Siniša Glavašević, war reporter, journalist and editor of Croatian Radio Vukovar, reported daily on the suffering of the city and its inhabitants.
His shocking reports from the battlefield spread the word about the suffering of Vukovar throughout Croatia and the world. Glavašević sent the last report on the very day of the fall of Vukovar, November 18, from the Vukovar hospital where he was lying wounded by shell fragments. After two days, he was taken to an unknown location, and his body was found after the exhumation of the mass grave at Ovčara in 1997. His name is considered a symbol of Croatian war journalism, and he was declared a hero of the Homeland War, for which he was awarded posthumously in 2011.
In addition to journalistic reports, Glavašević also wrote a series of short stories and essays that were later published in the collection "Stories from Vukovar". Read Siniša's words that gave the people of Vukovar hope in the most difficult days, and they still resonate today.
The story of the City
"I give up all searches for justice, truth, I give up trying to subordinate ideals to my own life, I give up everything that I considered necessary for some kind of good beginning or good end. I would probably give up on myself, but I can't. Because who will be left if we all renounce ourselves and run away into our fear? To whom to leave the city?
Who will guard it for me until I'm gone, while I'm looking for myself in the dumps of human souls, while I'm alone, without myself, vulnerable and tired, in a fever, while my eyes grow bigger in front of personal defeat? Who will protect my city, my friends, who will bring Vukovar out of the darkness? There are no backs stronger than mine and yours, so if it's not difficult for you, if you still have a youthful whisper left in you, join.
Someone touched my parks, the benches on which your names are still engraved, the shadow where you gave and received your first kiss at the same time - someone simply stole everything because, how to explain that there is no shadow?
There is no shop window where you admired your own joys, there is no cinema where you watched the saddest movie, your past is simply destroyed and now you have nothing. You have to to build again. First, look for your past, your roots, then your present, and then, if you have any strength left, invest it in the future. And don't be alone in the future.
And the city, don't worry about it, it was inside you all along. Just hidden. So that the executioner doesn't find him. The city is you. "
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