{{short description|Czech child victim of the Holocaust (1928–1944)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Petr Ginz | image = Petr Ginz.jpg | image_size = | caption = Ginz {{circa}} 1939 | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1928|2|1}} | birth_place = [[Prague]], Czechoslovakia | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1944|9|28|1928|1|2}} | death_place = [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz-Birkenau]], German-occupied Poland | death_cause = [[Gas chamber|Gassed]] to death | resting_place = [[Auschwitz concentration camp]], [[Oświęcim]], Poland | other_names = | known_for = Paintings and writings | occupation = Diarist, writer }}
'''Petr Ginz''' (1 February 1928 – 28 September 1944) was a [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]] boy of partial [[Jewish ethnicity|Jewish]] background who was deported to the [[Theresienstadt Ghetto]] (known as Terezín, in Czech) during the [[Holocaust]]. He was murdered at the age of sixteen when he was transferred to [[Auschwitz concentration camp]] and gassed to death upon arrival. His diary was published after his death.
==Life== [[File:Earth seen from the Moon.jpg|thumb|Earth seen from the Moon]] Ginz was the son of Otto Ginz, the manager of the export department of a Prague textile company and a notable [[Esperantist]], and Marie Ginz (née Dolanská).<ref name="story">{{Cite web |url=http://www.holocaust.cz/cz2/history/people/ginz |title=Petr Ginz's story |publisher=Holocaust.cz |accessdate=April 14, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224055938/http://www.holocaust.cz/cz2/history/people/ginz |archivedate=February 24, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Ginz's father was Jewish, while his mother was not. His parents met at an Esperantist congress. His mother was from [[Hradec Králové]], where her father was a village teacher. Ginz received frequent visits from his relatives, especially during Christmas holidays. Ginz was a very intelligent boy. Between the ages of 8 and 14 he wrote four novels: ''From Prague to China'', ''The Wizard from Altay Mountains'', ''Around the World in One Second'' and ''A Visit from Prehistory'' — the only surviving novel. The novels, including ''Návštěva z pravěku'' ({{langx|en|Visit from Prehistory}}), were written in the style of [[Jules Verne]]<ref name="reflex">{{Cite web|url=http://www.reflex.cz/Clanek12766.html |title=Reflex about Ginz |publisher=Reflex.cz |accessdate=April 14, 2011 |language=cs |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081030012221/http://www.reflex.cz/Clanek12766.html |archivedate=October 30, 2008 }}</ref> and illustrated with his own paintings. He was interested in the sciences and yearned for knowledge. Due to his parents' interest in [[Esperanto]], that language was one of Petr's native languages (the other being Czech).
According to the anti-Jewish laws of the [[Third Reich]], children from [[Anti-miscegenation laws#Nazi Germany|mixed marriages]] were to be deported to a concentration camp at the age of 14. Young Ginz was transported to the [[Theresienstadt concentration camp]] in October 1942. His efforts in the sciences and thirst for knowledge remained, and he tried to study even in the concentration camp. He often read from a library full of confiscated books to which he had access. He was placed in ''Domov č.1'' (Home No. 1, building L417).<ref name="story"/> He became one of the most significant individuals of the community.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://zpravy.tiscali.cz/petr-ginz-a-jeho-mesicni-krajina-zidovsky-chlapec-jehoz-kresbu-vynesli-do-vesmiru-291584 |title= Petr Ginz a jeho Měsíční krajina: Židovský chlapec, jehož kresbu vynesli do vesmíru |date=14 January 2017 |first=Helena |last=Kalendová |language=Czech |accessdate=14 November 2018}}</ref> He established and prepared for publication the periodical magazine ''[[Vedem]]'', which means "We Lead". He also wrote an [[Esperanto]]–[[Czech language|Czech]] dictionary as well as several other short novels that have since been lost. One such piece of writing is called "Rambles through Theresienstadt" in which he interviews people and comments on people, buildings, and even the crematorium.
The breadth of his interests, abilities, and character are shown by his remaining writings and by the testimonials of friends who survived. He was interested in literature, history, paintings, geography, sociology, and the technical fields. The magazine ''Vedem'' was published every Friday for two years.<ref name="reflex"/>
Petr was assigned to one of the last transports to [[Auschwitz concentration camp]] from Terezín. He was murdered in the [[Gas chamber#Germany|gas chamber]]s in 1944. His diary has been published in English under the name: ''The Diary of Petr Ginz 1941–1942''.
==''Vedem''== {{Main|Vedem}} The magazine was founded shortly after his arrival at Terezín in 1942. Besides Ginz, several other boys from the ''Domov č.1.'' also contributed. Petr Ginz became a chief editor and he contributed under the code name ''nz'' or ''Akademie'' (Academy). One of his closest collaborators was Hanuš Hachenburg who wrote many poems. Ginz gave most of his writings and paintings to his sister before his transport, so a majority have survived to today.<ref name="story"/> His sister was also deported to Terezín in 1944, but she survived.<ref name="story"/>
==Diary== [[File:Novobilský - Taglibro de mia frato (Esperanto Brno 2013).JPG|thumb|right|Věra and Vlastimil Novobilský reading aloud from their [[Esperanto]] translation of Petr Ginz's diary for members of the [[Esperanto club]] in [[Brno]] (2013)]] Before his transport, Ginz wrote a diary between 1941 and 1942 about his life. This diary, written in a matter-of-fact way, has been compared to that of [[Anne Frank]]. This diary was lost but found and published by his sister Eva (later Chava Pressburger) as ''Diary of My Brother''. It was published in Spanish, [[Catalan language|Catalan]], and [[Esperanto]], as well as the original Czech, and in English in April 2007 as ''The Diary of Petr Ginz 1941–1942''. A review appeared in an issue of ''[[The New York Times]]'' dated Tuesday 10 April 2007.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Parker |first1=Ashley |title=A Youthful Chronicle of Wartime in Prague |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/books/10ginz.html |work=The New York Times |date=10 April 2007}}</ref>
==Drawing== [[Israel]]i [[astronaut]] [[Ilan Ramon]], whose mother and grandmother were survivors of Auschwitz, was asked by S. Isaac Mekel, director of development at the American Society for [[Yad Vashem]], to take an item from Yad Vashem onto the American [[Space Shuttle Columbia|Space Shuttle ''Columbia'']].<ref name="reflex"/> Ramon carried with him a copy of a drawing by Ginz of the planet [[Earth]] as seen from the [[Moon]]. The shuttle, while reentering Earth's atmosphere, [[Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster|broke apart]] on 1 February 2003,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/02/01/shuttle.columbia/ |title=Columbia tragedy |accessdate=2008-06-11 |url-status=deviated |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611075903/http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/02/01/shuttle.columbia/ |archivedate=June 11, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> destroying the copy of Ginz's drawing on what would have been his 75th birthday. In 2018, 15 years after the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster, another copy was given by Yad Vashem to Ilan's widow, Rona, to give to astronaut [[Andrew J. Feustel|Andrew Feustel]]. Feustel carried it to space during [[Expedition 56]] in memory of Ginz and Ramon. Feustel's video message commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) 2018/5778 featured the astronaut displaying Ginz's depiction of a view of Earth from the Moon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.israelhayom.co.il/article/532123|title=Fulfilling the dream of Ilan Ramon (in Hebrew)|date=31 January 2018|publisher=Israel Hayom}}</ref><ref name="NASA_feustel">{{cite web|last1=Garcia|first1=Mark|title=Astronaut Drew Feustel Honors Holocaust Remembrance Day with a Replica of Drawing First Flown in Space by the Late Ilan Ramon|date=12 April 2018|url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/astronaut-drew-feustel-honors-holocaust-remembrance-day-with-a-replica-of-drawing-first|website=NASA|accessdate=12 April 2018|archive-date=June 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200602184825/https://www.nasa.gov/feature/astronaut-drew-feustel-honors-holocaust-remembrance-day-with-a-replica-of-drawing-first/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/2018/04/12/news-opinion/united-states/us-astronaut-records-holocaust-remembrance-message-space|title=US astronaut records Holocaust remembrance message in space|date=April 12, 2018}}</ref> On February 1, 2020, Feustel gifted one of the copies of “Moon Landscape” brought to space to the [[Czech Center Museum Houston]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.czechcenter.org/blog/space/mission/moon-landscape|title=Landscape- Petr Ginz and an Astronauts Legacy|author=|date= February 11, 2020|website=Czech Center Museum Houston, Houston}}</ref>
== Legacy == [[File:StolpersteinPRAHA 7.jpg|thumb|[[Stolperstein]] for Petr Ginz in front of Stárkova 1745/4 in Prague]] * The [[asteroid]] [[50413 Petrginz]] was named in his honour. * In 2005 the [[Česká pošta|Czech Post]] issued a 31 [[Czech koruna|KČ]] stamp with the Moon drawing and a portrait in remembrance of Petr Ginz. * A [[Stolperstein]] by German artist [[Gunter Demnig]] was installed in his honor in [[Prague]]. * He was the subject of the play ''The Diary of Petr Ginz''<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vaughan |first=David |date=2010-12-09 |title=Petr Ginz: a moving dramatization of a wartime diary |url=https://english.radio.cz/petr-ginz-a-moving-dramatization-a-wartime-diary-8570299 |url-status=live |access-date=2026-03-04 |work=Radio Prague International}}</ref> performed at the Prague Fringe Festival in 2008. * His life was commemorated in a 2012 documentary film, ''The Last Flight of Petr Ginz'', directed by Sandra Dickson and Churchill Roberts.<ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q127689031|id=tt2101469|title=The Last Flight of Petr Ginz}}</ref>
* Norwegian progressive rock group [[Gazpacho]] included a song inspired by Petr Ginz on their 2014 album ''Demon''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theprogressiveaspect.net/blog/2015/11/14/thomas-andersen-gazpacho/|title=Thomas Andersen – Gazpacho, by Leo Trimming}}</ref>
* His story is commemorated in a song, "For Petr and Ilan", on the album ''Does the Land Remember Me?'' (2018) by Ben Fisher.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://benfisher.bandcamp.com/track/for-petr-and-ilan|title=For Petr and Ilan, by Ben Fisher}}</ref>
==See also== * [[List of Holocaust diarists]] * [[List of diarists]] * [[List of posthumous publications of Holocaust victims]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *[https://openlibrary.org/books/OL8346659M/The_Diary_of_Petr_Ginz ''The Diary of Petr Ginz''] ({{ISBN|0-871-139669}} published in English in 2007) *[https://www.science.co.il/Ilan-Ramon/Moon-landscape.php ''Moon Landscape''] (the drawing) *[http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/nochildsplay/ghettos2.asp ''Petr Ginz – Theresienstadt''] at [[Yad Vashem]] Museum *[http://www.petrginz.com/ ''The Last Flight of Petr Ginz''] (2011 documentary film) *[https://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/2012/UN_Petr_Study-Guide.pdf ''The Last Flight of Petr Ginz''], UN Study Guide. *[http://collections.jewishmuseum.cz/index.php/Browse/modifyCriteria/facet/people_facet/id/88538/mod_id/0 Documents about Petr Ginz] in the collection of the [http://www.jewishmuseum.cz Jewish Museum Prague] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110423021951/http://www.jewishmuseum.cz/ |date=April 23, 2011 }}.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginz, Petr}} [[Category:1928 births]] [[Category:1944 deaths]] [[Category:Czech Esperantists]] [[Category:Native Esperanto speakers]] [[Category:Czechoslovak civilians killed in World War II]] [[Category:Child writers]] [[Category:Czech people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp]] [[Category:Holocaust diarists]] [[Category:Writers from Prague]] [[Category:Czech people of Jewish descent]] [[Category:People killed by gas chamber by Nazi Germany]] [[Category:Diarists]] [[Category:Children who died in Nazi concentration camps]] [[Category:Jewish children who died in the Holocaust]] [[Category:Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust]] [[Category:Jewish Czech writers]] [[Category:Czechoslovak writers]] [[Category:Child murder in Poland]]