Jewish groups condemn strike near Holocaust Memorial in Babin Yar

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Jewish groups and institutions around the world have condemned a strike in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, near the Babin Yar Holocaust Memorial, where tens of thousands of Jews were killed by Nazis in a two-day massacre during World War II.

It was not clear to what extent the memorial was damaged by the strike. The memorial is near Kiev’s main radio and television tower in Kyiv, which was hit by a shell. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at least five people had been killed in the area.

Mr Zelenski, who is Jewish, also hinted at the site’s history, saying on Twitter“What’s the point of saying ‘never again’ for 80 years if the world is silent when a bomb falls on the same spot in Babin Yar?”

On Facebook, the Babin Yar Holocaust Memorial Center said Russian forces had struck the site, but did not describe any damage.

Nathan Sharansky, chairman of the memorial’s advisory board and a former Soviet dissident, said in a statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin had tried to “distort and manipulate the Holocaust to justify an illegal invasion of a sovereign democracy” and called for ” utterly disgusting. ‘

Mr Sharanski added: “It is symbolic that he began attacking Kyiv by bombing the site of Babin Yar, the largest of the Nazi massacres.

In a speech last week, Mr Putin said the Russian military operation would be aimed at “demilitarizing and denationalizing Ukraine” and called Ukraine’s leaders “neo-Nazis”.

More than 33,000 Jews were killed on the spot in two days, according to historians. In addition, mass shootings took place there throughout the war, including against Roma and Soviet prisoners of war.

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Israel, called for the site to be preserved, saying it has “irreplaceable value for Holocaust research, education and remembrance.”

“Instead of being subjected to overt violence, sacred sites such as Babi Yar should be protected,” the statement said.

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Jair Lapid, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, said on Twitter that the country will help repair the damage to the memorial.

The Holocaust Memorial Museum in the United States said so outraged of “the damage done to the Babin Yar Memorial by the Russian attack today.” The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, a British charity, said it was “terribleTo learn about the strike.

“I am extremely devastated,” said Karin Grossman Gershon, CEO of Project Kesher, a non-profit organization that aims to build a Jewish community by empowering women leaders.

The massacre in Babin Yar, also known as Babi Yar, took place in late September 1941. Shortly after the German army entered Kyiv, Jews in the city were told to gather near the station to be resettled. The crowds were forced to undress and gather in a ravine where they were shot. The Nazis destroyed almost the entire Jewish population of Kyiv during the war.

Last year, on the 80th anniversary, Mr. Zelenski inaugurated a modern art installation on the site. Peter Hayes, an honorary professor of Holocaust research at Northwestern University, said it had begun to become a more formally recognized landmark since Ukraine’s independence in 1991.

“For a long time, the Soviets did not want to recognize that the victims were almost exclusively Jews, but rather continued to call it a place where Soviet citizens were killed and so on,” he said.