Modern generations cannot change history, but they can adequately honor the memory of all the victims, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said at the opening of the Ukraine 30. Humanitarian Policy forum in Kyiv on Tuesday, commenting on the development of National Historical Memorial Preserve Babyn Yar.
“Babyn Yar is a terrible symbol of the Holocaust on our Ukrainian land. We cannot get rid of it, but we can win by honoring the memory of all victims, all those who died. The issue of historical justice is very acute. We are responsible to all past and all future generations for the historical justice,” he said.
The president said that during the Second World War, 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews were executed, and about 100,000 people in Babyn Yar.
“We have no right to forget about it and we will not forget. It is extremely important for Ukraine worthy, high-level honoring of all the victims of this tragedy,” he said.
Zelensky said that at the end of 2020 he signed a decree on measures concerning the 80th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy and additional measures for the further development of National Historical Memorial Preserve Babyn Yar. In particular, the construction of the territory of this reserve continues, new facilities have been created, invitations have been sent out and many foreign guests are expected to attend events to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy, which will take place in September 2021.
“Our duty is to make Babyn Yar a place of memory, not a place of oblivion. There should not be a shooting gallery or any other complex. We, as a state, strive to make this place worthy of the memory of more than 100,000 victims of the Holocaust. It is very important that these aspirations are shared by our community. I am sure that all Ukrainians share,” he said.
Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko predicts the commissioning of the state project of the Babyn Yar memorial complex in 2021.
“You know about the existence of the state project Babyn Yar, which is now being completed, and will be put into operation next year during the anniversary of Babyn Yar,” Tkachenko said on the air of ICTV on Monday evening.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said that it is impossible to understand the executions of Jews, Ukrainians, Roma and other victims of Babyn Yar, to forget and forgive this crime, and its repetition cannot be allowed.
“It is impossible to understand the inhuman desire to destroy people on ethnic, national or political grounds, regardless of gender and age. Before our eyes there is a terrible endless queue of people who did not understand that they were being led to death,” he said, speaking on Monday at a ceremony of reverence to victims of Babyn Yar with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Zelensky noted that most of those killed in Babyn Yar were of Jewish nationality, but “having shot all the Jews they could find, the Nazis began to get rid of other prisoners: Roma, Ukrainians who were fighting for their state.”
“The totalitarian Soviet regime tabooed such topics as the Holocaust, Babyn Yar, the Holodomor, and hid the real scale of these crimes,” he said.
Zelensky noted that, according to various sources, during the period of the Nazi occupation from 70,000 to 200,000 people were shot in Babyn Yar.
“It is impossible to forget and forgive, and the Ukrainian people will always remember these crimes against humanity. We will never forget what xenophobia and racism lead to. The ideology of intolerance and violence deprives of the most precious and valuable thing – human life,” said the president of Ukraine.
Zelensky called on the international community to join forces to prevent manifestations of anti-Semitism and intolerance on racial or national grounds.
“We must not allow it again! Eternal memory to the victims of the Babyn Yar, eternal memory to the victims of the Second World War,” said the president of Ukraine.
