“Lithuania is one of the many countries seeking to help the people of Ukraine on all fronts. Lithuania calls on other countries to continue to take steps to protect Ukrainian children who are not only suffering from the war, but are also facing the threat of deportation and illegal adoption. Our duty is to prevent the destruction of Ukrainian national identity. Don’t allow Ukraine to be erased from the world map,” says Diana Nausėdienė, the first lady of Lithuania who patronizes the exhibition.
The project of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine during the Second World War was first presented in Ukraine in 2022. commemorating the day of remembrance of children who died as a result of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine. In Ukraine, it attracted a lot of public interest. To this day, top foreign heads of state visiting the war-torn country visit a project that symbolizes boundless loss and place a commemorative toy as a mark of respect.
Anyone can contribute to the exhibition
“With this exhibition, we are invited to a reflection action – to spend time with the children who died in the war against Ukraine. They are anxiously, oppressively, painfully silent, able to speak only with fixed gazes and frozen facial expressions. Children’s photos with their names are, as it were, witnesses asking each of us why the world does not learn from the pain of history. Looking at the silent victims of tragedies, we must raise the responsibility of all of us for a civilized, law-based and moral future of the world”, says Mrs. Diana Nausėdienė.
In Lithuania, as in Ukraine, visitors will be able to bring plush toys to the exhibition, which they will later take to the war-ravaged country.
“And in Lithuania, next to the video projection of the murdered children, there will be a special platform on which visitors can leave soft toys. In this way, the exhibition becomes interactive and everyone who visits it can contribute to its growth. We hope that by 2025 on February 2, when the exhibition will stop working, the stage will be filled with toys that will symbolize the indifference and sensitivity of the society. After the exhibition, we intend to arrange for the toys to be taken to Ukraine and distributed to orphans left without parents in a care institution,” says Vytautas Petrikėnas, Head of the History Department of Kaunas Fort IX Museum.
According to him, the exhibition aims to honor the children killed by the aggressors during the war in Ukraine and to reveal Russia’s deliberate decision to destroy all Ukrainians, regardless of whether they are soldiers, civilians, adults or children.
“This is where the worst face of the enemy appears, when the blind pursuit of imperialism crosses all moral boundaries. The purpose of killing civilians is to intimidate the public into breaking down and surrendering. They would sacrifice statehood and freedom for the sake of supposed security,” the interlocutor has no doubts.
According to V. Petrikėnas, one of the goals of the exhibition is to make its visitors stop and think: what is the fragile state of peace and security in this period.
“The grief at the show must translate into determination and action – we must be strong and ready now, because posturing ‘we can do it’ or ‘later’ may be too late. We also hope that the exhibition will encourage providing all kinds of assistance to Ukraine,” says the head of the History Department.
According to him, Kaunas IX Fort Museum is an institution of historical memory and before the war in Ukraine, it was focused on revealing the events of the past. Now, according to V. Petrikėnas, the museum aims to draw parallels between the events of the past and the continuity of certain processes in our days.
“The National Museum of the History of Ukraine during the Second World War provided us with video projections and a soundtrack, but the entire architecture of the exhibition is constructed by the creative team assembled by our museum. Working with exhibition designer Renata Vinckevičiūt-Kazlauskiene, we intend to achieve aesthetic and ethical harmony in vaulted spaces with projections of sensitive content. Due to the specifics of the composition of the space and the means of artistic impact, the exhibition resonates properly here, so there are no plans to make this exhibition mobile. However, discussions are already underway with the administration of the Narva Museum (Estonia) about the possibility of showing projections on the walls of the Narva Castle next year and thus demonstrating to the residents of Ivangorod (Russia) on the other side of the river the Ukrainian children killed by their fellow citizens,” the representative of the museum shared his ideas.
An artistic form of support
According to V. Petrikėnas, Kaunas IX Fort Museum more than a year ago adapted the exhibition spaces in the half-caponieri of the fort for the display of temporary exhibitions. While the exhibition of Ukrainian artists Oleksandr Klimenko and Sofia Atlantova “Icons on Ammunition Boxes” is still being held in the museum, and in preparation for the first time the exhibition “Bachmut” of the National Historical Memorial Reserve “Babin Jar” of Ukraine is being brought to the European Union. Faces of Genocide 1942 | 2022″ exhibition, the search for new projects was started, which could contribute even more to the Lithuanian society in exposing the crimes of Russia, the aggressor of the war in Ukraine.
“We were looking for new partners in Ukraine who would be interested in spreading their activities to us. Jurijs Savčiukas, the director of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine during the Second World War, visited Lithuania and met with Dr. Dr. Lina Kasparaitė-Balaišė also discussed the possibilities of presenting the exhibition “Children…” in Lithuania. After receiving enthusiastic consent, communication was started with the curator of the exhibition, Iryna Kotsabiyk. The warm and benevolent communication gave a lot of hope for the successful implementation of the project”, says V. Petrikėnas.
Director of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine during the Second World War Yuriy Savchuk says that in Ukraine, June 4th is the day of remembrance of children who died as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. This memorial day was established in 2021 by a resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. According to Mr. Savchuk, since 2014, due to the war, Ukrainian families and children are constantly in danger, suffer trauma, injuries and lose their lives. With the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, the geography of child deaths expanded significantly and the statistics of losses increased. In the spring of 2022, performances and actions dedicated to the memory of the dead children were regularly held in the major cities of Ukraine.
“Our museum’s creative team was tasked with creating a project that would become a symbolic and permanent place of remembrance for the youngest war victims,” the interviewer presents the idea of the “Children…” exhibition.
You want to live in peace
Exhibition curator Iryna Kotsabiyk says that this project became possible due to cooperation with the Department of Protection of Children’s Interests and Combating Violence of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine, which collects and records information about child deaths.
According to her, the multimedia project “Martyrologist. Children…” was presented on June 4, 2022. The number of children killed at that time was 262. In total, from the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion until 2024. October 8 578 children died in Ukraine. The oldest is 17 years old, the youngest is a newborn.
“There is no safe place in Ukraine – children die in frontline zones, occupied territories, the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, and regional centers; they die from the bullets of the occupiers, run over landmines, burn in cars during evacuation, suffer from Russian mines and rocket fire both in basements used as hiding places and in beds with their parents. It is a fixed fact that a helpless child with a disability died of hunger and cold in Mariupol. We know of children who were buried three times because they were repeatedly exhumed. We also know about parents who committed suicide after the death of their children because they could no longer live,” the curator of the exhibition mentions painful events.
According to its organizers, the project reminds the world of the terrible sacrifice that Ukraine has been paying in this war for more than 10 years – the list of those killed due to the war crimes of the Kremlin regime is constantly being filled with new victims.
“A nation is being destroyed. Our main value – our future – is being destroyed. Deprived, desecrated lives of our children are wounds that will remain forever in Ukraine and will never heal. This exhibition is a protest against violence and war! Children must live in peace, they have the right to life!”, says I. Kotsabiyk.
The exhibition “Children…” will be open in Kaunas Fort IX Museum from 2024. November 5 until February 2, 2025 Visitors are invited to visit the exhibition and show their support for the struggling Ukraine.
Source: www.15min.lt
