The city where Anne Frank wrote her World War II diary while hiding with her family from the brutal Nazi occupation is hosting an exhibition about the Ukraine war with grim echoes of her plight more than three quarters of a century later.
The exhibition that opened at Amsterdam City Hall on Thursday offers a vision of the war in Ukraine as experienced by children caught in the devastating conflict.
“War Diaries,” includes writings like those that Anne Frank penned in the hidden annex behind an Amsterdam canal-side house, but also modern ways Ukrainian children have recorded and processed the traumatic experience of life during wartime, including photos and video.
Curator Katya Taylor said the diaries and art are useful coping mechanisms for the children.
The plight of children caught in the war in Ukraine has already attracted widespread international condemnation. More than 500 have been killed, according to Ukrainian officials.
Meanwhile, UNICEF says an estimated 1.5 million Ukrainian children are at risk of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental health issues, with potentially lasting effects.
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