20 years ago, the war in Kosovo ended. In Pristina, an exhibition is dedicated to the children who were killed during the fighting.
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Killed children in the war in Kosovo
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Killed children in the war in Kosovo
“It was once and never again” is the title of an exhibition in Pristina. Reminds you of the more than 1,000 children were killed during the war in Kosovo, with photographs and stories, but also personal items.
Small sweater and shoes, a baby cradle, or the marbles, played with a kid once, see, for example, to. The parents of the little victims have to keep these things today as a memory of their killed children.
A reminder of the family members
Ejup Çaraku from the village of Poklek in the vicinity of Pristina, has lost in the war four members of the family. His two sons, Hasan (12) and Berat (13), his wife Baftija (30), as well as the wife of his brother, Mihria (47) were killed during the fighting. To him it means a lot that the Acting of the youngest victims of the war intends.
“I guess this exhibition as an idea. It is good, because someone is thinking of our children and because something is done to remember you. We feel relieved, even though we know that our women and children can not be brought back,” says Çaraku.
Also Mejreme Kelmendis children were killed during the war. It is painful to remember the details of the death of their sons Besimi and Haxhiu, she says. The two were only 12 and 10 years old.
“In this exhibition you can see the ceiling, I have my children covered. It would be better if these balls would me and not my kids made, so I wouldn’t have to see your pictures in this exhibition,” she says.
“Simply touching”
Many visitors from all over Europe have seen the exhibition already. The 20-year-old Albin Morina, whose mother is at the time, fled the Fighting in Kosovo to Germany, is a special trip for it.
“I myself have lost my father during the war. My mother was pregnant with me and I was able to learn it do not even know. It is definitely good to have such an exhibition, and to see what we have experienced in the war and how the poor, innocent children died. The touches simple,” says Morina.
“Until today there is no monument or a memorial day to remember the children who have lost their lives,” said Dea Dedi from the Humanitarian Law Centre Kosovo, which organized the exhibition. A total of 1,024 children were killed, according to the Centres during the war.109 are still missing.
“Damit, this is something not to be repeated”
“We find it important that the children who were killed in the Kosovo war, or disappeared, sunk into oblivion. We have contacted their families, to get in this way, information about the children. We told them of the exhibition and the fact that we want to do something to remember them. The families were extremely cooperative and helpful and have supported our idea.”
To get the clothes, school stuff, or drawings of children from their parents, was not easy, says Lea Dedi. Most things are burnt in the war, or lost, and many of the parents, only the memory remains.
To remember the children killed, was nonetheless important: “20 years after the end of the war, we have to set ourselves apart as a society, to what this country is experiencing, in order for something to be repeated.”
The exhibition is running until may 2020, in the library of Hivzi Sylejmani in Prishtina to.
