President Milanović at Presentation of the Book “Progon i nacionalno buđenje – Borba za demokratsku Hrvatsku” by Stjepan Mesić
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended today the presentation of the first part of the political autobiography of the former President of the Republic of Croatia Stjepan Mesić “Progon i nacionalno buđenje – Borba za demokratsku Hrvatsku” [Persecution and national awakening – the struggle for a democratic Croatia]. “Congratulations on a very serious job. This is a valuable book that no one was obliged to write, and you wrote it. Thank you,” said President Milanović.
Speaking about the former President’s political engagement, he recalled his words at the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Buzin in 2003, when – as the then President of the Republic – he concluded his speech with this message: “You will be better served by a Croatia that thinks for itself, than by a Croatia that is obedient.” “Twenty years later, I am proud to have listened to that. His entire career and mission revolve around that short leitmotif, which you must respect,” said the President.
“I have read almost the entire book and I am not a complete stranger in his life, as far as facts are concerned, (although) not generationally. However, the maxim of the Topalović family from the movie “Maratonci trče počasni krug” [Marathon runners run a lap of honour] holds true for him: Hell will not be hard for those who knew you,” joked President Milanović, adding that Stjepan Mesić had a difficult life, which is eventful still today.
“I am now the same age as he was in 1991. He was then a man of my age and only then did his great career begin. Because, if it weren’t for what happened later, which this book is mostly about, he would have remained an interesting, a more charming head of a small municipality with connections in Croatian political society, but whom the general public and the community would not know about. It was, and still is, a significant and successful career of uprightness and character in which I, as a politician, cannot say that I agreed with all the policies, but I did with most of them. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here today,” President Milanović told those present.
Regarding Stjepan Mesić’s book, the President said that it is worth reading, well-written and genuine, but that not everyone will like it. “It is a recipe for the continuation of this life of ours, to finally enter some kind of catharsis. Because, all these reconciliations that are being talked about are pointless from the perspective of my generation. My generation didn’t even need to be reconciled, we weren’t in conflict, we grew up normally. The earlier ones are, unfortunately, irreconcilable. We see this even today and these differences will never be wiped out, today they remain the focus of Croatian political discourse – Jasenovac, Bleiburg. My generation did not participate in that,” President Milanović concluded.
In the first part of the political autobiography “Progon i nacionalno buđenje – Borba za demokratsku Hrvatsku,” Stjepan Mesić recounts the period from his birth in 1934 to the end of 1990, when the first government in an independent Croatia was established. The period from 1990 onwards will be covered by the author in the second part of his memoirs.
Apart from President Milanović, the former President of the Republic of Slovenia Milan Kučan also spoke at the book presentation. Together with the author Stjepan Mesić, the book was also presented by the book editor Franjo Maletić and reviewers Vlatko Cvrtila and Tvrtko Jakovina.
President Milanović was accompanied by the Adviser to the President of the Republic for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta