The Children Who Will Never Grow Up
Children are in many ways the most important members of our society, because they represent an investment in the future. They are the ones that will direct our world in new and greater directions, they are the ones that will pass on the memories, cultures and traditions of our past, and they are the ones that possess the enthusiasm and imagination to come up with new and unique ideas, concepts and plans for the future. Finally and most importantly, they embody the innocence, purity and goodness that exists in our otherwise-troubled world. Their importance and preciousness cannot be overstated, and it is for that reason that the abuse, harm or murder of children is considered so inherently wrong by all societies around the world.
This year’s International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust is specifically dedicated the children who lost their lives during this horrific period of human history. To highlight the important purpose of this year’s event, the United Nations Information Office and the Embassy of Israel will present a screening of the documentary ‘The Last Flight of Petr Ginz’, during the memorial UN Friday event on Friday the 27th of January. This film, produced by director Sandy Dickson in association with the UN, tells the story of an artistically and literarily-gifted boy whose life was tragically cut short by the Holocaust.
Born to a Jewish father and Non-Jewish mother in what was then Czechoslovakia, Petr Ginz spent his short childhood expressing himself through the pen, writing five adventure/fantasy novels in the style of Jules Verne and producing over 120 artworks of both his surroundings and the fantastical realms of his imagination, his most famous being the pencil drawing ‘Moon Landscape’. He continued to pursue his love of literature and the arts even after his family were transported to the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, editing an underground magazine and documenting life in the camp through his drawings and articles. However the gifts he had yet to give to the world, the contributions he was yet to make, were lost when he was transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Death Camp in his 16th year and soon after murdered with so many other innocent human beings.
The importance of remembering the children like Petr Ginz who lost their lives during the Holocaust has been reflected in Ban Ki-moon’s statement on the eve of the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, delivered in New York to an audience at the Park East Synagogue. “This year’s General Assembly observance is dedicated to the children who faced the evil of the Holocaust,” Mr Ki-moon told the assembled audience.
“One and a half million Jewish children perished. Tens of thousands of others were murdered, including people with disabilities, as well as Roma and Sinti. Many died of starvation or disease. Many others were orphaned by the war, or ripped away from their families. We will never know what these boys and girls might have contributed to our world. And many survivors were too shattered to tell their stories. Today we seek to give voice to those accounts.”
“Every day, everywhere, the United Nations works for children's well-being. We draw inspiration for this work from the landmark Convention on the Rights of the Child and its protocols on children in armed conflict and the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Children are uniquely vulnerable to the worst of humankind. We must show them the best this world has to offer.”
The United Nations Information Organisation and the Embassy of Israel invite all Tashkent residents to participate in the memorial UN Day held on Friday the 27th of January. To learn more about this upcoming event, and to register to take part, visit the United Nations Information Organisation Facebook page. Join us in remembering this dark period of history, and for the sake of children, help to ensure that it never occurs again.