The Einsatzcommando were supported by the auxiliary police forces and local supporters of the Nazi regime. The killings were led by the Einsatzkommando, a sub-group of the Nazi Einsatzgruppen which was responsible for the systematic murder of Jews, communists, Sinti and Roma in the German invasion of the Soviet Union. ‘Nobody could possibly assume there would be a mass execution.’ ‘All the Jews decided to go because they thought they would be evacuated by train as the railway station was nearby’, she said. When she was three years old, 18 of her relatives were killed at Babi Yar.
Raisa Maistrenko was one of only 29 people known to have survived. Instead, they were murdered in one of the single deadliest events of the Holocaust. Jewish people were led to believe that, by gathering at the ravine at the ordered time, they would be resettled elsewhere in the country and taken to safety. Failure to appear is punishable by death.’ ‘On Monday, September 29, you are to appear by 7:00am with your possessions, money, documents, valuables and warm clothing at Dorogozhitshaya Street, next to the Jewish cemetery. Babi Yar is a ravine located on the outskirts of Kiev, once home to one of the city’s many Jewish cemeteries. Over the course of two days, beginning on 29 September 1941, more than 33,000 Jewish people were murdered at Babi Yar.įrom 26 September onwards, notices written in Russian, German and Ukrainian were posted around the city of Kiev, ordering the city’s Jewish population to gather at Babi Yar. Babi Yar: more than 33,000 Jewish people murdered In retaliation, Nazi leaders decided to exterminate the Jewish community of Kiev.
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A series of explosives launched in Kiev against the occupation by the Soviet secret police between 20 and 28 September were blamed on the city’s Jewish population. Support from Ukrainian nationalist militias, press and members of the auxiliary police force contributed to rampant antisemitic violence in the early days of the Nazi invasion. By 19 September 1941, the German Army had seized Kiev. Attacks upon Jews intensified following Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, in which the Nazi government, in breach of its pact with the USSR, invaded and occupied Ukraine.
This was accompanied by increased violence and discrimination. Ukrainian Jews in the Holocaustįollowing the conclusion of Molotov–Ribbentrop pact between Germany and the USSR in 1939, Stalin pledged to the Nazi Foreign Minister that he would rid the USSR of ‘Jewish domination’ and ordered the purge of Jewish employees in government ministries, universities, the military and other major institutions. Many of the victims of Stalin’s Great Purge in 1936-1937 were Jews accused of treason and anti-Soviet crimes. Jewish educational, cultural and religious organisations were outlawed. Jewish political parties and Zionist organisations were driven underground as the Communist government sought to abolish all potential opposition. Jewish life and culture were suppressed in the immediate aftermath of the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Before the Second World War, Kiev was home to the largest Jewish community in Ukraine, with Jews comprising 20 percent of the city’s population.ĭuring the Russian Revolution, which led to the founding of Soviet Ukraine, antisemitic violence was rife. However, life for Ukraine’s Jews was rarely comfortable, with waves of discrimination, prejudice and violence targeting the community. Ukraine had been home to a large Jewish community for centuries tracing back as far as the eighth century. Raisa Maistrenko, one of 29 known survivors of Babi Yar Nobody could possibly assume there would be a mass execution. Warning: this resource contains graphic contentĪll the Jews decided to go because they thought they would be evacuated by train as the railway station was nearby.
The Babi Yar massacre, starting on 29 September 1941, devastated the Jewish community of Kiev and marked one of the deadliest single operations during the Holocaust.ĭownload the Babi Yar massacre life storyĭownload the Babi Yar Welsh language life story
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