Babi Yar memorials
Encyclopedia
Babi Yar, a ravine near Kiev
, was the scene of possibly the largest shooting massacre
during the Holocaust. After the war, commemoration efforts encountered serious difficulty because of the policy of the Soviet Union
. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union
, a number of memorials have been erected. The events also formed a part of literature.
in general and the inhabitants of Kiev in particular. The first draft report of the Extraordinary State Commission (Чрезвычайная Государственная Комиссия), dated December 25, 1943 was officially censored
in February 1944 as follows:
Several attempts were made to erect a memorial at Babi Yar to commemorate the fate of the Jewish victims. All attempts were overruled. An official memorial to Soviet citizens shot at Babi Yar was erected in 1976. This remembrance is still complicated in the great numbers and many sorts of persons murdered there.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union
in 1991, the Ukrainian government allowed the establishment of a separate memorial specifically identifying the Jewish victims.
The monuments to commemorate the numerous events associated with Babi Yar tragedy include:
(This list is not comprehensive.)
There is also a proposal to remember the thousands of Roma (Gypsies) killed at Babi Yar by erecting a monument designed as a Gypsy wagon. However, the plan has yet to gather a sufficient financial and administrative support.
There is a memorial to the victims of Babi Yar at the Nahalat Yitzhak cemetery in Givatayim. The memorial was erected over bone fragments from Babi Yar that were reinterred at the cemetery. The bones were brought out of Ukraine by three American college students in July 1971. The memorial was dedicated in 1972 by the Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Me'ir. There is an annual ceremony on Yom HaShoah
, the Holocaust Day.
provided an account of the Babi Yar tragedy. In 1966, Anatoly Kuznetsov
's Babi Yar: A Document in the Form of a Novel
was published in censored
form in the Soviet monthly literary magazine Yunost
. Kuznetsov began writing a memoir of his wartime life when he was 14. Over the years he continued working on it, adding documents and eyewitness testimony. He managed to smuggle 35 mm photographic film
containing the uncensored manuscript when he defected, and the book was published in the West in 1970.
In 1985, a documentary film Babiy Yar: Lessons of History by Vitaly Korotich
was made to mark the tragedy.
The massacre of Jews at Babi Yar has inspired a number of creative ventures. A poem was written by the Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko
; this in turn was set to music by Dmitri Shostakovich
in his Symphony No. 13
. An oratorio
was composed by the Ukrainian composer Yevhen Stankovych
to the text of Dmytro Pavlychko
(2006). A number of films and television productions have also marked the tragic events at Babi Yar, and D. M. Thomas
's novel The White Hotel
uses the massacre's anonymity and violence as a counterpoint to the intimate and complex nature of the human psyche.
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, was the scene of possibly the largest shooting massacre
Babi Yar
Babi Yar is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and a site of a series of massacres carried out by the Nazis during their campaign against the Soviet Union. The most notorious and the best documented of these massacres took place on September 29–30, 1941, wherein 33,771 Jews were killed in a...
during the Holocaust. After the war, commemoration efforts encountered serious difficulty because of the policy of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
, a number of memorials have been erected. The events also formed a part of literature.
Commemoration and Soviet policy
Soviet leadership discouraged placing any emphasis on the Jewish aspect of the Babi Yar tragedy; instead, it presented these atrocities as crimes committed against the Soviet peopleSoviet people
Soviet people or Soviet nation was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Initially used as a nonspecific reference to the Soviet population, it was eventually declared to be a "new historical, social and international unity of people".-Nationality politics in early Soviet...
in general and the inhabitants of Kiev in particular. The first draft report of the Extraordinary State Commission (Чрезвычайная Государственная Комиссия), dated December 25, 1943 was officially censored
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
in February 1944 as follows:
| Draft version | Published version |
|---|---|
| "The Hitlerist bandits committed mass murder of the Jewish population. They announced that on September 29, 1941, all the Jews were required to arrive to the corner of Melnikov and Dokterev streets and bring their documents, money and valuables. The butchers marched them to Babi Yar, took away their belongings, then shot them." | "The Hitlerist bandits brought thousands of civilians to the corner of Melnikov and Dokterev streets. The butchers marched them to Babi Yar, took away their belongings, then shot them." |
Monuments Erected At Babi Yar
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
in 1991, the Ukrainian government allowed the establishment of a separate memorial specifically identifying the Jewish victims.
The monuments to commemorate the numerous events associated with Babi Yar tragedy include:
- Monument to Soviet citizens and POWs shot by the Nazi occupiers at Babi Yar (opened in July 1976). N 50.47139, E 30.44889.
- Menorah-shaped monument to the Jews (about 100,000) massacred at Babi Yar (opened on Sept. 29, 1991, 50 years after the first mass killing of the Jews at Babi Yar). N 50.47572, E 30.45763.
- Wooden cross in memory of the 621 Ukrainian nationalists (including Olena TelihaOlena TelihaOlena Ivanivna Teliha was a Ukrainian poet and Ukrainian activist of Ukrainian and Belarusian ethnicity.-Biography:Olena Teliha was born Elena Ivanovna Shovgeneva in the village of Ilyinskoe, near Moscow in Russia where her parents spent summer vacations. There are a several villages by this name...
and her husband) murdered by the Germans in 1942 (installed in 1992) - Oak Cross marking the place where two Ukrainian Orthodox Christian priests were shot on November 6, 1941, for anti-German agitation (installed in 2000)
- Monument to children killed at Babi Yar (opened in 2001 near the Dorohozhychi subway station). N 50.474201, E 30.449585.
- Magen DavidStar of DavidThe Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...
shaped stone marking the site for a planned Jewish community center (installed in 2001. Construction of the center was suspended, however, because of disputes over its specific location and scope of activities) - Monument to Ostarbeiters and concentration camp prisoners (installed in 2005 at the corner of Dorohozhytska and Oranzheriyna St., close to the 1976 monument)
- Monument to victims of the 1961 Kurenivka mudslide in Kiev1961 Kurenivka mudslide in KievOn March 13, 1961, a large-scale mudslide with numerous fatalities took place in Ukraine’s capital city of Kiev .The dam securing the loam pulp dump of a brick factory near Babi Yar failed after rain, releasing large volumes of pulp down the high steep hill along the modern Olena Teliha Street...
(installed in 2006, 45 years after the disaster killed hundreds of local residents and workers) - Three tombs over a steep ravine edge with black metal crosses, installed by an unknown volunteer. One cross has an inscription: "People were killed in 1941 at this place, too. May God rest their souls."
(This list is not comprehensive.)
There is also a proposal to remember the thousands of Roma (Gypsies) killed at Babi Yar by erecting a monument designed as a Gypsy wagon. However, the plan has yet to gather a sufficient financial and administrative support.
Desecration of the memorial complex (July 2006)
On the night of July 16, 2006, the memorial dedicated to the Jewish victims was vandalized. Several gravestones, the foundation of the commemorative sledge-stone, and several steps leading to the Menorah memorial were damaged. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine issued a statement condemning the act of vandalism.Other memorials
The President of the Babi Yar Park Foundation Alan G. Gass stated:There is a memorial to the victims of Babi Yar at the Nahalat Yitzhak cemetery in Givatayim. The memorial was erected over bone fragments from Babi Yar that were reinterred at the cemetery. The bones were brought out of Ukraine by three American college students in July 1971. The memorial was dedicated in 1972 by the Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Me'ir. There is an annual ceremony on Yom HaShoah
Yom HaShoah
Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah , known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah and in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Holocaust Day, is observed as Israel's day of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews and five million others who perished in the...
, the Holocaust Day.
Literature and film
In his 1961 book Star in Eclipse: Russian Jewry Revisited, Joseph SchechtmanJoseph Schechtman
Joseph Boris Schechtman was a writer and Revisionist political activist. He was the author of several books of history, including The Arab Refugee Problem , and a two-volume biography of Vladimir Jabotinsky, The Life and Times of Vladimar Jabotinsky. Rebel and Statesman: The Early Years and...
provided an account of the Babi Yar tragedy. In 1966, Anatoly Kuznetsov
Anatoly Kuznetsov
Anatoly Vasilievich Kuznetsov was a Russian language Soviet writer who described his experiences in German-occupied Kiev during WWII in his internationally acclaimed novel Babi Yar: A Document in the Form of a Novel...
's Babi Yar: A Document in the Form of a Novel
Babi Yar: A Document in the Form of a Novel
Babi Yar: A Document in the Form of a Novel is an internationally acclaimed documentary novel by Anatoly Kuznetsov about the Babi Yar massacre...
was published in censored
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
form in the Soviet monthly literary magazine Yunost
Yunost
Yunost is a Russian language literary magazine created in 1955 in Moscow by Valentin Kataev, its first editor-in-chief, who was fired in 1961 for publishing Vasily Aksyonov's Ticket to the Stars...
. Kuznetsov began writing a memoir of his wartime life when he was 14. Over the years he continued working on it, adding documents and eyewitness testimony. He managed to smuggle 35 mm photographic film
Photographic film
Photographic film is a sheet of plastic coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive silver halide salts with variable crystal sizes that determine the sensitivity, contrast and resolution of the film...
containing the uncensored manuscript when he defected, and the book was published in the West in 1970.
In 1985, a documentary film Babiy Yar: Lessons of History by Vitaly Korotich
Vitaly Korotich
Vitaly Korotich is a Soviet, Ukrainian and Russian writer and journalist,.Vitaly Korotich was born in 1936 in Kiev. In 1959 he graduated from the Kiev Medical University. Vitaly Korotich worked as a doctor between 1959 and 1966. Later, he became as a full-time writer, and served as an officer of...
was made to mark the tragedy.
The massacre of Jews at Babi Yar has inspired a number of creative ventures. A poem was written by the Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko is a Soviet and Russian poet. He is also a novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, actor, editor, and a director of several films.-Early life:...
; this in turn was set to music by Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
in his Symphony No. 13
Symphony No. 13 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 13 in B flat minor by Dmitri Shostakovich was first performed in Moscow on 18 December, 1962 by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and the basses of the Republican State and Gnessin Institute Choirs, under Kirill Kondrashin . The soloist was Vitali Gromadsky...
. An oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
was composed by the Ukrainian composer Yevhen Stankovych
Yevhen Stankovych
Yevhen Fedorovych Stankovych is a contemporary Ukrainian composer of stage, orchestral, chamber, and choral works. His works have been performed around the globe.- Biography :...
to the text of Dmytro Pavlychko
Dmytro Pavlychko
Dmytro Pavlychko - well-known Ukrainian poet, translator, scriptwriter, culturologist, political and public figure, dissident.- Biography :...
(2006). A number of films and television productions have also marked the tragic events at Babi Yar, and D. M. Thomas
D. M. Thomas
Donald Michael Thomas, known as D. M. Thomas , is a Cornish novelist, poet, and translator.Thomas was born in Redruth, Cornwall, UK. He attended Trewirgie Primary School and Redruth Grammar School before graduating with First Class Honours in English from New College, Oxford in 1959...
's novel The White Hotel
The White Hotel
The White Hotel is a novel written by the English poet, translator and novelist D. M. Thomas. It was first published in January 1981 by Gollancz in Great Britain and in March 1981 by The Viking Press in the United States...
uses the massacre's anonymity and violence as a counterpoint to the intimate and complex nature of the human psyche.
External links
- Menorah Memorial in Babi Yar park, Kiev To reach this park, take the metroKiev MetroThe Kiev Metro is a metro system that is the mainstay of Kiev's public transport. It was the first rapid transit system in Ukraine and the third one built in the USSR . It now has three lines with a total length of 63.7 kilometres and 49 stations...
to the DorohozhychiDorohozhychi (Kiev Metro)Dorohozhychi is a Kiev Metro station on the Syretsko-Pecherska Line. Opened on 30 March 2000, the station represents the second extension of the Syretsky radius to the northwest....
station http://www.pk.kiev.ua/city/2006/06/16/191223.htmlA monument to be erected to Olena TelihaOlena TelihaOlena Ivanivna Teliha was a Ukrainian poet and Ukrainian activist of Ukrainian and Belarusian ethnicity.-Biography:Olena Teliha was born Elena Ivanovna Shovgeneva in the village of Ilyinskoe, near Moscow in Russia where her parents spent summer vacations. There are a several villages by this name...
] Commemorative Oratorio by Yevhen Stankovych "Dress Code for Auschwitz" - Artwork from Babi Yar to Auschwitz - Plan to build memorial at site of massacre in Ukraine divisive. by Vladimir Matveyev. NCSJNCSJNational Conference on Soviet Jewry is a leading US organization advocating on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States, and Eurasia. It was started in 1971 as a volunteer organization and played an important role in the Soviet Jewry movement, including such landmark legislations as...
/Jewish Telegraphic AgencyJewish Telegraphic AgencyThe Jewish Telegraphic Agency is an international news agency serving Jewish community newspapers and media around the world. The JTA was founded on February 6, 1917, by Jacob Landau as the Jewish Correspondence Bureau in The Hague with the mandate of collecting and disseminating news among and...
. July 24, 2006 - 65th Anniversary Remembrance of the Babi Yar Tragedy September 27, 2006 (NCSJNCSJNational Conference on Soviet Jewry is a leading US organization advocating on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States, and Eurasia. It was started in 1971 as a volunteer organization and played an important role in the Soviet Jewry movement, including such landmark legislations as...
) - Declaration International Forum "Let My People Live!" September 27, 2006 (World Holocaust ForumWorld Holocaust ForumThe World Holocaust Forum is a series of high-profile events targeted at preserving memories of Holocaust atrocities and the other tragic events of World War II...
) - 'From September to May, there were shots almost every day'. by Amiram Barkat. HaaretzHaaretzHaaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
September 29, 2006 - Babi Yar Park Foundation
- memorial park to the Babi Yar massacre
