Bias, stereotypes, and prejudices. We all strive to rise above them but history often proves to be a burden, as well as a challenge to deeper understanding. A newly published book entitled Jews and Ukrainians: A Millennium of Co-Existence forthrightly tackles sensitive and controversial topics. Two distinguished academics have undertaken a bold project to outline in an intriguing new manner the long and complicated history of Jews and Ukrainians. Paul Robert Magocsi is professor of history and political science at the University of Toronto where he holds the John Yaremko Chair of Ukrainian Studies. Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern is the Crown Family Professor of Jewish Studies and Professor of History in History Department at Northwestern University. Writing separately, and at times together, the co-authors produced a parallel narrative of two peoples that ultimately provided a single story. And this story reveals as many similarities as differences between the two peoples. Both ethnic Ukrainians and Jews are shown to be multilingual, multicultural, mobile, and highly culturally productive peoples. The perceived legacy of difference gives way to one of commonality. Jews and Ukrainians first began to interact on a significant scale in the early seventeenth century. From that time historical memories were formed. The […]

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    Today we look at symbols and mythologies. When competing narratives on history clash, the battle over symbols becomes heated and emotional. Vitaliy Nakhmanovich is a Ukrainian historian who has written extensively on the formation—and manipulation—of national memory. He has been particularly incisive in analyzing the politics of memory. Nakhmanovich contributed an important essay to the book Babyn Yar: History and Memory, which was recently published to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the tragedy. His essay, entitled “Babyn Yar: A Place of Memory in Search of a Future” details the complex—and sometimes cynical—debates over the symbols of commemoration in a contested landscape of memory. Nakhmanovich points out that Babyn Yar provokes a confrontation. During the Soviet era this was a confrontation between the public’s need to honor the memory of Jewish victims of the Nazis and the actions of the Soviet government trying to impose an artificial memory of events. The Soviet authorities also physically destroyed the scene of the crimes at Babyn Yar. Nakhmanovich reminds us Babyn Yar was flooded with a deluge of pulp from nearby brick plants in the 1950s. This resulted in a notorious mudslide in 1961, when the pulp smashed through a flimsy dam […]

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Seventy-five years ago nearly 34,000 Jews were murdered at Babyn Yar over a two-day period on September 29th and 30th 1941. The location has become a poignant symbol of what is known as The Holocaust by Bullets. Some 1.5 million Jews were shot to death on the territory of what is now Ukraine in this particular aspect of the Holocaust. The Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, or UJE, presented a very much-anticipated program commemorating this 75th anniversary of Babyn Yar. The program, held in Kyiv from September 23rd to 29th this year, featured four distinct projects. There was a public symposium, which included the introduction of a groundbreaking book on Babyn Yar; a student conference; a landscape design competition; and a memorial concert. The effort took years of planning and was widely applauded both in Ukraine and abroad. The UJE worked with the World Jewish Congress, Ukraine’s government, and other Ukrainian Jewish and diaspora organizations to plan and present its program. UJE board member Paul Robert Magocsi, who along with his colleague Adrian Karatnycky spearheaded the program, noted, “Our goal was to turn the attention of Ukrainians and the world community to Babyn Yar and to show it is a very important […]

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It was always a very scenic area of forests and ravines. A very pleasant green zone on the edge of the city. Picturesque. It was once known as the “Switzerland of Kyiv.” Innocent and bucolic. All that changed over the course of a couple of days at the end of September 1941. Babyn Yar, on the outskirts of Kyiv, became a global symbol of the Holocaust, and entered the language as shorthand for unfathomable cruelty and unprecedented loss of life. Babyn Yar was the site of the murder of nearly 34,000 Kyivan Jews that dark September.  The killings continued over the next couple of years during the German occupation of Kyiv. With continued shootings of tens of thousands more Jews. As well as the Roma people, the patients of psychiatric hospitals, Soviet prisoners of war, Ukrainian national activists, Communist Party members, and ordinary residents of Kyiv taken as hostages. We are still coming to grips with this legacy. Now a new book, entitled Babyn Yar: History and Memory, is dedicated to the commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of Babyn Yar, This book, in both English and Ukrainian-language editions and sponsored by the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, is the result of the collaborative […]

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It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. An astonishing new film called Shimon’s Returns proves the point in a sometimes provocative but always heart-warming manner. The documentary, directed by Slawomir Grunberg and Katka Reszke, tells the story of the now-retired Israeli history professor Shimon Redlich. In the film Shimon takes some of his Israeli cousins on a trip. A trip back into his childhood. A trip back to the villages, towns, and cities of western Ukraine and Poland. A Holocaust survivor, Shimon shows the hiding places and the people who saved not only his remarkable childhood, but also his life. “There is no question that my happy childhood years had a strong effect on my whole outlook,” says Shimon in the film’s narration. “These years make me strong and feel good until this very day.” Shimon was born into a middle-class family in Lviv before the war. And for the first ten years of his life he lived in the town of Berezhany, about ninety kilometers from Lviv. Most of Shimon’s family did not survive the war. His father’s remains are located somewhere in a mass grave, whose uncertain location in a grassy field Shimon visits in a […]

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Oksana Lyniv is an up-and-coming star on the classical music scene. She is a Ukrainian conductor currently working at the Bavarian State Opera as assistant to the General Music Director Kirill Petrenko. On September 29, 2016, she will make her debut in Ukraine, conducting a classical concert that will be held at the Kyiv Opera House, under the directorship of British opera star Pavlo Hunka. The concert is part of the 75th Anniversary commemoration of the Babyn Yar tragedy, sponsored by the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter of Toronto. In 1941, the Nazis murdered some 150,000 people, including over 32,000 Jews. The massacre at Babyn Yar is considered one of the most heinous atrocities of the Holocaust. The concert will feature classical musicians from Ukraine, Israel, Canada and Great Britain, and a symphony orchestra from Germany. Ms. Lyniv took time from her hectic schedule of rehearsals for an interview on Nash Holos to tell us about herself, her career, and the upcoming concert. This is a feature interview. Audio and transcript available below. Enjoy! ************* Pawlina: I’m Pawlina, host of Nash Holos Ukrainian roots radio. This fall the 75th Anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy will be commemorated in Kyiv, on the initiative of the Ukrainian Jewish encounter. One of the events will be […]

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British-Ukrainian opera star Pavlo Hunka is the Director of a classical concert to be held on September 29, 2016 at the Opera House in Kyiv. The concert is part of the 75th Anniversary commemoration of the Babyn Yar tragedy, sponsored by the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter of Toronto. In 1941, the Nazis murdered some 150,000 people, including over 32,000 Jews. The massacre at Babyn Yar is considered one of the most heinous atrocities of the Holocaust, and has come to symbolize Nazi brutality. This commemorative concert will feature classical musicians from Ukraine, Israel, Canada and Great Britain, and a symphony orchestra from Germany. The conductor of the orchestra will be Oksana Lyniv of Ukraine. The concert will include a cameo performance by Mr. Hunka, who took time from his hectic schedule of rehearsals for an interview on Nash Holos. We spoke about the upcoming concert, his career, and his Ukrainian Art Song project, showcasing Ukrainian classical music. Pawlina: The 75th anniversary of the [foreign] tragedy will be commemorated in K of this fall. Late September to be exact. One of the events will be a concert which you are organizing and producing. How did you come to be the orchestrator so to speak of this event? Pavlo […]

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Memory. Manipulation. Memorials. Babyn Yar, the ravine on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, is a multi-ethnic and multi-faith necropolis. A city of the dead. In September 1941, nearly thirty-four thousand Kyivan Jews were shot over two days in one of the largest single Nazi massacres during the Second World War. More massacres followed during the German occupation. The victims included even more Jews, as well as Ukrainians, Soviet prisoners of war, communists, Roma, and others. Some estimates of those killed at the site total up to one hundred and fifty thousand dead. After the war the Soviet regime tried for decades to destroy the ravine itself, as well as the national and ethnic identity of its victims. The Soviet authorities manipulated the memory politics of Babyn Yar. The controversies continued after Ukrainian independence in 1991. There was a jumbled and uncoordinated proliferation of competing monuments to the various victims. There was an overall physical neglect of the site. Babyn Yar turned into a chaotic space. A space that does not properly reflect the significance of the tragic events that took place there. The Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, with the support of the International Union of Architects in Paris and the National […]

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Plans are underway to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy. The events are being organized by the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter and will take place in Kyiv this fall. Welcome to Ukrainian Jewish Heritage on Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio. I’m Peter Bejger. Memory. Commemoration. Responsibility. The seventy-fifth anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy in Kyiv will be soon upon us. This anniversary is a very serious challenge for Ukraine, especially in light of current conditions. The proper acknowledgment of, and reconciliation with, major historical trauma reflects a mature society confident of its future. The Ukrainian Jewish Encounter has been preparing for this landmark anniversary for the last couple of years. A four-part program has been organized. This program—in its broadest sense—deals with Babyn Yar in terms of the future, the past, and memorialization in space and through the arts. The transmission of memory to younger generations is complex but nonetheless crucial. A program for youth dealing with the legacy of Babyn Yar will be organized by the historian Dr. Ihor Shchupak from Dnipropetrovsk. Young people from Ukraine, North America, Europe, and Israel will be invited to participate in a series of town hall public meetings. The public lectures […]

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Phillipe Sand’s book, East West Street, details the origins of the terms “genocide” and “crimes against humanity.” Welcome to Ukrainian Jewish Heritage on Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio. I’m Peter Bejger. Details are important. In fact, details are crucial—whether for tracing a family tree or building a legal case. For example, a case for the judgment and conviction for murder. The international lawyer Philippe Sand, a professor of law at University College London, is fascinated by details. His recent book East West Street, is a gripping account of the origins—in effect, the invention—of the terms “genocide” and “crimes against humanity.” His book is hailed by critics as a monumental achievement. EAST WEST STREET is a book of secrets, secrets patiently uncovered in a compelling narrative through diligent detective work in archives, memoirs, interviews, and unexpected travel to long hidden sources. EAST WEST STREET is at once a detective story, a courtroom procedural, and a heart-wrenching family saga. The book weaves together two stories—one personal, and the other public. The stories begin and end at the Nuremburg Trial for Nazi war criminals. The author did not expect to write this book. Back in 2010 Sands received an invitation to deliver a […]

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