Date: March 24, 1995
Author: Valentina Krčmar, Thornhill, Ontario
Addressed to: Letters to the Editor, The Toronto Star
View the Original Letter: krcmar book 3_Part3_Part22.pdf
About This Letter
In this fiery letter dated March 24, 1995, Valentina Krčmar responds to the article “Sanctions Called Fatal to Belgrade” (The Toronto Star, March 24, 1995). Her tone is indignant and unsparing — a direct challenge to the narrative of Serbian victimhood that had begun to circulate in Western media as international sanctions took their toll on Belgrade.
Krčmar opens with an incredulous question that sets the tone for the entire piece:
“International sanctions are destroying Belgrade?”
Her rhetorical skepticism quickly turns to moral outrage as she contrasts Belgrade’s discomfort with the unimaginable suffering endured by civilians in Croatia and Bosnia, who faced relentless bombing, siege, and starvation at the hands of Serbian forces.
“Serbian bombs and rockets are destroying Croatia and Bosnia daily and Mr. Covic does not mention this at all.”
She draws particular attention to Bihać, the besieged Bosnian town suffering under months of isolation and blockade. Her statistics — precise and horrifying — transform her letter into both testimony and indictment:
“By February 3 only of this year 15,088 people died in Bihać. From them 269 adults starved to death, as well as 236 children… 774 people — adults and children — died from all kinds of diseases. There are no medicines, no anesthetics, or hardly any water or food in Bihać.”
Krčmar evokes the image of civilians — men, women, and children — freezing, starving, and dying under bombardment, while the world is asked to pity Belgrade. Her tone hardens into bitter irony:
“People — adults and children — are exposed to the harsh winter and Serbian onslaught and are dying slowly in front of our eyes. Few days ago Serbian planes killed people in Tuzla and Sarajevo. The concentration camps are in full blast.”
Her closing line delivers a cutting moral verdict, echoing both anger and exhaustion:
“So, what are we supposed to do about Belgrade? Cry over it? Hardly!”
This letter exemplifies Krčmar’s moral clarity and her refusal to allow history to be rewritten in favor of the aggressor. With a single page, she exposes the hypocrisy of misplaced sympathy — reminding readers where the true suffering lay and whose tears were truly justified.
