back...The Appeal of Survivors for Peace in Ukraine
For children, the nightmare of war does not end when the gunshots stop. Child-victims of war will carry the baggage of dramatic memories throughout their adult lives – wrote former prisoners of the Nazi German Concentration Camp for Polish Children in Łódź, representatives of Associations and Societies of Polish Children of War and founding members of the Association of Families of Former Prisoners of the Concentration Camp in Przemysłowa Street in their joint appeal to end the bloody war in Ukraine.
The Survivors’ appeal to end Russian aggression was initiated by the Museum of Polish Children – Victims of Totalitarianism. “We were induced to do so by the cruelty of Russia’s military action in Ukraine. The voice of the Survivors who lived through the hell of the war that took place 80 years ago has a special meaning today. This is the voice of the child-victims of the Russian attack,” emphasizes dr Ireneusz Piotr Maj, director of the Museum in Łódź.
Representatives of the Survivors of the Nazi German Concentration Camp for Polish Children in Przemysłowa Street in Łódź and the community of Polish Children of War responded to the call for issuing a joint appeal. Historians involved in the process of uncovering the truth about the fate of former prisoners of the camp in Przemysłowa Street are in constant contact with people representing veterans’ organizations.
“We cannot passively watch the suffering of Ukrainian children who remained in the cities surrounded and shelled by Russian troops. Children who travel dozens and hundreds of miles to find safe haven in foreign lands. Children whose carefree time of growing up was brutally interrupted by the horrors of war, just as it happened to us 80 years ago,” reads the appeal.
Survivor representatives refer to their own generational experience to give a powerful warning to the people involved in the contemporary war: “Let us remember that for the youngest, the nightmare of war does not end when the gunshots stop. Child-victims of war will carry the baggage of wounds and dramatic memories throughout their adult lives, just as we carried our own baggage of war experiences. We must do everything we can to ensure that as few girls and boys as possible are marked with a similar stigma for the future,” they emphasize in their address.
The Appeal for Peace in Ukraine was signed by: Jerzy Jeżewicz – representative of the Survivors, former prisoners of the Nazi German Concentration Camp for Polish Children in Łódź, Augustyn Wiernicki – the president of the National Coordination Team for Associations and Societies of Polish Children of War; and Andrzej Kasiński, Piotr Piotrowski, Maria Raf and Iwona Maciejewska-Kawczyńska, founding members of the Association of Families of Former Prisoners of the Concentration Camp in Przemysłowa Street.
Full text of the Appeal of the Survivors of the Nazi German Concentration Camp for Polish Children in Łódź and their Families for Peace in Ukraine:
