Displaying letters from prisoners of a Nazi concentration camp for Polish children, as well as those of Ukrainian children caught in the middle of Russia’s invasion, the exhibition stirs memories and conscience, standing poignantly in proximity to the windows of German politicians, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Poland's ambassador to Germany, Dariusz Pawłoś, remarked during the opening: "I'm glad that this exhibition is right in front of the German politicians’ windows. It shows both the current suffering of Ukrainian children and the suffering of Polish children during World War II."
The exhibition, curated by the Museum of Polish Children Victims of Totalitarianism, runs until October 12 in the square in front of the main station in Berlin with displays in German and English.
Poland's Children's Rights Ombudsman Mikołaj Pawlak affirmed that the exhibition is a crucial element in restoring historical memory in Germany.
He said: "We know well how German society was shaped to expel the old history and separate the concepts of a German and a Nazi. Today, with the perspective of time and place, we can express satisfaction that historical knowledge is reaching ordinary citizens and politicians."
The context within which this poignant exhibition takes place is deeply rooted in the harrowing experiences of over 3,000 children who passed through a German camp for Polish children in the city of Łódź during World War II. The camp operated on Przemysłowa Street in the central Polish city under German occupation from 1942 to 1945.
An estimated several hundred children perished there under primitive conditions, amidst starvation, disease, labor hardships, and the brutality of the guards.
Established under the pretext of "protecting German youth and removing the moral danger emanating from Polish children," the Kinder-KZ Litzmannstadt camp symbolizes a sorrowful chapter in our collective history, officials said.
In a concurrent event, the Polish Institute in Berlin on Monday opened an exhibition entitled May My 'I Love You' Not Arrive Too Late, featuring wartime letters from children.
Subsequent to that, Poland's Pilecki Institute in Berlin hosted lectures and a meeting with Jerzy Jeżewicz, a former prisoner of the German concentration camp for Polish children in Łódź, ensuring that personal narratives and academic perspectives blend to form a holistic understanding of the tragic past, the IAR news agency reported.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR