Preservation of the Memory of the victims of Babyn Yar:memorial contexts and political challenges of the present

Abstract

The article is devoted to the scientific analysis of the problem of memorialization of terrains of Babyn Yar in sovereign Ukraine. The author revealed the historical context of this issue, succinctly presenting the history of the tragedy of Babyn Yar, the crimes of Nazi regime, the murder of civilians — Jews and non-Jewish people of Kiev, during the German occupation of the city during World War II. The article pays special attention to the current state of preservation of the memory of the victims of Babyn Yar, the political component of this problem, in particular the fight against the pro-russian project of commemoration, including Holocaust victims and victims of Babyn Yar. The article considers the main scientific, memorial and political aspects and principles of activity of the private fund "Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center" (BYHMC). In the article are given the examples of this foundation's interference in Ukrainian memory policy in order to change the Ukrainian tradition of honoring the memory of the victims of World War II, which has developed over the past thirty years, and attempts to promote historical narratives of the Putin regime. The ways of overcoming such influence on the politics and culture of memory in Ukraine are offered, the advantages of the state concept of complex memorialization of Babyn Yar are presented.According to the author, the first step towards the implementation of this concept should be to consolidate the efforts of all those interested in honoring the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and Babyn Yar. First of all, it is a joint effort of specialized, professional institutions, state institutions and non-governmental, public associations to create a real National Memorial on the Babyn Yar territory, which will perpetuate the memory of all civilian and military victims of this tragic place not only in the capital but throughout the country. The author emphasizes the importance and urgency of this form of struggle for memory and history, the need to resist Russian aggression in the field of forming a historical memory of World War II in Ukraine.

Keywords

• babyn yar
• politics of memory
• culture of memory
• holocaust
• roma genocide
• anti-semitism
• nazism
• world war ii
• „war of memories”
• russian aggression
• state concept of complex memorialization of babyn yar