Ukrainian Foreign Ministry calls on partners to honor Babyn Yar victims
According to Ukrinform, the ministry said this in a statement on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy.
"September 29 is a day of mourning and a deeply symbolic date in Ukraine's history. On this day and the next day 80 years ago, the Nazis executed almost 34,000 Ukrainian Jews in Babyn Yar. The death conveyor in Babyn Yar did not stop until Kyiv was liberated from the invaders. It took the lives of more than 100,000 Ukrainians, Jews, Roma, and people of other nationalities. The Kyiv ravine turned into an epicenter of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. In total, during World War II, the Nazis killed at least 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews - a quarter of all Holocaust victims in Europe," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
According to the statement, the Babyn Yar tragedy was silenced in Soviet times and there were attempts to erase it from the people's memory. "The independent Ukrainian state, in cooperation with the world Jewish community and international partners, restores historical justice - the anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy is traditionally marked in our country at the state level," the ministry said.
On September 29-30, commemorative events will be held in Ukraine to remember those killed in the Babyn Yar massacre.
On October 6, mourning events will be held in the Babyn Yar ravine with the participation of world leaders, representatives of international organizations, influential Jewish NGOs, Holocaust witnesses, Ukrainians who saved Jews from death during the Nazi occupation and the Righteous Among the Nations from other countries.
"In honor of the bright memory of millions of Holocaust victims, we call on international partners to join commemorative events in Babyn Yar and the efforts to restore and establish historical truth and justice. We believe that international solidarity, unification for the sake of preserving and promoting universal values, preventing discrimination on any grounds will be a reliable guarantee that such tragedies of mankind will never happen again," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
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