Date: June 2, 1994
Author: Valentina Krčmar, Thornhill, Ontario
Addressed to: Letters to the Editor, The Toronto Star
View the Original Letter: krcmar book 3_Part2_Part97.pdf
About This Letter
In this letter dated June 2, 1994, Valentina Krčmar writes to The Toronto Star in response to the article “UN Panel Accuses Bosnians of Rape Policy” (June 2, 1994). Her tone is indignant and piercing — a protest not only against the atrocities being reported, but against the careless language that distorts truth and equates victims with perpetrators.
Krčmar begins with an unequivocal denunciation of the article’s title:
“I strongly protest the use of ‘Bosnians’ in the above title in which you, in reality, point the finger appropriately at those who have no regard for human life — the Bosnian Serbs.”
Her objection is both linguistic and moral. By referring simply to “Bosnians,” the headline obscured responsibility, perpetuating the dangerous narrative of “equal guilt” — the notion that all sides shared blame equally, even when the evidence of systematic brutality by Serbian forces was overwhelming.
“The way you constructed the title for your otherwise very informative article points out that you still try to push through the policy of equal guilt: those who rape and those who are raped and killed in the process are equally guilty.”
Krčmar’s fury is sharpened by empathy for the victims — women and children subjected to violence so extreme that many did not survive to tell their stories. She scorns the understatement of the atrocities, challenging the reported figure of 20,000 rapes as a fraction of the truth.
“Only 20,000 raped? In the number of 250,000 killed in Bosnia there are at least half of them women and children that were raped and killed.”
Her closing lines are filled with mourning and defiance, acknowledging those whose suffering can no longer be spoken aloud.
“Those that could give testimonies to the unbelievable cruelties, as you put it ‘the victims’ ages range from 5 to 81 years old,’ are no more alive, so that the number of innocent victims, who will always be in our memory, is a mere gravel in the sand.”
Through this letter, Krčmar demands precision not just in reporting, but in conscience. For her, truth-telling is an act of justice — a refusal to let euphemism or neutrality erase the horror endured by Bosnia’s victims.
