Discussions have been going on for several months around the prospects for the memorialization of Babyn Yar. The problem of creating a memorial at the site of the mass executions in 1941-1943 went far beyond the discussion of memorialization. It is about creating a policy of historical memory itself.
The terrible place on that time outskirts of Kyiv became famous after Yevhen Yevtushenko’s poem “Babyn Yar,” which was written in 1961. Since then, monuments to executed civilians of various nationalities and prisoners of war have appeared in Babyn Yar, but there is still no holistic concept of honoring their memory.
In September 2016, the organizing committee of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center had been established and declared its intent to honor the memory of tens of thousands of Nazi victims shot in 1941-1943 in Kyiv.
It included many famous figures, like oligarchs Victor Pinchuk, Mikhail Fridman, German Khan. The latter two have not only Russian citizenship, but also have access to the Kremlin.
Pinchuk finances numerous projects that allow him to maintain the reputation of a “smart oligarch,” the author of the initiative for “painful compromises” to end Russia’s war in the Donbas.
Another participant in the project is Pavlo Fuks, Kyiv`s infamous owner of the debts of the capital’s subway. Representatives of the Jewish community are also present at the Babyn Yar HMC. The implementation of the project significantly intensified after the coming to power of Volodymyr Zelensky, who supported the project by appointing Andriy Yermak as the head of the working group for its implementation.
The project of the National Memorial Center “Babyn Yar,” which was created by specialists of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences is also worth mentioning. Its main difference from Babyn Yar HMC lies not only in name but also in approaches. Historians suggest honoring the memory of more than just the Jews who died in Babyn Yar, as the Nazis executed thousands of Soviet prisoners, their ideological opponents, Romani, and the mentally impaired people. Ukraine will be responsible for the implementation of the project, and this gives some advantages and creates a set of problems.
It is difficult to discuss the appropriateness of the creation of the memorial at all, as the subject of the Holocaust and its memory remains sensitive 75 years after the end of World War II. However, we see the issue of commemoration becoming an instrument of large-scale and dangerous influence for Ukraine.
Russia is actively trying to use the tools of historical memory for its purposes.
Significantly, Russian President Vladimir Putin has personally focused on the subject of Holocaust hybridization since the end of 2019. In a series of speeches, Putin made it clear that not only the Nazis but also the inhabitants of the occupied territories were to blame for the extermination of millions of Jews during World War II. He also mentioned Ukraine in this context, although the main focus of Putin’s speeches was on Poland and the Baltic states. Significantly, after Putin’s speech at an event in memory of the Holocaust victims in January 2020, the Yad Vashem Museum apologized for using materials that distorted the Soviet Union’s role in World War II.
Russia has huge arrays of archival documents and it has learned to manipulate very effectively. Let me remind you that Poland and Lithuania have been discussing for several years the responsibility of local Nazi collaborators for participating in the Holocaust, and these discussions are difficult. As evidenced by the ruthless logic of the Holocaust, a similar discussion awaits Ukraine. The area between the Baltic and Black Seas combines affiliation to the “bloody lands” and the terrible events of the twentieth century, which need rethinking.
For more than a month now, the Kyiv City Council has been drafting a decision to allocate land for the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, but Mayor Vitali Klitschko does not dare to put the issue to a vote.
Certainly, he needs a positive result. I am sure that he was convinced that the future memorial can become not only a tourist magnet (this is a feature of many memorials), but also give a boost to investments in the infrastructure of the capital of Ukraine, which will not be superfluous for the next few decades.
Taking into account the presidential ambitions of the mayor of Kyiv, participants in the project may be of interest for him as partners in their implementation and potential sponsors of his presidential campaign. Klitschko’s temptation to respond to their desire (by the way, Volodymyr Klitschko is present on the supervisory board of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center ) is very noticeable.
However, the national interests of Ukraine do not require a private memorial, even with the best-declared intentions and with the involvement of the latest technologies and creative characters. We have to understand that Ukraine needs an effective state policy of historical memory, where no room for manipulation and shuffling could exist.
In today’s world, the aggressor is interested not in the territory, but in the impact on the minds of citizens of the state, which became a victim of aggression. Therefore, the creation of a memorial in Babyn Yar should become not only a good deed but also a focus of state attention.
Yevhen Mahda is executive director of the Institute of World Policy.
