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FOTO DYKUN
Photos from and of Ukraine
By: Stefan Iwaskewycz
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| Friday, 29-Sep-2006 21:34 |
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Babyn Yar
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main soviet-era memorial
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main soviet-era memorial
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main soviet-era memorial
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1 of 2 memorials to jewish victims
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1 of 2 memorials to christian/ukrainian nationalist victims
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1 of 2 memorials to christian/ukrainian nationalist victims
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memorial to the children massacred
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1 of 2 memorials to jewish victims
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1 of 2 memorials to jewish victims
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1 of 2 memorials to christian/ukrainian nationalist victims
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1 of 2 memorials to christian/ukrainian nationalist victims
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memorial to a particular victim
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part of the ravine
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the left-hand shift-key was recently ripped from my laptop by one curious little girl and i haven't yet fixed it; it is not my regular style to write without capitalization. . .
at the end of september, 1941 began the massacre at babyn yar, which continued throughout the nazi occupation of kyiv--you can read more about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar at wikipedia, just to scratch the surface. i finally made it to the site of this massacre last month. as usual, when it comes to seeing how tragic and traumatic events of the past are handled/commemorated/memorialized-in-monuments in ukraine, i was quite disappointed. what does it say about a nation's relationship to its past when people are allowed to make campfires, hang-out, party, etc., on the very grounds of a mass murder? there was no solemn feeling to the site--for example, there was nothing like the heaviness and spirituality of visiting a former concentration camp site. whatever of that feeling was there i brought with me, and thus it was present at the site mostly just from within. externally. . .well, there were the monuments, but when i approached the monument specifically to commemorate kyiv's jews that died there (a large menorah), i saw a bunch of young, kyivan punk rockers hanging out on a bench, drinking and laughing within a few meters of the monument. right behind the jewish monument was a christian one (a large cross) to which the kids having a nice afternoon were in equal range. i then walked down the ravine along a path that i think was the one told to me by a local friend--a history buff--who had said that if i went that way, i would walk right on top of the very earth where the massacre occured. there, on what should be regarded as hallowed ground, i discovered a campfire and shashlyk being cooked by other locals. it was a saturday, indeed, a day to relax with friends. such campsites were scattered all over the ravine. as i stood there thinking or just feeling about the massacre, a jogger ran by. because of all this, all the memorials/monuments felt to me superficial at best.
of course, there are lots of reasons for all of this. the soviet government downplayed the significance of the massacre and of the site, and people got used to it just being there without much or any specific relevance. without government support in maintaining the site as a hallowed place, and in the context of poverty/shortages and authoritarianism that breeds indifference/apathy, it is very easy to understand how such a site--truly a beautiful area perfect for how locals do indeed make use of it today--would come to be used as it is today.
but i would favor a change of orienatition/attitude toward the site.
see similar thoughts as per the holodomyr herehttp://dykun.blogspot.com/2005/11/in-remembrance-of-1933.html
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