Ukraine honors Babyn Yar victims

Today, Ukraine marks the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Babyn Yar, one of the most horrific symbols of the Holocaust.

The first massacre of the unarmed civilian population was conducted by the military in Nazi-occupied Kyiv on September 29-30, 1941, Ukrinform reports.

In total, from September 29 to October 11, 1941, the SS forces killed almost all Jews residing in the city - over 50,000 men, women, and children. Almost 34,000 people were killed in the first two days alone. About 17,000 more were shot dead on October 1, 2, 8 and 11.

Babyn Yar, the large ravine on the northwestern edge of Kyiv, was chosen as a place for mass shootings. It was two-and-a-half kilometers long and in some places 50-meter deep. A gate was built at the end of the street, which people were allowed to enter in groups of 30-40 persons. Prior to that, they had been forced to undress and hand in their personal belongings. Then they were machine-gunned into the ravine, which was immediately covered over, with some of the victims still alive.

According to various estimates, some 100,000 to 150,000 people were killed in the Babyn Yar during World War II: Jews, Roma, Karaites, Soviet prisoners of war, members of the Ukrainian national resistance movement, patients of a psychiatric clinic and representatives of other national or social groups.

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