Incubator escapee wiki

Babi Yar

Article Discussion

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Pp-30-500 Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox holocaust eventBabi YarTemplate:Efn (Template:Langx) or Babyn Yar (Template:Langx) is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and a site of massacres carried out by Nazi Germany's forces during its campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. The first and best documented of the massacres took place on 29–30 September 1941, in which some 33,771 Jews were murdered. Other victims of massacres at the site included Soviet prisoners of war, communists and Romani people.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="BYUnk2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=BYUnk1/> It is estimated that a total of between 100,000 and 150,000 people were murdered at Babi Yar during the German occupation.<ref name="rpmag1"> Template:Cite book </ref>

The decision to murder all the Jews in Kyiv was made by the military governor Generalmajor Kurt Eberhard, the Police Commander for Army Group South, SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln, and the Einsatzgruppe C Commander Otto Rasch. Sonderkommando 4a as the sub-unit of Einsatzgruppe C, along with the aid of the SD and Order Police battalions with the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police backed by the Wehrmacht, carried out the orders.<ref name="Berkhoff-2">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Sonderkommando 4a and the 45th Battalion of the German Order Police conducted the shootings. Servicemen of the 303rd Battalion of the German Order Police at this time guarded the outer perimeter of the execution site.<ref name=MtVol4>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=Kruglov>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Evstafieva>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=ProcISC>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The massacre was the largest mass-murder by the Nazi regime during the campaign against the Soviet Union,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and it has been called "the largest single massacre in the history of the Holocaust" to that particular date.<ref name="Lower">Template:Cite journal</ref> It is only surpassed overall by the later October 1941 Odessa massacre of more than 50,000 Jews (committed by German and Romanian troops), and by Aktion Erntefest of November 1943 in occupied Poland with 42,000–43,000 victims.<ref name="Browning">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Qn

Historical backgroundEdit

The Babi Yar (Babyn Yar) ravine was first mentioned in historical accounts in 1401, in connection to the sale of it by baba (an old woman) who was also the cantiniere in the Dominican Monastery.<ref name=VK>Anatoliy Kudrytsky, editor-in-chief, "Vulytsi Kyeva" (The Streets of Kyiv), Ukrainska Entsyklopediya, Template:ISBN</ref> The word yar is Turkic in origin and means "gully" or "ravine". Over several centuries, the site was used for various purposes, including military camps and at least two cemeteries, including an Orthodox Christian cemetery and a Jewish cemetery. The latter was officially closed in 1937.Template:Citation needed

Massacres of September 1941Edit

Template:See also

Axis forces, mainly German, occupied Kyiv on 19 September 1941. Between 20 and 28 September, explosives planted by the Soviet secret police (the NKVD) caused extensive damage in the city, and on 24 September an explosion rocked Rear Headquarters Army Group South.<ref name="kyivpost">Template:Cite news</ref> Two days later, on 26 September, Maj. Gen. Kurt Eberhard, the military governor, and SS-{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Friedrich Jeckeln, the SS and Police Leader, met at Rear Headquarters Army Group South. There, they decided to exterminate the Jews of Kyiv, claiming that it was retaliation for the explosions.<ref>

  • Template:Cite book
  • Template:Cite book</ref> Also present were SS-{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Paul Blobel, commander of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 4a of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} C, and his superior, SS-{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Dr. Otto Rasch, commander of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} C. The mass murder was to be carried out by units under the command of Rasch and Blobel, who were ultimately responsible for many atrocities in Soviet Ukraine during the summer and autumn of 1941.

The implementation of the order was entrusted to {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 4a of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} C commanded by Blobel, under the general command of Friedrich Jeckeln.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} The Holocaust Chronicle. p. 270</ref> This unit consisted of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (SD) and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (SiPo), the third company of the Special Duties {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}-SS battalion, and a platoon of the 9th Police Battalion. {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 4a of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} C and Police Battalion 45, commanded by Major Besser, conducted the massacre, supported by members of a {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}-SS battalion. Contrary to the "myth of the clean {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}", the Sixth Army under the command of Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau worked together with the SS and SD to plan and execute the mass-murder of the Jews of Kyiv.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

On 26 September 1941, the following order was posted:

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

All YidsTemplate:Efn of the city of Kiev and its vicinity must appear on Monday, 29 September, by 8 o'clock in the morning at the corner of Mel'nikova and Dokterivskaya streets (near the Viis'kove cemetery). Bring documents, money and valuables, and also warm clothing, linen, etc.

Any Yids who do not follow this order and are found elsewhere will be shot. Any civilians who enter the dwellings left by Yids and appropriate the things in them will be shot.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

File:Big-babijar14.jpg
Notice dated 28 September 1941 in Russian, Ukrainian with German translation ordering all Kyivan Jews to assemble for supposed resettlement

On 29 and 30 September 1941, the Nazis and their collaborators murdered approximately 33,771 Jewish civilians at Babi Yar.<ref name="USHMM">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="HC-270">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The order to murder the Jews of Kyiv was given to {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 4a of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} C, consisting of SD and SiPo men, the third company of the Special Duties {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}-SS battalion, and a platoon of the No. 9 police battalion. These units were reinforced by police battalions Nos. 45 and 303, by units of the Ukrainian auxiliary police, and supported by local collaborators.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 4a and the 45th Battalion of the German Order Police conducted the shootings. Servicemen of the 303rd Battalion of the German Order Police at this time guarded the outer perimeter of the execution site.<ref name=MtVol4/><ref name=Kruglov/><ref name=Evstafieva/><ref name=ProcISC/>

The commander of the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} reported two days later:<ref name="Gilbert">Template:Cite book</ref>

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

The difficulties resulting from such a large scale action—in particular concerning the seizure—were overcome in Kiev by requesting the Jewish population through wall posters to move. Although only a participation of approximately 5,000 to 6,000 Jews had been expected at first, more than 30,000 Jews arrived who, until the very moment of their execution, still believed in their resettlement, thanks to an extremely clever organization.<ref>Nuremberg Military Tribunal, Einsatzgruppen trial, Judgment, at page 426, quoting exhibit NO-3157.</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

According to the testimony of a truck driver named Hofer, victims were ordered to undress and were beaten if they resisted:

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

I watched what happened when the Jews—men, women and children—arrived. The UkrainiansTemplate:Efn led them past a number of different places where one after the other they had to give up their luggage, then their coats, shoes and over-garments and also underwear. They also had to leave their valuables in a designated place. There was a special pile for each article of clothing. It all happened very quickly and anyone who hesitated was kicked or pushed by the UkrainiansTemplate:Efn to keep them moving.{{#if:Michael Berenbaum: "Statement of Truck-Driver Hofer describing the murder of Jews at Babi Yar"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }} Cited in Template:Cite book</ref>|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

The crowd was large enough that most of the victims could not have known what was happening until it was too late; by the time they heard the machine gun fire, there was no chance to escape. All were driven down a corridor of soldiers, in groups of ten, and then shot. A truck driver described the scene.

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

Template:ErrorTemplate:Main other{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

In the evening, the Germans undermined the wall of the ravine and buried the people under the thick layers of earth.<ref name="Gilbert" /> According to the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}'s Operational Situation Report, 33,771 Jews from Kyiv and its suburbs were systematically shot dead by machine-gun fire at Babi Yar on 29 and 30 September 1941.<ref>Operational Situation Report No. 101 Template:Webarchive (einsatzgruppenarchives.com)</ref> The money, valuables, underwear, and clothing of the murdered were turned over to the local ethnic Germans and to the Nazi administration of the city.<ref>Nuremberg Military Tribunal, Einsatzgruppen trial, Judgment, at p. 430.</ref> Wounded victims were buried alive in the ravine along with the rest of the bodies.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="haaretz06">Template:Cite news</ref>

Further massacresEdit

File:Luftwaffe aerial photograph of Babi Yar, 1943.jpg
Luftwaffe aerial photograph of Babi Yar, 1943

In the months that followed, thousands more were seized and taken to Babi Yar where they were shot. It is estimated that more than 100,000 residents of Kyiv of all ethnic groups,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Юрій Шаповал (27 February 2009), {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Літакцент, 2007-2009.</ref><ref>Yury Shapoval, "The Defection of Anatoly Kuznetsov", День, 18 January 2005.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> mostly civilians, were murdered by the Nazis there during World War II.<ref name="USHMM" /><ref name="Spector">Shmuel Spector, "Babi Yar," Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, Israel Gutman, editor in chief, Yad Vashem, Sifriat Hapoalim, New York: Macmillan, 1990. 4 volumes. Template:ISBN. An excerpt of the article is available at Ada Holtzman, "Babi Yar: Killing Ravine of Kiev Jewry – WWII Template:Webarchive", We Remember! Shalom!.</ref> The Syrets concentration camp was also built in the area, which was notorious for its cruelty<ref name=":02">Template:Cite journal</ref> and execution of three Dynamo Kyiv football players who played in the Match of Death.<ref name="deathcamps.org">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Mass executions at Babi Yar continued until the Nazis evacuated the city of Kyiv. On 10 January 1942 about 100 captured Soviet sailors were executed there after being forced to disinter and cremate the bodies of previous victims. In addition, Babi Yar became a place of execution of residents of five Gypsy camps. Patients of the Ivan Pavlov Psychiatric Hospital were gassed and then dumped into the ravine.Template:Citation needed Thousands of other Ukrainians were murdered at Babi Yar.<ref>Babi Yar (Page 2) Template:Webarchive by Jennifer Rosenberg (about.com)</ref> Ukrainian poet and activist Olena Teliha and her husband, and renowned bandurist Mykhailo Teliha, were murdered there on 21 February 1942.<ref name="BYUnk1">Ludmyla Yurchenko, "Life is not to be sold for a few pieces of silver: The life of Olena Teliha Template:Webarchive", Ukrainian Youth Association.</ref> Also murdered in 1941 were Ukrainian activist writer Ivan Rohach, his sister, and his staff.

Upon the Soviet liberation of Kyiv in 1943, Soviet officials led Western journalists to the site of the massacres and allowed them to interview survivors. Among the journalists were Bill Lawrence of The New York Times and Bill Downs of CBS. Downs described in a report to Newsweek what he had been told by one of the survivors, Efim Vilkis:

File:Syrets (Syretskij concentration camp) Kiev.jpg
A barbed wire fence of the Syrets concentration camp

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

However, even more incredible was the action taken by the Nazis between August 19 and September 28 last. Vilkis said that in the middle of August the SS mobilized a party of 100 Russian war prisoners, who were taken to the ravines. On August 19 these men were ordered to disinter all the bodies in the ravine. The Germans meanwhile took a party to a nearby Jewish cemetery whence marble headstones were brought to Babii Yar Template:Sic to form the foundation of a huge funeral pyre. Atop the stones were piled a layer of wood and then a layer of bodies, and so on until the pyre was as high as a two-story house. Vilkis said that approximately 1,500 bodies were burned in each operation of the furnace and each funeral pyre took two nights and one day to burn completely. The cremation went on for 40 days, and then the prisoners, who by this time included 341 men, were ordered to build another furnace. Since this was the last furnace and there were no more bodies, the prisoners [realized] it was for them. They made a break but only a dozen out of more than 200 survived the bullets of the Nazi machine guns.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> {{#if:|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Number of people who were murderedEdit

Estimates of the total number of people who were murdered at Babi Yar during the Nazi occupation vary. At the Nuremberg trials in 1946, Soviet prosecutor Lev Smirnov claimed that approximately 100,000 corpses were lying in Babi Yar; he made this estimate using documents which were published by the Extraordinary State Commission which the Soviets set up in order to investigate Nazi crimes after the liberation of Kyiv in 1943.<ref name="Spector" /><ref>Materials of the Nuremberg Trial in Russian: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Template:In lang</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Нюрнбергский Процесс. Документ СССР-9. Template:In lang</ref>

In a recently published letter to the Israeli journalist, writer, and translator Shlomo Even-Shoshan which was dated 17 May 1965, Anatoly Kuznetsov commented on the Babi Yar atrocity:

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

Template:ErrorTemplate:Main other{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

SurvivorsEdit

File:Dina pronicheva trial big.jpg
Dina Pronicheva on the witness stand, 24 January 1946, at a Kyiv war-crimes trial of fifteen members of the German police responsible for the occupied Kyiv region

One of the most often-cited parts of Anatoly Kuznetsov's documentary novel Babi Yar is the testimony of Dina Pronicheva, an actress of the Kyiv Puppet Theatre, and a survivor.<ref name="Brandon">Template:Cite book</ref> She was one of those ordered to march to the ravine, to be forced to undress and then be shot. Jumping before being shot and falling on other bodies, she played dead in a pile of corpses. She held perfectly still while the Nazis continued to shoot the wounded or gasping victims. Although the SS had covered the mass grave with earth, she eventually climbed through the soil and escaped. Since it was dark, she had to avoid the torches of the Nazis finishing off the remaining victims still alive, wounded, and gasping in the grave. She was one of the very few survivors of the massacre and later related her story to Kuznetsov.<ref>"A Survivor of the Babi Yar Massacre Template:Webarchive," Heritage: Civilization and the Jews (PBS). Gilbert (1985): 204–205.</ref> At least 29 survivors are known.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2006, Yad Vashem and other Jewish organisations started a project to identify and name the Babi Yar victims. However, so far, only 10% have been identified. Yad Vashem has recorded the names of around 3,000 Jews murdered at Babi Yar, as well as those of some 7,000 Jews from Kyiv who were murdered during the Holocaust.Template:Cn

Concealment of the crimesEdit

Before the Nazis retreated from Kyiv ahead of the Soviet offensive of 1944, they were ordered by Wilhelm Koppe to conceal their atrocities in the East. Paul Blobel, who had been in control of the mass murders in Babi Yar two years earlier, supervised the "special action" Sonderaktion 1005 to eliminate its traces. The Aktion was carried out earlier in all extermination camps. The bodies were exhumed, burned and the ashes were scattered over farmland in the vicinity.<ref name="YV">Aktion 1005. Template:Webarchive Yad Vashem. Shoa Resource Centre. Retrieved 25 April 2013.</ref> Several hundred prisoners of war from the Syrets concentration camp were forced to exhume the bodies for cremation in funeral pyres built atop layers of stolen Jewish gravestones.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

TrialsEdit

File:Paul Blobel.jpg
Paul Blobel at the subsequent Nuremberg trials, March 1948

In the aftermath of the war, several SS commanders who had planned and supervised the massacre were arrested and put on trial. Paul Blobel, the overall commander of the SS unit responsible for the massacre, was sentenced to death by the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials in the Einsatzgruppen Trial. He was hanged on 7 June 1951 at Landsberg Prison.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Otto Rasch was also indicted in the Einsatzgruppen Trial but his case was discontinued for health reasons, and he died in prison in 1948. Friedrich Jeckeln was convicted of war crimes by a Soviet military tribunal in the Riga Trial, sentenced to death, and hanged on 3 February 1946. Kurt Eberhard was arrested by US authorities but committed suicide while in custody in 1947.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In January 1946, 15 former members of the German police (including Paul Scheer) were tried in Kyiv over their roles in the massacre and other atrocities. Twelve of them were sentenced to death (Fritz Beckenhof, Karl Burckhardt, Georg Heinisch, Wilhelm Hellerforth, Hans Isenmann, Emil Jogschat, Emil Knoll, Willi Meier, Paul von Scheer, Eckart Hans von Tschammer und Osten, Georg Truckenbrod, and Oskar Walliser). The other three received prison sentences. Those condemned to death were publicly hanged in the town square of Kyiv on 29 January 1946.<ref>Documentary Babi Yar. Context 2021, director Sergey Loznitsa, [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 

 | title/{{#if: {{#invoke:ustring|match|1={{{id}}}|2=^tt}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | tt{{{id}}}/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345|from=Q109264697}}
   | title/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D&s=tt
   }}
 }}{{#ifeq: {{#invoke:If any equal|main|Q618779|Q67325957|Q33999|value=Template:Wikidata}} | yes 
     | {{#switch: Template:Wikidata 
       | Q618779 
       | Q67325957  = awards Awards for
       | Q33999  = fullcredits Full cast and crew of
       }}
   | {{#if: Template:Wikidata 
     | {{#switch: Template:Wikidata
       | Q63032896 
       | Q66763446  = fullcredits Full cast and crew of
       | Q107974527 
       | Q482994  = soundtrack Soundtrack of
       }}
     }}
   }} Template:Trim] at {{#if: | IMDb | IMDb }}Template:EditAtWikidata{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb title with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | 3 | description | id | link_hide | qid | quotes | title }}{{#switch: {{#invoke:String2|matchAny|^tt.........|^tt.......|tt|.........|source={{{id}}}|plain=false}}| 1 | 3 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning| 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning}}{{#if:  {{#property:P345}} || Template:Preview warningTemplate:Main other }}{{#switch: Template:Wikidata

| Q21191270 | Q21664088 | Q50062923 | Q50914552 | Q99079902 | Q123186929 | Q55422400 | Q61220733 =Template:Preview warning | Q3464665 =Template:Preview warning }}{{#ifeq: Template:Wikidata | Q21191270 |Template:Preview warning }}{{#if: | Template:WikidataCheck }}.</ref> Erich Koch, who had been Reichskommissar of Ukraine at the time, was tried and sentenced to death by a Polish court for his atrocities in occupied Poland. However, he was never tried for his crimes in occupied Ukraine. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he died in prison in 1986.<ref name="USHMM" />

Two additional perpetrators were given prison sentences at the Nuremberg Trials.<ref name="USHMM" /> In 1967, 11 men were charged for participating in the massacre in a German court in Darmstadt. After a 14 month trial, seven were convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging between four and fifteen years.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1971, three more former German police officials were put on trial in Regensburg.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The vast majority of the perpetrators were never tried for their roles in the massacre.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

RemembranceEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

File:70 років трагедії Бабиного Яру.jpg
Ukrainian postage stamp, released on the 70th anniversary of the massacre in Babi Yar
File:Babi Jar ravijn.jpg
The ravine in 2003

After the war, specifically Jewish and Roma commemoration efforts encountered difficulty because of the Soviet Union's emphasis on secular remembrances honoring all nationalities of the Soviet Union, so memorials (including at Babi Yar) would generally refer to "peaceful victims of fascism." Memorials were not explicitly forbidden, but successive Soviet leaders preferred instead to emphasise the wide-ranging origins of those murdered at the site. This meant that both Jewish and Roma peoples were not specifically memorialised at the Babi Yar site until the Soviet Union collapsed.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Indeed, Yevgeny Yevtushenko's 1961 poem on Babi Yar begins "Над Бабьим Яром памятников нет/Nad Babim Yarom pamyatnikov nyet" ("Over Babi Yar there are no monuments"); it is also the first line of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, several memorials were erected on the site and elsewhere. The events also formed a part of literature. Babi Yar is located in Kyiv at the juncture of today's Kurenivka, Lukianivka and Syrets districts, between Kyrylivska, Melnykov, and Olena Teliha streets and St. Cyril's Monastery. After the Orange Revolution, President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine hosted a major commemoration of the 65th anniversary in 2006, attended by Presidents Moshe Katsav of Israel, Filip Vujanović of Montenegro, Stjepan Mesić of Croatia and Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau. Rabbi Lau pointed out that if the world had reacted to the massacre of Babi Yar, perhaps the Holocaust might never have happened. Implying that this impunity emboldened Hitler, Lau speculated:

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

Maybe, say, this Babi Yar was also a test for Hitler. If on 29 September and 30 September 1941 Babi Yar may happen and the world did not react seriously, dramatically, abnormally, maybe this was a good test for him. So a few weeks later in January 1942, near Berlin in Wannsee, a convention can be held with a decision, a final solution to the Jewish problem ... Maybe if the very action had been a serious one, a dramatic one, in September 1941 here in Ukraine, the Wannsee Conference would have come to a different end, maybe.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

In 2006, a message was also delivered on behalf of Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> by his representative, Resident Coordinator Francis Martin O'Donnell, who added a Hebrew prayer Template:Not a typo Shalom,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> from the Mourners' Kaddish.

MudslideEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

In the spring of 1961, Babi Yar was the site of a massive mudslide. An earthen dam in the ravine was used to hold loam pulp which had been pumped from the local brick factories without sufficient drainage over the course of ten years. The dam collapsed after it was hit by a heavy rainstorm, resulting in a mudslide that swept away the low-lying Kurenivka neighborhood and several other areas. The death toll was estimated to be between 1,500 and 2,000 people.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

2022 Russian bombingEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:See

On 1 March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine the site was struck by Russian forces while they were trying to destroy the nearby Kyiv TV Tower. The attack resulted in the death of at least five people.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Smithsonian 2022">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Wertheimer 2022">Template:Cite news</ref>

See alsoEdit

Explanatory notesEdit

Template:Notelist

CitationsEdit

Template:Reflist

General and cited sourcesEdit

Further readingEdit

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project

Template:National landmarks of cultural heritage in KyivTemplate:National Sanctuaries of KyivTemplate:Holocaust Ukraine Template:Massacres of Jews Template:Einsatzgruppen Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://zalansite.site/mediawiki/index.php?title=Babi_Yar&oldid=47934"