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…”

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 STORM - 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 ...

    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 Kacic's interview for AMAC (in Croatian): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3