Istruzione e Formazione
Ukraine government announces official commemorations marking 80th anniversary of Babyn Yar massacre
KYIV, Ukraine , June 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal , announced today at a joint press briefing alongside the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center (BYHMC), that an official state event to mark the eightieth anniversary of the Babyn Yar massacre will take place on 6 October, 2021 in Kyiv .
33,771 Jewish victims were shot at Babyn Yar by the Nazis during just two days, 29 and 30 September 1941 . Tens of thousands of Ukrainians, Roma , mentally ill and others were shot thereafter at Babyn Yar throughout the Nazi occupation of Kyiv . The estimated number of victims murdered at Babyn Yar is around 100,000, making it Europe's largest mass grave. Babyn Yar has become a powerful symbol of the 'Holocaust by Bullets,' the estimated 2.5 million Jews who were murdered near their homes in similar Nazi mass shootings across Eastern Europe , 1.5 million of them in Ukraine alone.
The Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center announced earlier this year for the development of a museum complex, which will stretch over an area of 150 hectares, making it one of the world's largest Holocaust memorial centers. A dozen buildings will eventually be erected as part of the complex, including a symbolic synagogue, which was recently completed. Two additional structures, both memorial installations, will be unveiled to coincide with the state commemoration on 6 October.
The "Crystal Wall of Crying," by conceptual and performance artist, will be one of the biggest art installations constructed in Europe during the last decade. "Kurgan of Memory" will be the first museum building on the site. The architecture takes the shape of a kurgan, a type of tumulus or burial mound raised over a final resting ground, significant to the history of Ukraine .
noted that the state is preparing a significant action plan regarding the 80th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy.
Yermak said that President Zelensky has established a task force to complete the entire memorial within a few years and start operating as a museum complex.
said that the Cabinet of Ministers plans to approve an action plan for the 80th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy as soon as possible. He commented,
Human rights activist Chair of the supervisory board of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, told today's briefing,
, BYHMC's Artistic Director, who is developing the museum complex along with an international artistic board comprising world renowned architects and artists said,
The Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Centre https://babynyar.org/en is a non-governmental charity whose purpose is to preserve and cultivate the memory of the Holocaust and the Babyn Yar tragedy in Ukraine by turning the Babyn Yar area into a place of remembrance. The Foundation's mission is to worthily honour the memory of the victims of the tragedy and to contribute to the humanization of society through preserving and studying the history of the Holocaust. In September 2020 , Ukraine's government represented by the Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko , under the auspices of the President of Ukraine , Volodymyr Zelensky , signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation with BYHMC, represented by Supervisory Board member Ronald S. Lauder , to promote the construction of a fitting memorial to the Babyn Yar tragedy. A series of commemorations during 2021 will mark the eightieth anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy.
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Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1535679/Crystal_Wall_of_Crying.jpg