About 200 Israeli soldiers held a solemn military ceremony at Babyn Yar in Kyiv on Sept. 5 to commemorate one of the largest Nazi massacres of Jews, beginning a visit aimed at educating young soldiers about the Holocaust.
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The troops stood at attention as a single female Israeli soldier played taps and Israel’s Ambassador to Ukraine Nomi Ben-Ami laid two wreaths under a three-meter menorah, erected to commemorate tens of thousands of Jews executed by Germans during World War II.
“There’s no more fitting place to begin your visit here, so as not to forget the destruction and tragedy and your mission to protect the State of Israel and Jewish brethren wherever they may be,” Ben-Ami said in Hebrew.
The visit, part of the “Witness in Uniform” program created to build awareness among Israel’s armed forces about the Holocaust, was the first such trip to Ukraine. Soldiers have made 13 similar trips to Poland and Lithuania in the past three years.
“To see the future, officers need to see the past, it gives them more power to protect the State,” said Colonel Ganim Hamada, the military attache at Israel’s embassy in Ukraine.
Airman Noam Shimoni, 23, whose great-grandparents were killed at Treblinka in Poland, said the impact of the visit was “very strong … especially in uniform.”
“I have an almost daily connection to the Holocaust … but more than half of all Israeli people have no connection to (it), so it’s very important.”
The Babyn Yar massacre began in late September 1941 when Nazi forces occupying Kyiv ordered its Jews to gather, bringing their warm clothes and valuables – as if they were to be taken elsewhere. The Jews were then marched to the steep Babi Yar ravine and systematically shot.
More than 33,000 Jews were killed over just a few days. Altogether, between 100,000 and 200,000 people – including non-Jews – are believed to have been killed at Babyn Yar.
