The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Rome and the Consulate of the Czech Republic in Malta will be holding an exhibition of paintings by children from the former Terezin concentration camp in the Czech Republic to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The exhibition will be held at St James Cavalier in Valletta from January 29 to February 24. The town of Terezin is located northwest of Prague and was built in 1270 by Joseph II who named it after his mother, Maria Teresa. It took 10 years to construct and its main purpose was to protect Prague from invasion.

In June 1940, after Czechoslovakia was occupied by Nazi Germany, Terezin's small fortress was converted into a police prison for the Prague Gestapo.

In November 1941, a ghetto and a concentration camp were established in the town. Of the 140,000 people who were interned there, 33,000 died and 87,000 were transported to death camps elsewhere. Of these, 15,000 were children - only 132 children survived.

The Nazis duped the International Red Cross into believing that it was a model camp and a spa town, so the Terezin children were schooled and trained by highly educated teachers and social workers.

During this period the children created 6,000 drawings and many were hidden away and later successfully retrieved to tell the stories about Terezin. Some form part of the exhibition. A spokesman for the consulate said this unique exhibition would appeal to people of all ages and in particular to schoolchildren. It aims to raise awareness of the atrocities of the holocaust and the sufferings of thousands of children like them.

Unfortunately for the majority of the children at the camp, the dream of freedom and survival never materialised and it was only the paintings that survived the ravages of war.