Published: March 1, 1999
View the Original Newsletter: Iskra-29.pdf
About This Issue
Iskra No. 29 is a thoughtful and introspective issue centered on gratitude, memory, and responsibility. In her editorial, Valentina Krčmar reflects on how easily people forget those who once worked selflessly for their community and country. Through stories, reader letters, and news from Croatia, this issue examines the meaning of service — both in wartime and peace — and urges readers to remember the individuals who helped shape Croatia’s freedom and its diaspora.
Motrišta: “To Those Who Served, and Were Forgotten”
In her essay, Valentina Krčmar writes about the fleeting nature of recognition. She recalls how, during the war years, countless volunteers, organizers, and activists devoted their time, energy, and hearts to the cause of Croatian independence — often at great personal sacrifice.
Now, years later, many of those same people have been overlooked, ignored, or even criticized by the very institutions they helped build. She points to the AMCA (Alumni of Croatian Alma Mater) and similar diaspora initiatives that provided humanitarian aid, raised awareness, and built solidarity when Croatia most needed it.
Valentina asks hard questions: Why do communities forget so easily? Why do some now rewrite history, claiming credit for others’ efforts? Her tone is not bitter, but deeply reflective.
“We worked without pay, without applause, and without rest. Not for titles or thanks, but because we believed Croatia needed us. Yet now, even our memories are treated as inconvenient.”
She closes her essay with a message of reconciliation — that the past should be neither glorified nor erased, but honored honestly. “Those who served quietly,” she writes, “built the foundations others now walk upon.”
