Babiy Yar Memorial

Today I planned to attend the Babiy Yar memorial in Kiev. This year marks 68 years since the horrific events in 1941. German troops occupied Kiev on September 19, 1941 and on September 29th they started to shoot civilians in Babiy Yar. A total of 33, 771 people were killed in TWO days.


I was told that there were a series of memorial services happening from September 27-29th. I needed to attend a different event on September 27th therefore I decided to attend the ceremony on September 29th. I have been to the site before in 2007 during a training seminar for camp B'Yachad. We received a tour from a professional guide and were taken to the site by a private bus. This time however I needed to get there by myself without anyone to ask. I went online and tried to find out the address for the memorials instead I found numerous pictures but not a single address. I have a lot of Kiev tour books in my apartment from previous volunteers, but only one had any mention of Babiy Yar or Jewish Kiev. I of course didn't see the book until an hour later :(

I took the train and got off by the park where the memorials are. There were a lot of cops along the circumference of the park and they didn't let anyone in. I walked around to the monument; saw about 20 people in attendance and another group of soldiers marching on the side. When I asked to enter, I was told that I was not allowed and needed to wait for the ceremony to finish. During this time I called my office to check if I needed to make any special arrangements, this was not the case. As I waited a group of older women approached, they were also trying to attend the memorial. They received the same welcome as I did. They told the guards that they are Holocaust Survivors, began to tell their story, and pulled out their certificates (showing that they were prisoners of camps/узники лагерей). Nothing worked!

The ceremony that we were not allowed to attend lasted for about 15 minutes. As soon as the president stepped into his car, we were allowed to enter. The 20 people in attendance earlier disappeared and in a matter of minutes the monument was abandoned. The monument had loose flowers, and a few bouquets, mostly from different embassies. After I paid my respects at this monument, I continued my walk to the others. The park has several monuments to commemorate the events of 1941. A few are Christian monuments, one Soviet monument, one Jewish, and another memorial to remember all the children that died. Although there are so many monuments, and enough places where one can pay their respects I like going to the edge of the park. According to my tour in 2007, people were forced to march through the streets to the edge of the city where they were shot.

I don't know how to feel about today's events. But I do know one thing; it is great that we can pay our respects, even if it is at a later time than others. It is important to remember that before we were not allowed to do that, and even not too long ago there were no Jewish memorials.