The massacre of many thousands of Jews, Soviet prisoners of war, Ukrainian nationalists, Roma, and others at Babyn Yar was one of the worst horrors of the Second World War. If we are to have any chance of sparing future generations from similar tragedies, we must keep the memory alive.
Historic reference
During World War II, Nazi German forces occupied Kyiv and used the Babyn Yar ravine in the northwestern part of the city as a site of mass execution of civilians, mainly Jews. On September 29, 1941, the city’s entire Jewish population was ordered to come to Babyn Yar where they were taken in groups through the checkpoint, taken to the edge of the ravine, and shot. In two days, 33,771 people were killed in the massacre. The shootings in Babyn Yar continued until the German army left the city in 1943; according to official statistics, around 100,000 people were killed by the Nazis in Babyn Yar, whose occupation of Kyiv lasted more than two years in 1941-1943.