Babyn Yar Launches RESEARCH SPACE: A New Public Programme on Archives, Memory and Family History
On 9 July, the National Historical and Memorial Preserve "Babyn Yar" officially launched RESEARCH SPACE, a two-month public programme dedicated to exploring personal family histories and the collective memory of the Babyn Yar tragedy.
Running from 10 July to 30 August at the Living Memory Exhibition Centre, the programme invites visitors to work with family archives, attend documentary film screenings, participate in book discussions and public lectures, and engage with archival artefacts through a series of interconnected educational and research formats.
The opening programme included a press tour and the first public lecture, "Searching the Archives: How It Works" delivered by archivist Kyrylo Vyslobokov. The lecture was followed by a practical workshop on digitising and preserving family archives, during which participants brought family photographs, letters and historical documents from their personal collections to be digitised.
"At a time when Ukraine faces daily missile attacks and people continue to lose not only their homes but also the memories preserved within them, creating digital family archives has become more important than ever. We invite everyone to come, digitise their collections and explore their own history," said Roza Tapanova, Director of the National Historical and Memorial Preserve "Babyn Yar".
Four Ways of Exploring Memory
RESEARCH SPACE brings together four interconnected formats, each offering a different approach to researching and understanding historical memory.
Archive Lab
Developed in partnership with Archival Information Systems—Ukraine's leading company specialising in the large-scale digitisation of archival and library collections—the Archive Lab provides visitors with free access to professional digitisation of family photographs, letters, documents and other personal materials.
Participants receive digital copies of their materials immediately and, if they wish, may donate digital copies relating to the Holocaust or Babyn Yar to the Preserve's archive, contributing to the preservation of historical memory for future generations.
"Archives are often perceived as something reserved for historians and specialists. RESEARCH SPACE changes that by making archives accessible to everyone. Together with the Babyn Yar Preserve, we will host a series of lectures explaining how archives work and how people can begin researching their own family history. Visitors will also be able to digitise their photographs and documents using professional equipment and take the digital copies home with them," said Kyrylo Vyslobokov, Director of Archival Information Systems.
Documentary Film Club
The Documentary Film Club presents a programme of international documentary films exploring memory, archives, war and responsibility. The programme has been developed in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Ukraine and the French Institute in Ukraine, with the film selection curated by filmmaker and screenwriter Oleksii Radynskyi.
Book Club
The Book Club features a specially curated reading room dedicated to the Holocaust, historical memory and identity. Throughout the summer, the programme will include public readings and discussions led by historians Sofiia Hrachova, Anatolii Podolskyi, and Yurii (Amir) Radchenko.
Testimony Space
The Testimony Space is a research and exhibition format centred on unique objects from the archive of Ukrainian public figure and Hero of Ukraine Illia Levitas. Photographs, letters, documents and personal belongings become starting points for reconstructing individual lives and family histories, transforming archival artefacts into powerful testimonies of the past.
Over the course of two months, RESEARCH SPACE will function as an open platform combining exhibitions, research and public programming, offering visitors multiple ways to engage with their own family history through archives, literature, documentary cinema and historical testimony.
RESEARCH SPACE
Dates: 10 July – 30 August 2026
Opening hours: Daily, 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Venue: Living Memory Exhibition Centre, 46A Yurii Illienka Street, Kyiv
Admission: Free
