Babi Yar
https://bit.ly/37ipQt9— online burials catalog.
Babi Yar is a ravine in Kiev, which has become one of the symbols of the Holocaust. The American historian Timothy Snyder wrote that, using the example of Babi Yar, the Nazis demonstrated what they could do in principle: in two days to clear a large European city of the Jewish population.
According to the 1939 census, Jews were the second largest ethnic group in the city after the Ukrainians and made up 26.4% of the townspeople (224 thousand). It is known that by the time of the occupation, 200 thousand out of approximately 900 thousand citizens were drafted into the Red Army, and 325 thousand managed to evacuate. According to various estimates, from 50 to 100 thousand Jews remained in the city.
It is known that the decision to leave the city was influenced not only by such objective reasons as the presence of “armor” and documents for the priority evacuation, but also subjective. Therefore, with the approach of the front, references to anti-Semitic actions disappeared from the Soviet information space, giving way to information about the need for resistance in the rear.
It is unknown how many Jews among those who were not drafted into the army managed to evacuate. There is evidence that families were divided by age. The elders remained, recalling the positive experience of the German occupation of 1918, and the younger ones left with the Soviet government.
The extermination action was organized taking into account the local features: in Babi Yar there are ravines of natural origin, there was no need to dig ditches, it was within walking distance, and the sounds of shots were not heard at a long distance. In addition, there was a train station nearby. The victims had the feeling that the evacuation would indeed take place. Psychologically reassuring was the fact that a huge number of people were simply impossible to shoot. When documents, things and jewelry were selected, the translator reassured that this baggage would be delivered separately by rail.
The invaders carefully prepared the action. At the end of September, they gathered nine Kiev rabbis and told them to tell the community that the Jews would be taken out of the city in an organized manner. In Kiev, two thousand ads were posted in German, Russian and Ukrainian. They demanded that all Jews come to the indicated place on September 29, 1941: the corner of Melnikov and Dokterovskaya. The order contained a prohibition on robbing Jews and occupying their homes, which also psychologically reassured.
At the indicated gathering place, the Nazis set up a checkpoint where 30–40 people were allowed to go. They were brought to the edge of the ravine and shot from a machine gun. After filling the pits with corpses, they were pelted with ground. Those who were not executed during the working day were placed in garages and shot in the morning.
In late September — early October 1941, the Nazis killed 37–38 thousand Jews.
The executions in Babi Yar continued throughout the period of occupation. The last execution took place in November 1943, two days before the capture of the city by the Red Army.
On the territory of Yar, the Syretsky concentration camp operated. In September 1943, the Nazis brought its prisoners to work to destroy traces of crime.
According to various sources, between 70 and 100 thousand Jews died in Yar.
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