Date: August 11, 1995
Author: Valentina Krčmar, Thornhill, Ontario
Addressed to: Letters to the Editor, The Toronto Star
View the Original Letter: krcmar book 3_Part3_Part43.pdf
About This Letter
In this letter dated August 11, 1995, Valentina Krčmar writes in the aftermath of the Srebrenica massacre, one of the most horrifying events of the Bosnian War. Her voice burns with grief and righteous anger as she condemns the United Nations for its complicity through inaction.
Her opening line strikes immediately at the heart of the moral crisis:
“How can the U.N. look us in the eyes after Žepa and Srebrenica?”
By this point, reports of mass graves and atrocities against the Muslim population of Srebrenica were surfacing around the world. Krčmar channels the collective outrage of those who had watched the genocide unfold under the supposed protection of the UN.
“Today when the possible locations of mass graves of Muslim population from Srebrenica are being shown all over the world — the U.N. still talks about its ‘work.’ What ‘work’? What ‘mandate’?”
Her tone is scathing, accusing the organization of moral bankruptcy and hypocrisy.
“We, the world, do not need such irresponsible organizations as the U.N., whose duty was to protect those who were denied protection or self-defense.”
Krčmar denounces UN officials by name — Yasushi Akashi, whom she labels “a court jester,” and Thorvald Stoltenberg, whose statements trivializing the suffering in the Balkans she finds intolerable.
“We are sick and tired of negotiators such as Stoltenberg, who can even say that all the people in former Yugoslavia are the same anyway — there are no Croats or Bosnians at all. What level of intelligence can this person have, and what knowledge of history?”
Her letter rejects the UN’s repeated claims of “mandate” and “neutrality,” calling them obscene in light of the massacre of thousands in Srebrenica, where UN peacekeepers stood by as civilians were slaughtered.
“The U.N. never knew what they were supposed to do, or how to go about accomplishing their duty. To say that ‘what type of mandate they have is still valuable’ is criminal, after the mass graves in Srebrenica.”
Her fury is not just political but deeply moral — the outrage of someone who has witnessed promises of protection turn into instruments of betrayal. The letter concludes as a moral reckoning, demanding accountability and truth from those who claimed to stand for peace but instead presided over genocide.
Krčmar’s letter captures the anguish of 1995 — a year when the phrase “Never again” was exposed as hollow, and the world watched history’s darkest patterns repeat themselves under a blue UN flag.
