On 31 July, at the opening of the exhibition Latvian Children Draw and Write about the Holocaust and Discrimination, Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks invited the community to resist the shackles of prejudice.

"I would like to recall one of the great European thinkers, the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who said that man is born free and everywhere he is in shackles. Our task and the basis of our reliance on the creativity of children is the wish to prevent these children from submitting to the chains of prejudice and hatred that might justify the high-minded killing of others. I wish us all to remain free for as long as possible and not to become limited by these shackles, which can seemingly justify the ill treatment of others," noted the Foreign Minister in his address.

The exhibition is being organised by the Shamir community as a demonstration of the works produced by children and youth for the contest Latvian Children Draw and Write about the Holocaust. The exhibition was opened by state President Valdis Zatlers.  

The organisers received more than 200 creative works from Latvian schoolchildren, including poems, essays, paintings, videos, and embroidery. 27 schools participated in the contest.

The exhibition will be on view in the House of the Blackheads from 31 July to 26 August.

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