Ukraine honors today the memory of the victims of the tragedy in Babin Yar (in Russian Babiy Yar) – one of the most horrific symbols of the Holocaust.
On September 29 and 30, 1941, the first mass shooting of unarmed civilians took place in Nazi-occupied Kiev, Ukrinform reports, quoted by BTA.
In general, from September 29 to October 11, 1941, the German Schutzstaffel (SS/SS – Security Forces, German paramilitary organization, note ed.) massacred almost the entire Jewish population of the city: more than 50,000 men, women and children. In the first two days alone, almost 34,000 people were killed, and on October 1, 2, 8 and 11, another 17,000 people were shot.
Babin Yar, a large ravine on the northwest edge of Kyiv, was chosen as the site of the mass shootings. The gorge is two and a half kilometers long and in places up to 50 meters deep. A gate is placed at the end of a street through which people enter in groups of 30-40 people. Before that, they were forced to undress and hand over their personal belongings.
They are then machine-gunned in the breach and the bodies are immediately covered with earth while some of the victims are still alive.
According to various estimates, between 100,000 and 150,000 people were killed in Babin Yar during World War II: Jews, Roma, Karaites (a small ethnic and religious community practicing the Abrahamic religion, note ed.), Soviet prisoners of war , members of the Ukrainian national resistance movement, patients of a psychiatric clinic and representatives of other nationalities and social groups.
Today, events dedicated to the 83rd anniversary of the beginning of the tragic events in Babin Yar will be held in Kyiv.