In May 2025, the War Childhood Museum opened two significant international exhibitions: Listen in Sweden and War Childhood: The Experiences of World War II in Ukraine, both dedicated to the experiences of children affected by war across the world and throughout different time periods.
Sweden: Listen Exhibition Opens at the Swedish Air Force Museum
The Listen exhibition was opened on May 10 at the Swedish Air Force Museum in Linköping, part of the Swedish National Museums of Military History. Through personal stories and objects, the exhibition explores childhoods marked by war—from children evacuated from Finland during World War II to Bosnian and Lebanese refugees now living in Sweden, as well as individuals from Palestine, Syria, Ukraine, and other countries.
A special feature of the exhibition is the Share space—an interactive zone designed for visitors to reflect and express their emotions after the exhibition, and to share memories of their own childhoods.
The exhibition will remain open for the next eight months and is expected to attract tens of thousands of visitors. At the opening, Sweden’s State Secretary for Culture, Karin Svanborg-Sjövall, emphasized the importance of the War Childhood Museum’s work and expressed her pleasure at hosting a major exhibition by the Museum in Sweden.
Ukraine: Childhood During World War II Through New Perspectives
On May 8 in Lviv, Ukraine, the exhibition War Childhood: The Experiences of World War II opened to mark 80 years since the end of the Second World War. Organized in partnership with After Silence and supported by Pro Peace, the exhibition presents personal testimonies of some of the last living witnesses of the war, highlighting their experiences beyond the usual narratives of “little heroes” and “little victims.”
At a time when children in Ukraine are once again living through war, the Museum continues to document their experiences. The collection now includes over 600 testimonies and objects that bear witness to life under occupation, in exile, and in separation. By exhibiting stories from World War II, the Museum fosters intergenerational dialogue and connects the experiences of children across different eras and conflicts.
International Cooperation and Cultural Diplomacy
These were not the only exhibition activities of the War Childhood Museum in May. Just a few days ago, the Museum concluded its second major exhibition in South Korea, held at the Peace Center on Jeju Island, following the great success of its previous exhibition at the Seoul Museum of History, which attracted over 200,000 visitors in the Korean capital. At the end of the month, on May 29, the Museum will open a new exhibition at the Kyiv Book Fair, held in the iconic Mystetskyi Arsenal. The exhibition will explore the role of reading and books in wartime childhood and will be presented to visitors of Ukraine’s largest book fair.
These activities demonstrate the War Childhood Museum’s capacity to serve as a globally influential institution on the topic of war childhood.
During the Museum’s stay in Sweden, WCM representatives Amina Krvavac, Svitlana Osipchuk, and Jasminko Halilović met with partner organizations such as UNICEF and with representatives of the Swedish government, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture. The Museum’s founder, Jasminko Halilović, also spoke at the Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development, where he presented the Museum’s work in Bosnia and Herzegovina and discussed both the risks and opportunities that the current moment presents for long-term peace in BiH and the wider region.
