Date: February 18, 1993
Author: Valentina Krčmar, Mothers for Peace – Bedem Ljubavi (Toronto Chapter)
Addressed to: Erika Sukstorf, Women International, Los Angeles, California
View the Original Letter: krcmar book 2_Part61.pdf
About This Letter
In this impassioned February 1993 letter, Valentina Krčmar writes to Erika Sukstorf of Women International in Los Angeles, seeking solidarity among women’s organizations and urging the world to acknowledge the systematic sexual violence and genocide being carried out against Croat and Bosnian women.
Krčmar opens with gratitude for their recent conversation, expressing hope that Sukstorf now understands her intention — to reveal “the truth the world refuses to see.” She recounts how Mothers for Peace began their activism at the outbreak of the aggression on Croatia and later Bosnia and Herzegovina, only to be met with indifference from global institutions.
“We informed the Red Cross about the mass rapes on August 13, 1992. You know how we feel? As if there is a wall in front of us, and we keep banging our heads against it.”
She draws historical parallels between the current atrocities and those of the Second World War, insisting that rape was not merely a byproduct of war but a weapon of ethnic cleansing ordered by the Serbian government.
“This is not just the rape of women — it is the rape of nations, of their people, culture, and life itself.”
Krčmar implores Sukstorf to name the perpetrators explicitly in Women International’s publications, emphasizing that moral clarity requires courage, not neutrality:
“If your leaflet does not say that Muslim and Croatian women are raped on the order of the Serbian government, the same horror will go on.”
She closes with a plea for empathy and truth — a call for women around the world to reject political diplomacy and stand with those suffering in silence:
“You are perhaps the only one who can understand. We are mothers too. Our duty is to speak the truth — not to let anyone get away with murder.”
This letter is one of Valentina’s most personal appeals, revealing both the exhaustion and unwavering resolve of a movement determined to make the world listen.
