Date: November 19, 1992
Author: Valentina Krčmar, Mothers for Peace – Bedem Ljubavi (Toronto Chapter)
Addressed to: David Marash, ABC News Nightline
View the Original Letter:
About This Letter
In November 1992, Valentina Krčmar of Mothers for Peace wrote to David Marash, journalist and host of ABC’s Nightline, following his groundbreaking report on the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her letter is both a thank-you and a reckoning, commending his courage in telling the truth while condemning the global institutions that failed to act.
Valentina provides a detailed timeline of Mothers for Peace’s efforts since early 1992 — meetings with UN officials, including Cyrus Vance, Rene De Grace of the Red Cross, and Sir David Hannay of the Security Council. She recounts how her group delivered early documentation on concentration camps, mass executions, and appeals for trapped Croatian soldiers, all of which were ignored.
“When the world wakes up,” she writes, “it might be too late. We gave them the evidence — they chose silence.”
The letter is a scathing indictment of bureaucratic inaction. Valentina condemns the UN’s neutrality, the Red Cross’s silence, and the world’s hypocrisy, drawing parallels to the concentration camps of World War II. Her voice — weary yet unwavering — demands moral accountability from those who claimed to defend human rights.
“Do they need to establish gas chambers before the UN reacts?”
This letter stands as one of Valentina’s most forceful appeals, merging witness testimony, moral outrage, and historical consciousness into a single, unforgettable plea for truth.
