Date: May 10, 1995
Author: Valentina Krčmar, Thornhill, Ontario
Addressed to: Letters to the Editor, The Toronto Star
View the Original Letter: krcmar book 3_Part3_Part30.pdf
About This Letter
In this letter dated May 10, 1995, Valentina Krčmar reflects on the global celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day — a commemoration of the Allied triumph over fascism. Her tone is both reverent and reproachful: she honors the sacrifices of Canadian soldiers during World War II while condemning the hypocrisy of modern leaders who celebrate liberation while ignoring the atrocities of their own time.
“These last few days we are all in VE Day — liberation of Europe and the world of the fascist menace 50 years ago, liberation of the horrific concentration camps, feeding starving people — and all Europeans, especially Dutch, are extremely grateful for Canadian help and sacrifice — with reason. Our Canadian boys were great.”
Krčmar’s admiration for Canada’s wartime heroism gives way to a painful question — would today’s generation of peacekeepers inspire the same gratitude?
“However, I keep wondering would the Dutch be as grateful today to the Canadians if Canadians behaved towards them as the nowadays peacekeepers are behaving in Bosnia — feeding the starving population, but no protection against the new fascists and conquerors that are killing, maiming, raping, and destroying life and culture of two nations.”
Her words cut through the veneer of commemoration, exposing the contradiction between the moral clarity of the past and the moral confusion of the present. The slogan “Never Again,” she argues, has become hollow in the face of Bosnia’s suffering, where concentration camps, ethnic cleansing, and mass rape echo the very horrors the Allies once swore to prevent.
“It is, to say the least, hypocritical, to talk about the liberation of the concentration camps and use words ‘Never again,’ knowing that Bosnia is in itself a huge concentration camp.”
Krčmar extends her condemnation beyond Bosnia, connecting the silence of Western powers to the atrocities committed by Russia in Chechnya, exposing how global politics repeatedly trample on the moral lessons of history.
“How can the world leaders celebrate in Moscow (haven’t Russians signed a pact with Hitler) when Chechens are dying in Grozny?”
She concludes with a lament for the erosion of values and empathy — a quiet but powerful indictment of the world’s selective memory.
“It seems to me that the values and emotions have been grossly displaced lately.”
Through this letter, Krčmar bridges the moral distance between 1945 and 1995, reminding readers that remembrance without action is empty, and that true victory over fascism lies not in celebration, but in courage — the courage to confront new evils with the same resolve as the liberators of the past.
