The Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine”, together with the “Hesed Menachem” Charitable Foundation, continues its educational activities as part of the “Jewish Heritage” project. Marking the 85th anniversary of the Babi Yar tragedy, the museum invited the audience of its open lecture series to discuss the price of freedom and a memory that proves stronger than both time and bullets.

Museum researcher Dilfuza Hlushchenko spoke to online meeting participants about Babyn Yar — the most tragic symbol of the Holocaust in Ukraine. This mass murder operation set a grim record for human cruelty: in less than two days, the Nazis shot 33,771 Jews in the ravine on the outskirts of Kyiv. Babyn Yar is a site where the occupiers began by exterminating the Jewish community and went on to destroy prisoners of war, underground resistance members, patriots, and civilians of various nationalities.

When discussing this tragedy, the human imagination often struggles to grasp the sheer scale of the horrific figures: over a hundred thousand people shot, thousands of children, and endless lines of condemned. Yet, behind every number lies a real human life cut short in its prime. Attendees of the open lecture viewed the tragedy of the Holocaust through the lens of the life and struggle of Tetiana Markus — a twenty-year-old Kyiv woman whose story became synonymous with the indomitable spirit, resistance, and sacrifice associated with Babyn Yar. At the conclusion of the event, participants exchanged views and reached a shared conclusion: even in the darkest of times, a single person can ignite a light of resistance that endures through the decades.

We thank everyone who took part in the museum’s events and honored the memory of the hundreds of thousands of people who fell victim to the misanthropic policies of Nazism.