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191 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It has been more than ten years since I completed my work at The Hague, and I have worked on this book on and off throughout this time period. It goes without saying that a project like this cannot be done in isolation, and I have many people to thank. I must begin with my great-aunt Kay Cencich, who was instrumental in providing historical facts about my family. If not for her, I never would have known that my great-grandfather, Josip, walked to Philadelphia after leaving Ellis Island or that my grandfather and two of his siblings were survivors of the 1913 Massacre in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She even gave me the first look at my great-grandfather and great-grandmother. Their wedding picture now hangs in my study. Kay was born Kathryn Podnar in 1922 in the borough of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, a blue-collar town near Pittsburgh. Her parents had emigrated from Croatia, and as a young child Kay moved to Hamtramck, Michigan, and then to Detroit, where, after receiving her degree in education from Wayne State University, she had a long career as a schoolteacher . In Detroit she met and married my grandfather’s brother, Joe. Kay fell asleep in the Lord before this book was finished. A memorial lunch was held in November 2011 at one of her favorite places, Lukich’s Restaurant, just outside Detroit. It was truly fitting. In addition, I am forever indebted to Mirjana Pleše, the principal of the local school in Lokve, Croatia. She and her family opened their arms and their home to me as I researched this book. Among many kindnesses, she showed me the school logbooks containing entries for my greatgrandfather and took me inside the bunkers that had been used by the Nazis some fifty years before. She is truly a wonderful woman, and the people of Lokve are fortunate to have her as a neighbor and a friend. I feel blessed to know her. 192 / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My cousins Boris Cenčić and Nena Bogdanić were there for me, too. They dropped everything they were doing to ensure that I had informative and memorable visits to Croatia. I had not met them before my first trip to Croatia, but I soon felt as if I had known them all my life. Their father, Edo, was equally gracious. With his great sense of humor, he provided me with critical information about the occupation of Lokve during World War II, his clandestine activities as a member of the Partisan resistance , and his subsequent career with the Yugoslav State Security Service. He passed away just after my visit in 2007. My four years working for the UN at The Hague were some of the best years of my life. I am thankful to the many staff members and friends at the ICTY. They are international civil servants and career criminal justice professionals committed to the highest principles of law and justice. I am honored to have served with them. Patrick Picciarelli, a retired lieutenant with the New York City Police Department and a crime novelist, gave me advice on how to write my first book and negotiate the contract in a way that only Pat could. I am deeply appreciative to my colleagues Christine Kindl and Christian Chartier for their thoughtful comments on the manuscript. And I am truly fortunate to have worked on this project with Elizabeth Sherburn Demers, PhD, senior editor at Potomac Books. She believed this was a story that needed to be told, and she gave me the chance, as a first-time author, to do so. My wife, Andrea, and my children, Jonathan, Catalina, and Sebastian , were always with me in one way or another as we moved to the Netherlands and as I traveled throughout the Balkans and the territory of the former Yugoslavia. In many ways their lives were upended, but as a family, we all felt privileged for the opportunity to serve at such a meaningful level. To them, most of all, I am forever grateful. ...

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