80 years ago, on 29 September 1941, mass shootings began in Babyn Yar which lasted for two years.

Babyn Yar is a necropolis for more than 100,000 civilians and prisoners of war. The name of that place, that was then outskirts of Kyiv, became generalized, entered without translation into all languages of the world as a symbol of the bloody crime of the Nazi regime.

The “Road of Death” which tens of thousands of Jews walked on 29 September 1941, ran from Lukyanivska Ploshcha along the Melnikov Street to the first gate of the Jewish cemetery, then across the Kahatna Street to the Tabirna Street. At the entrance to the Bratske Cemetery, Jews were deprived of money, jewellery, documents, they were ordered to leave their belongings and outerwear.

In two days, on 29-30 September, 33,771 people died in Yar.

The Nazis soon launched their repressions against the representatives of the Ukrainian liberation movement. A total of 621 Ukrainian patriots were killed in Babyn Yar. The life of the Ukrainian poetess, a member of the OUN-M Olena Teliga, also ended here.

In October 1943, in Babyn Yar, the Germans still shot Kyivans who evaded the order of complete eviction from the city.

Babyn Yar is not only a tragedy of the Jewish and Ukrainian peoples, it is the tragedy of all mankind that happened on Ukrainian soil. We must never forget it.

Memory Eternal to the perished.