Бабин яр [bob-bin yar]

Ukraine is a country that loves the richness of its culture and traditions and has had many influences over the centuries from invasions and conquering armies.  However,  just like many European nations, Ukraine has a very dark history. It has been pillaged, resected, rearranged and trampled upon. Reading about the many wars and desolations caused by many would-be conquerors is exhausting. The land-grabs that fed the egos of so many despots has ravaged the land and her people over the centuries. We don't hear or read much in our history books about what happened here. Some of it has been side-lined to draw attention away from the culprits. The Ukrainians haven't forgotten. It would take volumes to relate all this history, so I will concentrate on one sad story - the story of Babyn Yar.

Babyn Yar Timeline

1401 - The Dominican monastery (a French Catholic order) purchased a tract of land from an older woman (grandma type - think "babushka"). The property was full of ravines and became known as Babi Yar or Babyn Yar. With Babyn referring to the grandma and Yar, a Turkic word that means ravine. Thus: Grandma's ravine.

1932-1933  ·  Ukraine is now under Soviet rule with Stalin at its head. The Soviets initiated a program that Ukrainians called the "Holodomor" [death by hunger or terror-famine]. Grain and produce were confiscated and the borders were closed. Millions died of starvation. For context, it was not in the best interests of the Soviets to acknowledge the atrocities of the Nazis that would occur at Babyn Yar.

1941  · During the German occupation of Kyiv, the Soviet Secret Police set off explosives around the city and the Germans would blame it on the Jews. On September 26th, a notice was posted that all Jews in the city were to appear at a certain location on the 29th. They were to bring their money, any valuables and warm clothing. Those who did not comply would be shot. The feeling among the Jews was that they were to be relocated. When they arrived, they were led to stations where they were obliged to leave their valuables. As they moved along, they were eventually stripped of their clothing and then shot with machine gun fire in the ravines of Babyn Yar. As more Jews arrived, they were forced to lay down on the bodies of those already shot and then they were killed. Layer upon layer of bodies accumulated in the ravnine. Over the course of two days, nearly 34,000 Jews had been massacred - men, women and children.

In the months that followed, more than 100,000 citizens of Kyiv were murdered and buried at Babyn Yar. People of all nationalities were killed. Patients from a nearby mental hospital were gassed and buried there. Other ethnic groups, Romas (Gypsies), resistance groups, Ukrainian nationalists, prisoners of war, criminals and free thinkers were killed there. 

2021 · Today, there are no longer gullies and ravines. It is completely filled in and leveled.  Once a scene of horror, it is now an oasis of peace and tranquility in the middle of the city. It is a beautiful park with lovely walkways, monuments and historical dioramas.  Every year, church members don the "Helping Hands" vests and perform service there.  In 1991, the Soviet Union fell apart, and the Soviet satellite countries (SSRs) regained their independence. These countries share many of the same heartaches - mass deportations, mass killings and the loss of their land and property.  However, these determined people are fixed in their mind to maintain their hard-won freedom. Every year, Ukrainians commemorate Babyn Yar. It is a sad story, but in the tears that fall freely, there is a strength and a resolve to always stand up to tyranny. These are great people.

 

 "This monument symbolizes the universality of childhood destroyed by the war. The monument represents a little girl holding out her hands asking for mercy. On both sides of the girl, two other figures sit; one is the fairy-tale clown Pierrot with his head low (to the left), and another is a baby doll with a kippah (yarmulke) on his broken head, with his hands raised towards heaven. This monument is devoted to the thousands of children shot, tortured, or just left to die by the Nazi soldiers and their collaborators at Babyn Yar. The exact number of children murdered at the site is not known, since children under three years old were not registered. The number of surviving children amounts to less than ten."

Kutsovska, G. (2019). Memorializing Babyn Yar: Politics of Memory and Commemoration of the Holocaust in Ukraine [Masters Thesis, Linköping University, Sweden]