Babyn Yar massacre recalled in Kyiv on its 65th anniversary (10/01/06)

Babyn Yar massacre recalled in Kyiv on its 65th anniversary

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The leaflets appeared throughout Kyiv the morning of Monday, September 29, 1941.

"All Jews living in Kyiv and its vicinity are to report by 8:00 ... to the corner of Melnikov and Dokhturov streets. They are to take with them documents, money, valuables, as well as warm clothes, underwear, etc. Any Jew not carrying out this instruction and who is found elsewhere will be shot. Any civilian entering flats evacuated by Jews and stealing property will be shot."

During the next two days, German Nazis proceeded to slaughter 34,000 Jews at the site now known throughout the world as Babyn Yar.

Almost 65 years later, prominent world leaders representing 46 countries arrived in Kyiv on September 27 to lay flowers at the Babyn Yar Menorah Monument and commemorate the gruesome event.

"On the 65th anniversary of the tragedy, from the soul and conscience of all the Ukrainian people, I bow my head before the faultless, perished victims of terror," President Viktor Yushchenko said on September 26 at the opening ceremony for exhibitions at the Ukrainian Home.

During the two years following, the Nazis would go on to execute more than 150,000 Jews, Ukrainians, Gypsies and members of many other ethnic groups at Babyn Yar. Holocaust researchers list 50,000 Jews among them. Partisans, Soviet prisoners of war and Ukrainian nationalists were among the victims.

Among those participating in the flower-laying ceremony at Babyn Yar were President Viktor Yushchenko, Israeli President Moshe Katsav, former President Leonid Kuchma, former Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski and Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin.

Other Ukrainian leaders attending were Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate, Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetskyi and First Lady of Ukraine Kateryna Yushchenko.

A minute of silence was observed, followed by addresses by the tragedy's survivors and witnesses, and memorial services of various faiths.

Later that day, guests gathered at the Shevchenko National Opera and Ballet Theater to commence the "Let my People Live!" international forum organized by the Ukrainian government, the World Holocaust Forum Foundation and the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority Vad Yashem.

On September 26, the Ukrainian president participated in the unveiling of a two-part exhibition at the Ukrainian Home, "Forewarning the Future," arranged by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine, the Babyn Yar Memory Foundation and Kyiv's Department of Culture.

"No Child's Play. Children in the Holocaust - Creativity and Play" was organized by the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority Yad Vashem.

"I clearly emphasize Ukraine will never allow for international intolerance and religious enmity," President Yushchenko said at the opening.

"Together with other world leaders, I reinforce Ukrainian support for the global process of strengthening cultural and religious dialogue. Together with all Ukrainians, I sharply and categorically reject and don't accept even the smallest display of xenophobia and anti-Semitism," he said.

In a meeting with Croatian President Stepan Mesych, Mr. Yushchenko raised the issue of having the United Nations recognize the 1932-1933 Holodomor as a genocide against the Ukrainian people.

He also addressed the Holodomor in an interview with Israeli television.

"People suffer from not knowing complete history," the Ukrainian president said. "I sense this about the Ukrainian nation, which 10 years ago was still quiet about the Holodomor of 1932-1933, which had no books written about it or films."

Isarael's Knesset has yet to recognize the Holodomor as genocide, and neither do many Jewish leaders.

At a September 25 press conference, the Presidential Secretariat's Humanitarian Policy Director Markian Lubkivskyi reaffirmed the Ukrainian government's commitment to creating a national memorial reserve at Babyn Yar, which adequately reflects the Nazi crimes.

In fact, Mr. Yushchenko issued an order on September 23 last year to establish a national reserve, which has yet to progress.

"In the nearest time, the government will gather a working group of famous experts, historians, political scientists and sociologists to bring Ukrainian citizens to a closer understanding of the Babyn Yar tragedy," Mr. Lubkivskyi said.

The commemoration wasn't without its controversies.

Kyiv's Ukrainian-language newspaper Ukrayina Moloda accused Mr. Yanukovych of using the pretext of the Babyn Yar massacres to advance his agenda of giving the Russian language official status in Ukraine.

The day of the Babyn Yar commemoration, the Presidential Secretariat's newspaper, Uriadovyi Kurier, published a text from Mr. Yanuokvych regarding the lessons of Babyn Yar, in which he subtly hinted at ethnocentrism and even discrimination of behalf of nationalist Ukrainians.

"History teaches us that great tragedies begin with things that are, at first glance, small and insignificant - attractive utopias, political speculation, populist flirtations with nationalists," his statement read.

"It's another matter, when certain politicians attempt to play on national feelings, believing this theme ideally suits public contemplations on the directing role of 'genetic' Ukrainians in establishing our nationhood," he wrote.

Mr. Yanukovych's text also exploited age-old Soviet stereotypes of Halychyna residents as fascists. "Slogans such as 'sviy do svoho po svoye' is not our national program or our national ideology," he stated, referring to a 1930s phrase used in Polish-ruled Halychyna that refers to economically supporting your own ethnic producers and clients.

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