(Translated from https://www.novilist.hr/rijeka-regija/rijeka/nova-knjiga-dr-sc-zeljka-heimera-u-monografiji-iznio-argumente-o-povijesnoj-rijeckoj-trobojnici/ dš, 18 November 2022, Rijeka danas, Rijeka.)
In the seat of the Brotherhood of the Croatian Dragon Society in Tower above the Stone Gates in Zagreb, a book by Lt-Colonel Dr. Željko Heimer FLAGS OF RIJEKA – A MONOGRAPH OF TWO CENTURIES OF THE CITY’S STRUGGLE FOR THE RIGHT TO ITS FLAG was presented this week.
Danko Švorinić addressed the audience on behalf of the publisher, the association Slobodna Država Rijeka, who pointed out that the association was founded in 2004 with the task of filling the historical cracks and gaps in Rijeka’s specific history, in which there are historical events, personalities and symbols that have not become an integral part of national historiographies. none of the countries in which Rijeka was part of during its history.
Prof. Željko Bartulović, head of the Department of History of Law and the State at the Faculty of Law of the University of Rijeka and a reviewer of the book, emphasized the exceptional thoroughness and scientific approach of Heimer’s book, praising the author’s neutrality in presenting historical facts, while not entering into political debates and dimensions of the problem. He emphasized the fact that in the book the author deals not only with the historical flag of Rijeka, but also with other flags used in the city, so one whole chapter is dedicated to the flags of the Croatian troops in the Homeland War.
Assoc. Prof. Tomislav Galović, head of the Department of Auxiliary Historical Sciences and Methodology of History at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, also a reviewer of the book, emphasized the complexity of Rijeka’s history and the value of Heimer’s monograph. According to Galović, Rijeka’s historical flag should become an integral part of Croatian historical identity, just as it is an integral part of the identity of other peoples who lived in the city of Rijeka. In this sense, Heimer’s book about Rijeka’s historical flag could help the competent state authorities to make a decision by which the Rijeka tricolor would become the official city flag.