One of the biggest discoveries on this trip has been my appalling lack of knowledge about history. Thankfully I read Catherine the Great as part of my homework prior to heading to Russia ~we also invested in a Great Courses lecture series titled Russia: From Peter the Great to Gorbachov. We made it through many of the lectures delivered in monotone by a terribly bright but boring U of I professor. If not for those lessons, my appreciation of what we've seen would have been purely cosmetic...a wow factor based on the fact that the architecture and art was created before any modern technology. I share this embarrassing confession as a preface to this post about Babi Yar.
I studied Babi Yar in various religious school classes taught by enthusiastic Jewish educators to less than receptive grade schoolers who would have much rather slept late and watched cartoons than be carpooled off to Sunday school. Four decades later, I dredge up a scant recollection that Babi Yar is a place where Jews were killed in a forest in a mass grave. I don't recall the time period as this refrain is common in Jewish history - persecuted and hated, the Jews are murdered. For some reason, my memory bank has this episode happening centuries ago. This is relevant because part of the horror comes from the recognition that the killers were not pagans or Middle-Aged crusaders. They were young German soldiers. Soldiers who marched Jews from their homes in Kiev to a large forest. Stripped them naked. Lined them up and shot them in warm blood. The lines were for efficiency so one bullet could be used to kill several people. The often wounded, but not yet dead, mothers, grandmothers and toddlers toppled into a large ravine. When researching Babi Yar after we returned, there are several black and white photographs of this ravine taken from German airplanes, presumably scouting for a location - which makes it ever more chilling and horrific.
33,000 people were murdered in this fashion over a two-day period, making it the largest single massacre in World War II. The Germans continued to use this site for subsequent killings throughout their 104 week siege of Kiev.
Today, Babi Yar is a large grassy park. It is visited by young mothers with strollers. There is a single menorah - one of the smallest monuments we have seen in all of our travels - to recognize the place in terms of visitors wanting to honor the Jewish victims. The Soviet memorial is 20X the size of the Jewish one. Soviet soldiers were forced to dig up the corpses of the dead Jews, gypsies and the mentally ill and burn them. The Nazis tortured many souls.
While we are in the park, we see a group of 30 or so Reform rabbis from around the world who are currently in Kiev. They are seated in a circle under the shade. There is a security guard and an ambulance - both there as first responders in the event there is a threat to this group. I am both impressed and saddened by the need for this precaution. (There is not a lot of anti-Semitism in Kiev these days, but there are always crazies out there, notes our guide, Anna)
Lilies and carnations on the steps of the menorah.
The place where Jews were shot.
The meeting of Reform rabbis. Security guard behind the speaker.
Stones on the steps of the menorah.
A plaque donated by the Jewish Community of San Francisco to donate to help restore some of the few remaining gravesites. The Soviets destroyed all Jewish cemeteries.
A few flowers by the ravine.
A sculpture in the park depicting the children who were murdered. Look closely under her neck and you will see 2 bullet holes.
The Soviet memorial to its own soldiers.
Looking down the ravine.
The Nazis took Ukrainian children to work in their factories. This memorial commemorates those children. Most were returned under Soviet rule only to be sent to the gulags.
This is the only memorial to Jewish victims of Babi Yar.
Yahrzeit candle by the menorah.
And now children play in this park...
How can angels frolic on the same place the beasts roamed?
I studied Babi Yar in various religious school classes taught by enthusiastic Jewish educators to less than receptive grade schoolers who would have much rather slept late and watched cartoons than be carpooled off to Sunday school. Four decades later, I dredge up a scant recollection that Babi Yar is a place where Jews were killed in a forest in a mass grave. I don't recall the time period as this refrain is common in Jewish history - persecuted and hated, the Jews are murdered. For some reason, my memory bank has this episode happening centuries ago. This is relevant because part of the horror comes from the recognition that the killers were not pagans or Middle-Aged crusaders. They were young German soldiers. Soldiers who marched Jews from their homes in Kiev to a large forest. Stripped them naked. Lined them up and shot them in warm blood. The lines were for efficiency so one bullet could be used to kill several people. The often wounded, but not yet dead, mothers, grandmothers and toddlers toppled into a large ravine. When researching Babi Yar after we returned, there are several black and white photographs of this ravine taken from German airplanes, presumably scouting for a location - which makes it ever more chilling and horrific.
33,000 people were murdered in this fashion over a two-day period, making it the largest single massacre in World War II. The Germans continued to use this site for subsequent killings throughout their 104 week siege of Kiev.
Today, Babi Yar is a large grassy park. It is visited by young mothers with strollers. There is a single menorah - one of the smallest monuments we have seen in all of our travels - to recognize the place in terms of visitors wanting to honor the Jewish victims. The Soviet memorial is 20X the size of the Jewish one. Soviet soldiers were forced to dig up the corpses of the dead Jews, gypsies and the mentally ill and burn them. The Nazis tortured many souls.
While we are in the park, we see a group of 30 or so Reform rabbis from around the world who are currently in Kiev. They are seated in a circle under the shade. There is a security guard and an ambulance - both there as first responders in the event there is a threat to this group. I am both impressed and saddened by the need for this precaution. (There is not a lot of anti-Semitism in Kiev these days, but there are always crazies out there, notes our guide, Anna)
Lilies and carnations on the steps of the menorah.
The place where Jews were shot. 
The meeting of Reform rabbis. Security guard behind the speaker.
Stones on the steps of the menorah.
A plaque donated by the Jewish Community of San Francisco to donate to help restore some of the few remaining gravesites. The Soviets destroyed all Jewish cemeteries.
A few flowers by the ravine.
A sculpture in the park depicting the children who were murdered. Look closely under her neck and you will see 2 bullet holes.
The Soviet memorial to its own soldiers.
Looking down the ravine.
The Nazis took Ukrainian children to work in their factories. This memorial commemorates those children. Most were returned under Soviet rule only to be sent to the gulags.
This is the only memorial to Jewish victims of Babi Yar.
Yahrzeit candle by the menorah.
And now children play in this park...
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