back...The opening of the exhibition "Two Wars – One Pain"

"I clean the rooms and do some other jobs. Jerzy came from the hospital healthy, but now he is sick again with pneumonia and pleural fluid. I'm very worried that he might get worse." – we read in an excerpt from a child's letter from the camp on Przemysłowa Street. This and many other memoirs of Polish and Ukrainian children affected by the trauma of the war are on display at the latest exhibition of the Museum of Polish Children – Victims of Totalitarianism, titled "Two Wars – One Pain”.The opening of the exhibition took place on October 2, 2023 at Berlin's Washington Square. The exhibition was co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.

The exhibition "Two Wars – One Pain" is a universal story about the experience of children caught up in the dramatic historical events, subjected to imprisonment or exile as a result of armed conflicts.

- The exhibition is intended to remind everyone that one of the consequences of any armed conflict is the suffering of children. Regardless of the times, children’s pain represents the most visible manifestation of historical injustice –explains Ireneusz Piotr Maj, PhD, Director of the Museum of Polish Children – Victims of Totalitarianism.

The tragic fate of the youngest victims of war was presented through excerpts from letters of young prisoners of the German concentration camp for Polish children in Lodz, as well as letters and messages from Ukrainian children written during the invasion of the Russian Federation.

- We can trace common elements in these letters, which are the desire for security and warmth of home, as well as the unquenchable hope for a better tomorrow. It's been 78 years since the end of World War II, but today history has come a full circle as we are witnessing the suffering and harm to children in Ukraine. Nearly 80 years later, we can still see that the scale and dimension of these tragedies are the same –added Ireneusz Piotr Maj, PhD.

The exhibition consists of twenty-four boards. The first four introduce the exhibition's theme, while the remaining twenty boards tell the stories of children affected by the war. Ten boards are dedicated to letters of young inmatesof the Przemysłowa camp, while another ten boards are about Ukrainian children forced to flee their native homes as a result of the Russian invasion.

“I didn't fully understand how it was possible, that military planes were flying above our heads, tanks were flooding the main streets of the city, fighting was everywhere, and the house was shaking from explosions... how it was possible to be short of power, internet, water, heating and food..."– recalled Alina, a witness to the Russian assault on Ukraine.

The exhibition and the catalogue are available in two foreign languages: German and English.

The exhibition was subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

Media patronage for the event was provided by: TVP Info, TVP Historia and Polskie Radio dla Zagranicy.