Kosovo Urged to Establish Museum in Child War Victims’ Memory

Pictures in the exhibition ‘Once Upon a Time and Never Again’ in Pristina, May 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/VALDRIN XHEMAJ

Dea Dedi, the manager of an exhibition staged by the Humanitarian Law Centre in Pristina, told BIRN that the relatives of the children whose pictures and belongings are on display are calling for a permanent location to be found to exhibit the items.

The exhibition at the Hivzi Sylejmani Library in central Pristina, entitled ‘Once Upon a Time and Never Again’, includes photographs and personal items like clothes and toys commemorating more than 600 children who were killed during the 1998-99 war.

“We are facing huge demands for the exhibition to stay open permanently,” said Dedi.

Since its opening in 2019, thousands of people have visited the exhibition which was organised in memory of the 1,024 children who were killed and 109 who went missing amid the conflict.

Dedi said that even more families want to bring items to put on display, and that there is not enough space to accommodate them all.

The Humanitarian Law Centre has asked the authorities for a permanent space, but Dedi said that so far the Ministry of Culture and the Kosovo Museum, the country’s national museum, have not responded.

“Turning [the exhibition] into a museum would be the most appropriate thing, taking into consideration that in Kosovo there is no place for information about the war and the remembrance of victims,” she said.

Dedi said that the portraits of the children in the exhibition make a powerful impact.

“When you face them, it is impossible not to be saddened. Each experience is unique. On the wall, their smiling portraits remind us of our responsibility,” she said.

She explained that the display is a memorial rather than just an exhibition.

“It was not just done to commemorate the victims and survivors, but also to seek the truth,” she said.