On the pictures, there is also hope
Mykola Swarnyk for NP-UN
The exhibition at Toronto’s KUMF gallery “Mom, I don’t want war!”, which opened on January 27, presented a very delicate matter: war as seen through the child's eyes. Almost anyone would agree that no child should be exposed to the atrocities of war. This makes it very hard for all Ukrainians wherever they live that we cannot protect the children of Ukraine from the war.
This exhibition was planned and organized by the combined efforts of dedicated Polish and Ukrainian educators and community activists. It featured the pictures drawn by Polish children in the year 1946, which recorded their experiences during World War II and the German occupation, preserved in the Archives in Warsaw. It also presented contemporary drawings by Ukrainian children, related to the current war in Ukraine and collected on the “Mom, I see war” portal (https://momiseewar.com/eng/).
A drawing by a Polish child Zygmund Niewiada from 1946 depicting the German bombing
The exhibition’s aim was to show that war is always horrible, but that it is especially shocking through the eyes of a child. Irrespective of the time or the country, the war hurts not only peoples’ bodies and their property, but also the delicate psyche of children. Children are the biggest victims of the war. In their drawings, children are depicting war machines – tanks, guns and planes, they paint the fire and destruction, they show the effects of war on their families. They paint dying people and dead bodies. It’s horrible to see children experiencing air raids, forcible displacement, family separation, deportation and military occupation. All that is hard to watch, but those are the hard facts of current life in Ukraine. At the same time, although the images show the children’s fears and anxiety, many are filled with hope for better future.
Consuls General of: (L-R) Italy Luca Zelioli, Ukraine Oleksandr Shevchenko, Poland Magdalena Pszczólkowska, Romania Oana-Raluca Gherghe, Czech Republic Petr Buriánek
The opening of the exhibition hosted the Consuls of five countries: Poland – Magdalena Pszczólkowska; Italy – Luca Zelioli, Romania – Oana-Raluca Gherghe, Czech Republic – Petr Buriánek and Ukraine – Oleksandr Shevchenko. Magdalena Pszczólkowska, who put a lot of her personal efforts to organize the exhibition, said how shocked she was, thinking of how many times both Poland and Ukraine have been invaded by their neighboring countries, which formed deep wounds in the souls of children. She totally supported the right of Ukrainian people and especially children to peacefully live in their own country and decide by themselves about their preferences. Ukrainians now recognize Poland as a nation that has provided the most help and support for the Ukrainian refugees.
The Ukrainian Consul General in Toronto Oleksandr Shevchenko spoke about the Polish leadership in providing the humanitarian aid and unblocking the military supplies for Ukraine. He mentioned Poland’s role in “freeing the leopards”, the German-made Leopard tanks which are now heading to Ukraine from different countries to help Ukraine free its territory and end this horrible war.
KUMF president Jurij Klufas opened the exhibition and lead the event, introducing guests and inviting them to make their remarks.
The story of the past war from Anna Rybalka
From the guests at the Exhibit, I heard two stories from different times. One story was about Anna Rybalka`s grandparents, who, as kids themselves during the Second World War, helped to hide Jewish kids from Nazis. The second story happened much later – one lady was asking me some technical stuff about camera bodies and lenses, which sounded so ordinary… except that she was looking for the gear to replace the one stolen by infamous Russian looters from her house in Bucha. And that’s the reality of the present day.
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