Translated material
Kyiv II. Babi Yar
As is customary in Kyiv, Jews visiting the city are necessarily taken to Babi Yar. For those who go there themselves, according to Shreibman, the people of Kiev politely show the way and, smiling through their mustaches, say: “Don’t rush, you’ll still have time...”
Today, Babi Yar is located within the city itself and the monument to the victims of the shooting is visible almost from the metro station itself. I can’t say anything bad about the Soviet monument; in my opinion, it’s a very successful monument.
Since perestroika, various local memorials have arisen around the monument. There are competing Jewish communities, Banderaites, and Christians. The only people whom the city authorities did not allow to erect a monument were the gypsies, since it was still unknown how they would be dealt with...
Monument to Banderaites. First they, and then theirs...
Sign from one of the Jewish community centers.
St. Melnikov, according to which Jews (and not only them) were led to execution. Of course, for the time being, everyone went to Babi Yar voluntarily; who could expect a dirty trick from civilized Europeans?
A very successful and touching monument to the children executed at Babi Yar.
The main Jewish memorial stands apart from all other monuments. This is where foreign guests and delegations come.
Towards the Dnieper there are several monuments to executed priests. According to Andrei Manchuk, the authorities do not really like to talk about these people, which suggests that we are talking about the so-called “red priests” loyal to the Soviet regime.
In the same places you can get a real idea of what Babi Yar was like in 1941. The area around the monuments has been landscaped, the deep ravine is covered with earth. But a little away from the tourist trails there is a multi-meter hollow overgrown with wild forest. My photographs do not convey the impression of its depth and steepness of the cliffs.
And in March 1961, Babi Yar became the site of the Kurenevskaya tragedy - mudflows hit the nearby tram depot. Several dozen people died.
This disaster is also marked by a number of monuments and memorial signs.