Date: September 22, 1997
Author: Valentina Krčmar, Director, Bedem Ljubavi – Mothers for Peace
Addressed to: Ms. Rebecca Bragg, Staff Reporter, The Toronto Star
View the Original Letter: krcmar book 3_Part14_Part23.pdf
About This Letter
In this extraordinary letter dated September 22, 1997, Valentina Krčmar, writing as Director of Mothers for Peace (Bedem Ljubavi), thanks Toronto Star journalist Rebecca Bragg for her groundbreaking article “Serbian Red Cross Tied to Killings” (The Toronto Star, September 20, 1997). Her letter stands as both gratitude and validation — an acknowledgment that, after years of silence, the truth about the Serbian Red Cross’s complicity in war crimes had finally been brought to light.
Krčmar opens with heartfelt sincerity, her relief almost palpable after a long struggle to be heard:
“Allow me to congratulate and thank you for the great article that you wrote for The Toronto Star on Sept. 20/97 about the Red Cross. Thank you for listening to us and looking at our work, which was so painful for so many months.”
For over four years, Krčmar and her organization had pressed the Canadian Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to acknowledge that the Serbian Red Cross — operating under the same emblem of neutrality — had actively participated in atrocities across Bosnia and Croatia. As The Toronto Star investigation confirmed, the Serbian Red Cross was implicated in murder, mass rape, extortion, and ethnic cleansing, with vehicles used to transport victims to their deaths
krcmar book 3_Part14_Part23
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Krčmar’s letter is not only one of gratitude but of moral insistence. She urges Bragg to continue exposing wrongdoing and calls for accountability from Red Cross leadership:
“Although we sincerely hope that someone, especially our Government, will start questioning the principles of ‘the sacred cow,’ The International Red Cross, after your absolutely excellent article, we also hope that someone will look into the position which Mr. René De Grace, National Director, International Services, took during all this discussion.”
Her tone sharpens as she distinguishes between those within the Red Cross who acted with compassion and those who perpetuated harm through silence or obstruction:
“Good people with conscience should be encouraged to change the ways of the Red Cross, and the others, like Mr. René De Grace or Ms. Anderson, must be stopped, because of the victims and their plight.”
Krčmar’s closing lines resonate with both dignity and emotion — the voice of a woman who fought to have victims believed:
“I have always believed that someone will hear our words and pain. You were the only one who did. Thank you, Ms. Bragg. Thank you, The Toronto Star.”
Her signature — “Valentina Krčmar, Mothers for Peace, Director” — reflects both personal conviction and organizational courage. This letter marks a turning point in her campaign for truth: a moment when journalism met activism, and silence began to break.
