He was special
A trusted man of Blaga Zadra, benevolent and honest: - If you are hungry and thirsty, if you find anything in the house, take it, eat it and drink it... -
Antun Čibarić, hero of the Homeland War, was born in Androvac in Kosovo. He was the fourth in the large seven-member family of Cecilija and Mika Čiber.
Antun, who was called "Tuna" since childhood, finished elementary school in Janjevo. The whole family moved to Vukovar in the early 1970s, in search of a better life.
In Vukovar, the Čibarićs devoted themselves to trade, in which they were very successful. Soon Antun met Vilka, his future wife, whom he married in 1979. It didn't take long, and the family expanded by four more members. They lived in Slavonska Street, the street that Tuna would soon defend with his life.
The family had kiosks for the sale of fruit and vegetables at the markets in Vukovar and Borovo naselje and lived a peaceful life.
With the beginning of the war, Antun joined the reserve composition of the MUP in 1990. At the very beginning of the conflict, he voluntarily joined the defense of the Motherland. When the battle for Vukovar began, Tuna and all his brothers joined the defense of the city.
- Tuna was special. He told his fighters: "If you are hungry and thirsty, if you find something in the house, take it, eat and drink it, but if you take something from someone else's house, I will be the one to kill you." He was so honest. – his brother Mato recalled.
Mato last saw his brother on September 11. Then Alojzija Stepinac brought food to the local community in Borovo Naselje. The whole family gathered, and everyone was at Tuna's for lunch. Then everyone took a photo. The last time.
– At night, I escaped back to Varaždin, where I lived. My wife asked me how mine were, and I said that they were all alive and well, but also that I had a bad feeling about Tuna. Unfortunately, that feeling turned out to be justified. - Mato recalled.
On September 14, 1991, a tank-infantry attack on Borovo Naselje began, the fiercest until then. While the defenders of Trpinjska cesta were offering convulsive resistance to the aggressor who was attacking them, Tuna was in Slavonska street, which fell under his area of responsibility, as the first commander of the point. He was a trusted man of Blaga Zadra.
When he spotted tanks approaching from the direction of Trpinja, he ordered the evacuation of civilians, primarily women, children and the elderly who were hidden in the basements of houses.
Tanks and infantry were unstoppable. In a hopeless situation, he ordered his comrades Tuna to retreat towards Bilogorska Street, while he remained at the checkpoint protecting the retreat of his men. He resisted the enemy until he was hit by a machine gun from a tank that entered the street, and then, only thirty meters from the family house, he was inhumanely run over by the same tank.
After peaceful reintegration, exhumation and identification, in June 1998, Tuna Čibarić was buried at the Memorial Cemetery of the Homeland War Victims in Vukovar. The President of the Republic of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, honored Tun Čibarić in November 2018. Posthumously, he was awarded the Order of Prince Domagoj with a necklace, for his proven bravery and heroism in the Homeland War.
We would like to thank the historian Borna Marinić for collecting stories and information about the Croatian victims and defenders on his portal "Domovinskirat.hr", on which this text is based.
