Do not Forget Chechnya!

A moving exhibition of Chechnian children’s drawings

by Ursula Richner, Zurich, Switzerland, and Islan Mosajew

Give a child a sheet of paper and a few pencils and he or she will spontaneously draw a picture of what he or she experienced, an image of the soul. A child growing up in the mountains will draw mountains, and a child growing up near the sea will draw the sea. Thus, a child growing up in wartime will draw the war, the terrible reality of war. The following report is about an impressive exhibition of children’s drawings entitled “The Effect of War: Children from Chechnya Illustrate their Experiences”.

On her journeys to Chechnya Elizabeth Petersen collected drawings by children in the refugee camps of Ingushetia and in Chechnya which were spontaneously given to her by the children. These were drawings in which the children presented their everyday reality. Children between 6 and 15 painted what they had directly experienced: the daily military raids carried out by both the Russians and by the Chechnian puppet government, the daily attacks of tanks and helicopters, the incalculable mine explosions and fire fights between rebels and the government army.

They drew the bombed houses, destroyed landscapes, the omnipresent death. There are also drawings full of beautiful images of what the world could be like – without war, in peace: schools in good condition, with a good atmosphere for learning, and landscapes in bloom which express peaceful silence. There are pictures which show the children’s imagination, like palm beaches high in the mountains representing a holiday resort. They let us surmise that the children have not yet seen the real beauty of their homeland. Chechnya is a marvellous country in the northeastern Caucasus, with impressive mountains, with large, fertile plains, with many mineral resources and it is particularly rich in oil. The Chechens are the native inhabitants of this area. They are a people with an arrant love of liberty. “They need freedom, because without it they would lose their human dignity and would no longer be Chechens.” (Dolchan Choshaev) Having been invaded in the course of their history by different empires, they have constantly had to fight for their freedom. In the 13th century came the Tatars, then the Mongols, then the tsars, but this courageous people resisted again and again. The refugees from the mountains always returned home in order to begin a new life. Tradition, co-operation within the clan and the love of liberty were so strong that the Chechens survived their deportation by Stalin to Kazakhstan in the 20th century and returned to their country after Stalin’s death. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they declared their independence and established the Democratic Republic of Chechnya. Consequently Chechnya was attacked by Russia in 1994. The war lasted two years. 80,000 people died – soldiers, rebels and above all civilians. The devastation of the capital Grosny was comparable to the destruction of German cities during the Second World War. In 1996, the Chechens successfully drove the occupying forces out of their country. A time of peace followed. But in 1999 the Russians, this time under Putin, attacked Chechnya again, and to this day a cruel war of attrition rages on. The entire infrastructure of the country has been destroyed, the environment polluted, and Chechnya is one of the most mined countries in the world. Schools and hospitals has been destroyed but continue to exist under appalling conditions. According to official data of the Russian federation, there are still 80,000 Russian soldiers in Chechnya. In fact, there are many more. That means that for every 4 Chechens there is one soldier. According to data provided by the president of the Civil Council of the present puppet government of Taus Djabrailow 20,0000 – 300,000 Chechens were killed in the second Chechnian war, and just as many fled the country. Thus, there are about 400,000 people still living in the completely destroyed country.

We can only suspect what kind of images and pictures of the world a child has who grows up in this desperate chaos, constantly confronted with the brutal force of the Russian supremacy and the force of the government appointed by the Russians. The children go to school, but they live in constant fear. The way to school is dangerous because one can never know whether a boy will be kidnapped, whether a mine will explode or a gun battle between combatants take place. Victor Kasancew, general of the Russian army and representative of northern Caucasus, ordered all boys older than 11 to be searched everywhere, wether on their way to school, in the classroom or anywhere else. They are already suspect rebels. No child is given the chance to learn in a peaceful surrounding. Besides that, lessons are cancelled repeatedly. The children who presently attend schools have experienced nothing but this war. However, they do hope for an end to the war, for peace, for new learning opportunities and a better future.

Together with these children, we hope for a better world. The exhibition of their drawings will serve a great purpose if it helps us not to forget these children in all their suffering. It is tremendously important for the people in Chechnya that the people in the west think of them. The war against the Chechens must not fall into oblivion! The more clearly and more publicly this cruel war is denounced, the more the voices for peace will be heard.

The strength of the Chechnian people is not yet broken. The birth rates are extraordinarily high compared to other countries. The women bear their children when they are still very young. They will rebuild Chechnya and make it prosperous again. In the meantime, until they are grown up, peace must come to this counry so that it is possible to build new schools, to train young adults who will be able to sensibly and unselfishly regulate the affairs of the destroyed country in the future.

Elizabeth and Andreas Petersen are helping to achieve these goals through their contacts in Chechnya. They furnish schools, they help young adults to obtain job training and are helping Chechnya to remain in the public eye with the exhibition of these drawings.