Ukraine Babi Yar massacre anniversairy ceremony held near Kyiv
Ukraine Babi Yar massacre anniversairy ceremony held near Kyiv (UNIAN Photo)
17
Shares
Over 100,000 Jews, Ukrainians, Roma and Soviet POW were killed in the tragedy
Remembering Jews, Roma, Ukrainians and Soviet prisoners of war, massacred by Nazi invaders near Kyiv in 1941. A memorial ceremony has been held at Babi Yar.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk led the wreath laying ceremony.
September 29 marks the day German forces started mass executions here, at the Syrets concentration camp. Some 34,000 Jews were killed in the first two day operation – tens of thousands more followed the same fate until the city was liberated in 1946.
At the ceremony, Yatsenyuk said: “We honor and we remember. And we as the Ukrainian government will never allow such tragedies against and harshly repress any attempt of anti-Semitism, racial hatred, mockery of the rights and freedoms of man and of the citizen”.
Petro Poroshenko could not attend the ceremony. In a statement though, the Ukrainian president said almost three quarters of a century after the World War II genocide, the Ukrainian people were leading the struggle for sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Read also Polish family reveals WWII Jewish hideout and its grim history
Poroshenko said: “In the name of peaceful and dignified life of our country should make all efforts to stop the aggression and prevent repeat offenses totalitarianism in the future”.
Government preparations for next year’s 75th anniversary commemorations are already underway – with a new, large memorial in the pipeline
Open all references in tabs: [1 – 4]