- Title: Ukraine commemorates 75th anniversary of Babyn Yar massacre
- Date: 29th September 2016
- Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (SEPTEMBER 29, 2016) (REUTERS) CEREMONY ATTENDANTS STANDING UP FOR MINUTE OF SILENCE ATTENDANTS TAKING SEATS UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT, PETRO POROSHENKO, WALKING TO PLATFORM SIGN ON SCREEN READING (Ukrainian / English): "75 BABYN YAR" (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT, PETRO POROSHENKO, SAYING: "Babyn Yar is a tragedy for the whole of mankind, but it took place here, on Ukrainian land. That's why a Ukrainian has no right to forget about it, just like a Jew has no right to forget about it, because Babyn Yar is our common tragedy, first of all, a tragedy of the Jewish and Ukrainian people." POROSHENKO SPEAKING ON STAGE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL, DONALD TUSK, SAYING: "When we stand in silence at this mass grave, we need to remember that it is our daily duty to cry out at the top of our voice and to act always when innocent people are killed, when the strong attack the weak, when children become the target of warplanes and rockets." AUDIENCE APPLAUDING MENORAH ON SCREEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) REPRESENTATIVE OF JEWISH COMMUNITY FROM FRANCE, RABBI LEVI MATUSOF, SAYING: "Here in Babyn Yar, I have no immediate relatives, but in fact all these Jewish people, all these souls, all these bodies are my relatives, they are my blood relatives, they are part of my soul, they are my people. Yes, this is, in fact a grave site of my family." (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) REPRESENTATIVE OF JEWISH COMMUNITY FROM ISRAEL, DAVID GODOVSKY, SAYING: "It is something special for me to come here when the 75th anniversary of one of the most awful catastrophes of the European Jewish people and massacre of dozens and hundreds of thousands of Jews here in Babyn Yar is commemorated. It is very important for me."
- Embargoed: 14th October 2016 20:49
- Keywords: Babyn Yar massacre Nazis Germany Ukraine Kiev Jews commemoration
- Location: KIEV, UKRAINE
- City: KIEV, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA00151MD3D3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Ukraine on Thursday (September 29) marked the 75-year anniversary of the Babyn Yar massacre, one of the biggest single massacres of the Holocaust during World War II.
The commemoration ceremony for the victims of the massacre took place at the ravine called Babyn Yar, where the shootings were carried out by SS troops while the city was under Nazi occupation.
The mass killing, carried out mainly by automatic gunfire between September 29 and 30 in 1941, killed a total of 33,771 Jewish men, women and children.
Service started with a minute of silence.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Babyn Yar was a tragedy for both Ukrainian and Jewish people.
"Babyn Yar is a tragedy for the whole of mankind, but it took place here, on Ukrainian land. That's why a Ukrainian has no right to forget about it, just like a Jew has no right to forget about it, because Babyn Yar is our common tragedy, first of all, a tragedy of the Jewish and Ukrainian people," he said.
President of the European Council Donald Tusk, German President Joachim Gauck, Hungarian President Janos Ader and the United States Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker as well as representatives of the Jewish community from around the world attended the ceremony.
The Babyn Yar massacre marked the start of Ukraine's Holocaust in which a pre-war Jewish population of about 1.5 million was virtually wiped out to fulfil Adolf Hitler's ambition of a Jew-free Europe. Similar mass killings took place across Belarus and other neighbouring countries such as Romania.
Earlier on Thursday, Poroshenko and Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko announced the creation of the Babyn Yar memorial centre which is due to open in 2021. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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