Director of the Archives of Serbia, Miroslav Perišić, today in Andrićgrad promoted the seventh issue of “Historical Notebooks”, which the main theme “Declaration of war on Serbia on July 28, 1914.” This presentation was organized by the Department of History of the Andrić Institute

“On this day, July 31st, exactly one hundred years ago was the third day since the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia, and this issue of “Historical Notebooks” is concerned about the period before the announcement of the new cataclysm of war,” said Perišić.

He said that all the European empires entered the war claiming that they were in danger, only Austria-Hungary claimed to be threatened by Serbia.

Perišić said that this issue was one of the most feature-rich because it presented the documents before the war in days, even hours.

“On the cover of this issue is published Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia on, at that time, official French language, which was sent by an open mail, which, according to a historian, Dragoljub Živojinovića, is `the most extraordinary telegram which was read in the history of diplomacy’,” said Perišić.

In this written ultimatum that Austro-Hungary tried to humiliate Serbia by demanding to allow the Austro-Hungarian investigators to investigate the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in this sovereign country.

In this issue of “Historical Notebooks”, a historian, Branko Bogdanović, in an article entitled “The first victims of the Great War,” published the name of the first Serbian soldiers who died in the war, and it was Dušan Đonović, and also Austro-Hungarian Kala Kovač.

“Historians have so far ‘ignored’ this important fact, and that is why in the history books there are a lot of confusion about the names of the first casualties of the Great War,” said Perišić.

In an interview “Serbia did not want the war,” a historian, Dragoljub Živojinović, said that Christopher Clark was a common liar, because in a huge book in which he wrote about Serbia, talked about the war regarding only the Austro-Hungarian sources.

“It is interesting that Clark’s book ‘Sleepwalkers’, which was critically acclaimed in Western circles, in German went through 12 editions, and in each following edition he changed attitudes, which puzzled those who supported it, and even some historians from Serbia, “said Perišić.

In the latest issue of the “Notebooks” was also published a memory of a Serbian priest, Nikola Prokopić, about suffering under Austro-Hungarian rule.

A special place in this issue took official opening of Andrićgrad, scenic view of the Assassination in Sarajevo named “Rebellious Angels” and the statement of the famous Serbian director, Emir Kusturica, that “Princip is a hero of the Serbian people, one of those who are often wrongly perceived in history and put where they do not belong.”

There are also titles “Vučić, Dodik and Kusturica opened Andrićgrad”, and the text of how the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church awarded the President of the Republic of Srpska, Milorad Dodik, and the creator of Andrićgrad, Emir Kusturica, with the medal of St. King Milutin.

His Holiness Serbian Patriarch, Irinej, awarded them with the medals at the St Vitus’ (Vidovdan) ceremonies.

SRNA