Ukraine will start planning a Holocaust Memorial at Babi Yar, a gulley near the country’s capital city of Kiev where 34,000 Jews were murdered by German troops over two days in 1941. The announcement was made by President Petro Poroshenko during a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the massacre.
Members of an ‘Initiative Group’ to build the memorial were at the ceremony and signed a Declaration of Intent to build the memorial centre at Babi Yar by 2021.
The creation of the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Center is important for all of the humanity. The centre must become part of the labours of civilised people to ensure that human values succeed in the research of historical truth, Poroshenko said in a press release.
Nazis killed and shot thousands of more Jews in the ravine in the two years between 1941 and 1943. The memorial’s purpose will be to encourage remembrance of the Holocaust and to memorialise the victims at Babi Yar, the press release said. The Initiative group will set up a non-profit organisation to oversee the creation of the memorial, Time reported.
This tragedy was international, not just national in range. Ukraine was one of the main locations of the most barbarous wars of history, and the eradication of the Jewish people that occurred on Ukrainian soil against the choice of Ukrainian citizens, Poroshenko said. Such a calamity must never repeat itself.