vice-Chancellor of the Republic of Austria,
President of
the European Democratic Union (Vizekanzler und Aussenminister
Oestereichs a.D.,
Praesident der Europaeischen Demokratischen Union) and holder of a
Zagreb
University Honorary Degree, in his foreword to the German edition of
the H.
Kačić’s book “Mit
der Wahrheit in die Welt” wrote:
“... I am glad that
Prof. Kačić devoted himself to writing this book, bringing the
happenings in
the period 1991 - 1992 closer to the readers ... Kačić had an insight
in the
internal decision-making processes otherwise inaccessible to the
public. He
describes a host of interesting details that would rarely
become part of
historic or political and scientific works. However, Kačić, the lawyer,
carefully produced a scientific publication, very valuable for the
documents it
contains as well as for his personal notes. Kačić's book is not only a
historical overview by a witness but it is also an interesting and
exciting
document of the time, with a lot of information for the readers. Prof.
Kačić
was never member of a party, neither in Yugoslavia nor in Croatia, and
thus his statements are even more valuable because he could approach
them with maximal
objectivity. I recommend this book to the German-speaking
public…” Dr.
Trpimir Macan, historian and long-time
editor with
The Croatian Lexicographical
Institute "Miroslav Krleža"
says in his foreword to the
Croatian edition: “…
When I finished
reading Kačić's book, my first
thought was that its character was both biographical and documentary
and that
he had chosen the right title U
službi domovine (Serving My Country)
Kačić ... expounds his views of the political situation in Croatia and
the
world in the crucial period of the late 1980's and the beginning of the
1990's,
explaining and documenting his own political activities. His feelings
about
communism, about Yugoslavia, its contradictions and sustainability,
about the
Croatian state, his lucidity and ability to differentiate, ensured the
steadiness of his convictions. ...
Because of his activities, Hrvoje
Kačić is a
first-class witness. It is not to be disregarded that this witness is a
democrat by his views and judgements, that he is against hatred and
war, a
supporter of freedom and individual rights, equality, tolerance and the
peaceful solution of misunderstandings and conflicts. Peace,
common-sense and
good-will - he believes - can overcome passion, hatred and violence,
and take
us from the restless and destructive Balkan mentalities and reality
towards the
desired, orderly civilisation. His political credo is acting in
accordance with
his conscience and beliefs, trust in the effectiveness of democracy and
the
rule of justice and reason…”
Mr. Igor
Zidić, Director
of the “Matica
hrvatska”
said, presenting the book in the Matica
hrvatska premises, on 25 January
2006: “...
We are presenting a book which speaks of Croatia in its
most difficult but
also, definitely, and without false modesty, its most important, most
glorious
and most tragic days.... We are presenting a book by one of those
brilliant,
silent, almost invisible people of the time, who felt for his homeland
since
his early days, who educated himself, even in the prisons of what was
then Yugoslavia,
combining somehow the life of a Croatian child with the life of a
fisherman and
top sportsman ... and spending weeks between different competitions in
jail. ...
Two determinants, Dubrovnik and
Croatia, are important for the moral, political, expert and scientific
habitus of Hrvoje Kačić.
Sport opened for him the gates to the world ... and the world of his
experience
in representing big companies provided H. Kačić, an eminent expert in
maritime
law, with the experience necessary to qualify him as a
negotiator with this
world and its high representatives in 1991 and 1992, when he first
addressed
the Council of Europe ... Our
generals are being processed in The
Hague, even
the person who, as a soldier, contributed most to the liberation of the
country, and Kačić's book has become, by a twist of fate, relevant
again,
perhaps even more relevant than when it was first published. I am
saying this
because this book ... includes numerous documents of value to those who
know
how to read them and will want to read them, because I often feel that
a lot
has been put on the table already but has not been noticed ... In
one of his addresses in Dubrovnik,
H.Kačić said:
"Protect this small number of Serbs who have remained in town, who have
done nothing against the town and who share their distress with you ...
protect
them as evidence of our culture ... we are simply not barbarians in our
civilisational achievements and our culture and we must differ from
barbarians
..." With
the military and police operation Oluja,
the commitment undertaken by the UN Security Council was not met by UN
forces,
but the Croatian self-defence army stopped additional escalation of
armed
conflicts and bloodshed...
....Hrvoje
Kačić, as a lawyer and
politician, even a
historian in his own way, spoke about what the United Nations did with
the
so-called safety zones they had established. Not only did they not
protect them
but in Srebrenica and Žepa they left them to be turned into the largest
execution sites in the 1991-1995 war. If this was the case,
and if there was
an initial wish to protect people, then, says Hrvoje Kačić, it was the
Croatian
operation Oluja
that did what the UN Blue Helmets were called to but did
not perform. And because we did something the UN troops failed to do,
instead
of being praised we are now being accused of crime. If Oluja
had not happened, the Srebrenica and
Žepa tragedy would have been repeated in Cazin, Bihać, Goražde and who
knows
where else. It would have been a chain reaction that had just started.
Only the
Croatian Army action stopped the errors of the UN representatives from
being
repeated... Hrvoje
Kačić's arguments give us the
right to expect
from all those who are engaged today, no matter how sincerely and how
enthusiastically, and are organised in the defence of Croatia, to study
these
documents and the arguments offered because if they do not do it we
shall ask
them one day what they think of what Hrvoje Kačić had written and why
they have
not used it..."
Mr. Đuro
Vidmarović, former Member of the Croatian
Parliament, retired
ambassador, writer
and historian, said in the
presentation of the book: “…This
book (by H.
Kačić) has to be taken as a
collection of documents on current Croatian history. ... it is outside
Croatia that Croatian history is tailored, because what we know is
reinterpreted and
misinterpreted as witnessed by the author of this book. There
are several historiographic theses
offered by Mr
Kačić ... in several languages ... that should be accepted by
historians and
politicians ... and perationalised on the international
political scene. It
depends on them whether they will or will not read this (and do what is
necessary). This does not depend on the author any more. ... here are
the
evidences offered by Mr Kačić. First:
the disintegration of Yugoslavia
did not commence in 1991 through the actions of Croatia and Slovenia
but started with
Milošević's constitutional coup, with the suspension of the
autonomy of Kosovo
and Vojvodina, once constitutional and legal entities, constitutive
factors of
the Yugoslav federation... Second:
Mr Kačić proves and offers a
realistic thesis
of the strength of the Serbian lobby in the United States, which
coincided, in
those dramatic days, with the American endeavours to keep Yugoslavia
... he
mentions an important name we keep forgetting ... the influential
Congresswoman
Helen Delich-Bentley, who gathered a powerful lobby ... on
Milošević's side ...
and did a lot for his status in that powerful country ... The
JNA stance: ... it is terrible what
the Yugoslav
Army Commander-in-Chief said to his subordinates already in early July
1991 :
.... The traitors should be
shot on the spot without mercy or regret..... There are
no indictments
by the
Tribunal in The Hague against those holding
such terrible command responsibility.... In
these dramatic situations, while the
war is raging,
Kačić takes a small aircraft to fly to Serbia via Hungary ... Parts
from the book (pp. 93-94): “...
Before boarding the
warship, Admiral Jokić took
us to the Navy Headquarters at Tivat, sat us down in the presence of
numerous
foreign diplomats, in capacity of ambassadors in Belgrade and started
to
provide the political and alleged strategic reasons of the military
attacks
against Dubrovnik. This was the stereotypic language of the
‘political and educational
lesson’ given to recruits and the regular soldiery. He spoke
in Serbian, and an
official interpreter translated his speech into English. His message
boiled
firstly down to the claim that the army had had to start the operation
to
“liberate” the Prevlaka peninsula, since this was a
strategically important
point. He spoke as if we, i.e., the Croatian forces, had attacked the
military
fortress at Prevlaka... H.
Kačić listened patiently for a long
time to
everything that was launched from that "arsenal of lies and
imputations", until he said that for those reasons the Yugoslav Army
had
had to intervene and start, as he said explicitly, "liberating
Dubrovnik
and the whole Dubrovnik region". He could no longer bear this repeated
misuse of the term "liberator", and stopped his presentation, saying: "You,
Admiral, present here the events
like a
witness, but it is well known that in the period you are speaking about
you
were not personally present in the region. You only arrived on 7
October 1991, after the previous commander. Djurović, was killed in
extraordinary
circumstances. I listened patiently to the series of untruths you
presented
here until you used the term of the necessity to liberate
the Dubrovnik area.” He then continued, "You, with your
troops and army, are aggressors in Croatia; and in the whole region,
meaning southern Croatia and Dubrovnik, you can only be occupying
forces ... and you know very well how occupying forces
should be treated." H.
Kačić furthermore pointed out the
following to Admiral
Jokić:
"You know that already at the
beginning of this month, on October 5, a letter of protest (see
Appendix for
full version) was sent from the President, Dragutin Zelenović, on
behalf of the
Government of Serbia to the Government of Croatia. In this letter
“Serbia”
urges Croatia to stop the destruction of Dubrovnik and condemns its
alleged
decision to station paramilitary formations, black legions and numerous
foreign
mercenaries in a city of priceless historical and cultural value and to
use the
area to start armed attacks on inhabited places in Herzegovina and Boka
Kotorska; this presages an extremely uncivilised, inhuman and ignoble
act.
But you know that these allegations by
the Serbian Government are gross lies, and, please, admit this here in
the
presence of the respected representatives of the diplomatic corps from
Belgrade… “.
Dr. Vlado
Šakić, editor of the
English edition of Hrvoje Kačić's book Serving
My Country, Croatia
Rediviva, (issued in 2002, two years before the
already prepared Croatian issue of U
službi domovine, Croatia
Rediviva), wrote in his foreword:
“… Hrvoje Kačić's book Serving
My Country
is difficult to ordinarily typify for a number of reasons. The first
reason is
related to the events that the book deals with. Namely, these are
crucial
events that contributed to the realisation of the centuries-old
Croatian
aspiration for a state. The second reason is related to the authors
approach to
the theme of the book. Specifically, this refers to the author's
relation towards
the facts, which undoubtedly support the well-foundedness of the
author's
standpoint as well as the book's conclusions. For these
reasons, this book
belongs to the category of scientific studies. On the other hand, since
the
author was also a political actor involved in the events that the book
refers
to, we have a valuable testimony, which crosses Croatian
borders. In addition,
special gratitude is given to the eminent English academician Katheleen
V.
Wilkes for the time and effort that she devoted to this book. Hence, by
all
means, this book had to be published because it contributes
to a better
understanding of the events that occurred at the beginning of the
nineties in
the so-called “areas of former Yugoslavia“ and thus
prevents further attempts
to interpret those events in an untrue way..”.
Mr.
Stjepan Šulek, journalist, publisher, formerly
engaged by the Croatian diplomatic service, co-founder and co-editor of
the
Burgerland Croat students' cultural magazine Glas,
contributor
to
Cologne radio-station, Editor-in-Chief of the Kroatische
Berichte
(Croatian Reports) magazine, advisor for cultural matters, information
and
teaching in Croatian, when presenting the Croatian, German and English
versions
of H. Kačić’s book “Serving
My Country, Croatia Rediviva”
at the
Frankfurt Book Fair, on 13 October 2007, as one of the editors of the
German
version, said:
”...
The book provides a
correction of all former
misunderstandings of the Patriotic War conveyed by the Croatian and
international press. The book should, therefore, be bought by all
Croatian
associations in Germany and other countries and it should be delivered
to
scientific institutes, publishers and historians to have the Croatian
truth
about the Patriotic War heard. It is no coincidence that the German
translation
of the book is entitled Mit
der Wahrheit in die Welt
– With The Truth
Into The World. Whoever is
interested in the roots of the war on the
territory of ex-Yugoslavia is invited to read this book ... in it, the
war
background is described through original documents. ... The
Croats in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are invited to go through
this exceptional book, written in a
sober but decisive tone, defending Croatia from the misinterpretations
of the
Patriotic War in the international and Croatian press...” Davor G.
Gjivoje, famous businessman, Chairman of
Net World Inc. New York, wrote to
his correspondents on the book “Serving
my country”:
1.
The book evokes some of those
incredible
times
and sheds a lot of historically accurate light on the events
surrounding the
tragedy of former Yugoslavia. Thus, you may be interested to
glance through
some parts of the book. 2.
It is written by a most
respected
long-time
friend, Professor Hrvoje Kacic, born also in Dubrovnik. Although a
sophisticated cosmopolitan, he is deeply in love with our home city and
has
been an inexhaustible fighter for the freedom and independence of
Croatia since his childhood. Apart from becoming an Olimpic medalist as
a brilliant
achiever in sport, Dr. Kacic is one of the European most recognized
legal
experts in international maritime law. His highest achievements in the
field of
sports have been followed by an equally brilliant career as corporate
executive, university professor, highly respected international lawyer
and,
during the last decade, in total dedication to servicing his beloved
country
with every ounce of his energy. 3.
The book has a special meaning
to me and
my
family. In the early days of the war, Dr Kacic was trying to
convey (on
location in Croatia) the truth about the unthinkable aggression on
peaceful
Croatian lands and its civilian people to the likes of Clayborne Pell,
Cyrus
Vance and others. Simultaneously, my son Davor and I were desperately
trying to
do the same by visiting with these same people here in New York,
Washington and London. 4.
Dr. Kacic is not only a writer,
he is a
fighter.
But as an Olympic medalist he is an honourable and objective fighter.
His book
is full of facts and as such exudes credibility.
I hope that if and when you find a free
moment in your busy life to
glance through it, you might find it an interesting reading
...
Hrvoje Kačić: Dubrovnik and Calamities of War;
Attempt to Deblockade Dubrovnik Hrvoje Kacic's
interview for AMAC (in Croatian): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Hrvoje Kačić, biography Hrvoje Kačić: The Hague Tribunal does not meet the obligations for which it was established, in Croatian and English
Many thanks to dr. Inga Lisac for submitting this text. D.Ž. Dubrovnik Croatia - Overview of History, Culture and Science
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