There is no single Remembrance Day. In some countries, such as ours, it coincides with the date of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp by Russian soldiers, but in others, such as Poland, it is celebrated on April 19, to commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 19 April 1943, during which a few ill-armed and ill-nourished Jews, residing in one of the largest and most crowded ghettos of the period, stood up for almost a month, until the following May 16, to one of the most powerful and best equipped armies of the Europe of the time, the Nazi one.
To commemorate the day in Poland it is customary to send letters to Lublin to little Henio Żytomirski, assumed as a symbol of that million and a half children swallowed up by the darkness of history during the Holocaust.
The comparison with a textual typology of writing of the self has therefore become a reason for meeting with History, no longer relegated only to the pages of a manual, because many little Henios are still swallowed up by silence and oblivion of the distortions of the world of adults.
Henio's story was an inspiration for the teacher Maria Teresa Radogna from Italy.
Maria Teresa decided to incorporate Henio's story to the teaching the Holocaust process at school – Istituto Comprensivo Bosco-Venisti, Scuola Secondaria Venisti di Capurso (Bari) where students wrote letters in 2018 and 2019.
In 2023 Maria Teresa also joined the project, together with students from another school – I.C. Savio Montalcini in Capurso (Bari).
"Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre" Centre want to thank very much:
♥ children for writing letters to Henio
♥ Maria Teresa Radogna for participating in the project and sharing Henio's story
