Turning the pages back... September 29, 1991 (09/29/96)

Turning the pages back...

September 29, 1991

On September 29, 1991, newly independent Ukraine remembered Babyn Yar. A weeklong series of events ended 50 years of official Soviet silence on the mass killings of Jews, Ukrainians and others by the Nazis, and began a new phase in Ukrainian-Jewish relations.

Fifty years after the first day of mass shootings in a ravine on the outskirts of Kyiv, thousands gathered near a new monument - a menorah erected in memory of Babyn Yar's Jewish victims - the primary victims of that Nazi massacre. Among the mourners were official delegations from the U.S., Israel, the Federal Republic of Germany and Ukraine, as well as survivors and eyewitnesses.

Following are excerpts of The Weekly's editorial titled "Babyn Yar: a shared tragedy," which appeared on the eve of the solemn commemorations.

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|n an attempt to set the historical record straight, Ukrainian government officials have designated the week beginning September 29 as "Days of Memory and Sorrow" in Kyiv. For it was in the capital city of Ukraine 50 years ago that the Nazis began a most gruesome episode of mass slaughter as part of Hitler's "Final Solution."

An official German report notes that all the Jews of Kyiv were ordered to appear on Monday, September 29, 1941, at a designated place. There, on the outskirts of the city, during a 36-hour period, Einsatzgruppe C, Sonderkommando 4A murdered 33,771 Jews. These children, women and men were stripped naked, shot and pushed into a ravine.

After this first mass execution the ravine, known as Babyn Yar, was sealed off with barbed wire and declared a restricted zone. But the killings did not end. During the next two years - until the German retreat from Kyiv - an additional 170,000 persons were massacred at the ravine. Thus, Babyn Yar became a mass grave for 100,000 Jews, some 70,000 to 80,000 Ukrainians and 30,000 others - Russians, Poles, Gypsies, both prisoners of war and the civilian population of Kyiv.

For decades, official Soviet propaganda and anti-Semitism would not let the truth be told about Babyn Yar. Even once a monument was erected at the site in 1976, the memorial plaque noted only that residents of Kyiv and prisoners of war had been executed there by fascists; the monument itself did not depict Jewish victims.

Some blamed the Ukrainian people and government for the silence, not, realizing it was Moscow that determined how history was presented. Others unjustly stated that this was yet another example of Ukrainians trying to cover up collaboration with the Nazis - an absurd statement given the number of Ukrainian victims at Babyn Yar, among them Kyiv Mayor Oleksa Bahaziy, poetess Olena Teliha and thousands who resisted the Nazi occupation.

We welcome the Ukrainian government's initiative in marking the 50th anniversary of the Babyn Yar massacre and the pledge by Serhiy Komisarenko, deputy prime minister and chairman of the Babyn Yar Commemorative Committee, that "This official tribute marks the start of a new era in our republic, an era of freedom and respect for all peoples."

Furthermore, we hope that the legacy of Babyn Yar, a tragedy shared by the Jewish and Ukrainian people, shall be one of overcoming stereotypes and hatred, and building a new relationship based on mutual understanding and good will.

Source: The Ukrainian Weekly, September 22, 1991, Vol. LIX, No. 38; October 13, 1991, Vol. LIX, No. 41.