The Commissioner for Children’s Rights of the Republic of Poland visited the Holodomor Museum

1 June 2023

The Commissioner for Children’s Rights of the Republic of Poland visited the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide. The process of cooperation with the Museum of Polish Children-Victims of Totalitarianism has begun.

Mikołaj Pawlak, Commissioner for Children’s Rights of the Republic of Poland, arrived in Kyiv to participate in the conference “UA: War. An Unripe Lullaby” on the occasion of International Children’s Day, which the Office of the President of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights organised. After participating in the conference, the Polish delegation visited our museum.

Mikołaj Pawlak and Maksym Siarkiewicz, a councillor, lit lamps near the sculpture “Bitter Memory of Childhoof” and listened to a tour of the memorial area and the Hall of Memory. Yana Horodniak, head of the excursion and education department, paid special attention during it to the exhibits related to the children’s stories during the Holodomor and parallels with the current war.

The Honourable Commissioner gave to the Acting General Director of the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide, Lesia Hasydzak, an invitation from the Director of the Museum of Polish Children – Victims of Totalitarianism, Ireneusz Piotr Maj, with a proposal to visit this museum, which is located in Łódź, on the site of a German Nazi camp for Polish children in 1942-1945. Also, he donated a set of publications from this museum to the book collection of the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide.

“We are always as open as possible and interested in international cooperation, especially when it is about the colleagues who also deal with traumatic history and preserve memory and investigate the crimes of totalitarian regimes. Mr Pawlak’s visit is a great opportunity to start a long-term cooperation,” Lesia Hasydzhak said.

In addition, the distinguished delegation got acquainted with the plans and implementation of the construction of the second phase of the Museum. We hope that Mikołaj Pawlak and Maksym Siarkiewicz will return to our institution after the opening of the second phase and will be able to evaluate the expansion of the work of our institution.

Dear guests from the friendly Republic of Poland are always welcome!