Petr was born in Prague in a mixed family in the Těšnov neighborhood, across from the former Denisov train station. He had a younger sister named Eva. His father was Jewish, and his mother was of non-Jewish origin. Both parents were enthusiastic Esperantists and highly educated. They emphasized a healthy lifestyle, engaged in sports with their children, and encouraged reading and cultural activities.

In addition to his literary and artistic talents, Petr showed interest in many other subjects. He loved Jules Verne’s books, enjoyed inventing things, and was an avid seeker of truth, whether it was related to history, astronomy, paleontology, geography, or other fields.

In 1939, Petr completed a novel called “A Visit from Prehistory,” which was a paraphrase of Verne’s works. It described the discovery of a prehistoric monster in Africa, which turned out to be a giant machine constructed by a dictator to enslave the indigenous population and eliminate political opponents. Like in many of his works, Petr stylized himself as the main protagonist, a boy named Pierre.

From 1941 to 1942, Petr kept a regular diary in which he described, through the eyes of a boy, his personal experiences and the situation in Prague during the Protectorate and the advancing persecution of Jews.

During this time, he was no longer allowed to attend school with non-Jewish children. In addition to the limited education, which was organized on a rotating schedule, with classes held in the morning and afternoon, he (like other Jewish children) was increasingly assigned to work in Prague. However, none of these restrictions diminished his innate optimism.

During this period, his organizational skills became evident in planning various school events and helping his classmates, as well as in organizing boys’ games and outings. He enjoyed spending time alone, in silence and nature.

In October 1942, Petr was summoned to be transported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto, where he was assigned to the “Boys’ Home 1” (Heim 1) in building L 417, under the pedagogical leadership of Valter Eisner, a young teacher from Brno. Eisner created a lively and creative collective from a group of several dozen boys living together in one room (one of the classrooms of the former Theresienstadt school). They referred to themselves as the “Republic of Škid.” Here, the boys not only studied secretly but also established their own self-government, democratically addressing their own issues.

Every Friday, they published a magazine called Vedem, of which Petr was the initiator and editor-in-chief. In addition to creating a large number of reports depicting life in the ghetto, reflections, short stories, and poems himself, he systematically encouraged literary, journalistic, and artistic creation among his friends. It was customary for him, with his compassionate persistence, to “extract” articles even from boys who considered themselves completely incapable in this regard, and they were able to produce very interesting texts.

During his time in Theresienstadt (just to clarify, he was 14 years old when he arrived in the ghetto and stayed there for two years), his diverse interests in various fields of human knowledge deepened. He had access to the Theresienstadt library and read a large number of books in his spare time, ranging from quality fiction to history, philosophy, and natural sciences. He also had an interest in Buddhism.

He utilized his knowledge, among other things, in secret evening lectures that regularly took place at “Heim 1,” where he often gave presentations alongside other boys and guests. In May 1944, his sister Eva was transported to the ghetto, and her memories of the encounter with Petr were recorded in her diary.

At the end of September 1944, Petr, along with his cousin Pavel, was included in a “transport to the East,” and after several days of waiting at the Hamburg barracks, they were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau on September 28, 1944. Petr had been ill and weakened for some time before the transport.

After a several-day journey in “cattle” wagons to Poland, upon arrival at the concentration camp, according to the testimony of an eyewitness, during the selection process conducted by Dr. Josef Mengele, Petr was sent directly to the gas chamber.

At the end of the war, Petr’s friends managed to save the magazine Vedem. Petr’s sister Eva and his parents survived the war.

In 2002, when the first Israeli astronaut was preparing for his flight, it was Ilan Ramon who wanted to take a Holocaust memorial with him on his journey. Among many images, he ultimately chose Petr’s drawing “The Earth as Seen from the Moon,” which the boy had created in Prague before his deportation. The flight was postponed several times due to weather conditions and technical issues, but it finally took place on January 16, 2003. However, upon the spacecraft’s return to Earth on February 1, 2003, it tragically exploded, likely due to the impact of frozen insulation foam on the heat shield, and none of the crew members survived.

In response to this event, the Czech Post issued a commemorative stamp featuring Petr’s photograph and a reproduction of his drawing. Several months after the accident, an unknown person from Prague contacted Petr Ginz’s sister, who was then living in Israel, to inform her that he had found Petr’s diaries from the pre-deportation period in a house he had purchased in Modřany. After supplementing them with additional memories and articles, his sister published them under the title “The Diary of My Brother” by Trigon Publishers. This book has since been translated into 14 languages.

In March 2004, a newly discovered asteroid with the serial number 50413 was named Petrginz. In 2007, Petr’s novel “A Visit from Prehistory” was published by Franz Kafka Publishers. In Prague-Záběhlice, a street was named after Petr Ginz.