Igor Kačić

Who was Igor Kačić?

Igor Kačić was a Croatian teenager who was killed during the Vukovar massacre.

Kačić was born and raised in Vukovar to Petar and Irena Kačić with his twin sister Silvia and older sister Sandra. At the beginning of the Battle of Vukovar during the Croatian War of Independence, Kačić was supposed to attend the second grade of the Electrical engineering high school in Vukovar.

On September 14, 1991, the Kačić family apartment was destroyed by shelling, after which they were forced to seek refuge in a bomb shelter. Kačić's father was actively involved in the defense of Vukovar until his death on October 2, 1991. As the fall of Vukovar began to appear inevitable, on November 18, 1991, Kačić and his family were moved into the shelter of the Vukovar hospital by the comrades of his late father. Igor obtained a rifle and would stand guard at the entrance to the shelter.

On November 20, 1991, two days after the fall of Vukovar, Kačić, his mother and sisters came out of the hospital basement with other refugees under orders of the Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces. Outside, Veselin Šljivančanin, officer of the Yugoslav People's Army, was standing at the door separating the men from women and children. He pointed to Kačić, who was a tall and strong young man, and he put him among the men, saying: "You over there!". Igor Kačić's mother asked Šljivančanin "Why him, he's just a kid?" as she showed him Igor's health card with the date of his birth. Šljivančanin replied: "We'll check everything." That was the last time his mother and sisters saw Kačić. He was killed at Ovčara the same day.