The joint Polish-Ukrainian exhibition “Mom, I don’t want war!” was mounted at the National Museum of History of Moldova. The drawings by Polish children depicting World War II and the German occupation of 1939-1945 and contemporary drawings by Ukrainian children about the ongoing war in Ukraine transmit a powerful emotional message and all show the atrocities of war that remained the same, the Ambassador of Poland in Chisinau Tomasz Michał Kobzdej stated in the opening, IPN reports.
In 1946, the children showed soldiers in their drawings as people maddened by Nazi or Communist ideologies, as monsters, while now, in 2022, the Ukrainian army and soldiers are the protectors and those who bring safety and peace. There was also placed an empty board. In 1946, the children in Poland could not draw at school the atrocities they experienced on the part of the Soviet army that invaded Poland. “There is no doubt that adults’ wars bring suffering to children. The protection of children who are victims of war is one of the foreign policy priorities of the Republic of Poland,” noted the diplomat.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Moldova Marko Shevchenko said the exhibition is simultaneously impressive and paradoxical. Even if these drawings were made at a distance of over 80 years, the theme is the same. Only the military symbols and the feelings caused by these are different. Evil remains evil regardless of the disseminated messages and it is important for everyone to combine forces and respond to this evil.
Eugen Sava, director general of the National Museum of History of Moldova, said the drawings of the children are both wonderful and tragic and transmit a profound message.
The persons who came to see the exhibition said the drawings had a powerful impact on their emotional state. The suffering children presented the atrocities committed by the German army in Poland the last century and by the Russian army today as they see them. The images of families trying to escape while their homes are being shelled convey strong emotions.
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The Polish-Ukrainian exhibition “Mom, I don’t want war!” contains works made as part of the project “Mom, I see war”. The drawings can be seen until the end of October. According to UNICEF, nearly 1,000 children have been killed or injured in the war in Ukraine.
