September 29 is the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Babyn Yar Tragedy.

Eighty-five years ago, on September 29–30, 1941, Nazi forces carried out a mass shooting of Kyiv’s Jewish population at Babyn Yar. Tens of thousands of people were murdered over the course of two days. The exact number of victims cannot be established. The massacre was one of the largest mass killings of Jews at a single site during the Holocaust.

Mass shootings at Babyn Yar continued until 1943. The total number of people murdered at the site is estimated at between 70,000 and 100,000. The victims included Jews, Roma, patients of psychiatric institutions, Soviet prisoners of war, members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (M), and members of the Soviet underground.

After the war, Babyn Yar itself was transformed. The ravine was filled in, and its landscape was permanently altered following the Kurenivka mudslide disaster in 1961. The territory was divided among different government agencies and gradually built up. The physical boundaries of the site disappeared, and with them, the visible reminders of what had happened there.

In 1976, a Soviet monument was erected at Babyn Yar. Its inscription did not identify the Jewish victims; instead, they were referred to collectively as “Soviet citizens.” For decades, the history of Babyn Yar continued to be preserved despite this erasure—in the testimonies of survivors, in documents and historical research, and in family and public memory.

This history is at the heart of the theme of the 85th anniversary: The Right to Remember.

The right to restore a person’s name. The right to know where a crime took place and who its victims were. The right to preserve a place as it is remembered in history—even where no graves remain.

Today, this theme has another dimension for Ukraine.

On March 1, 2022, a Russian missile aimed at the Kyiv television tower struck near Babyn Yar. Five civilians were killed on the territory of the National Historical and Memorial Reserve. The past and the present came together in the same place.

For the 85th anniversary, we are restoring the boundary of Babyn Yar on the map. The red line shown in the official anniversary materials follows the historical boundary of the site. It will also be marked throughout the Reserve—on trees, buildings, fences, and lampposts. It marks the boundary of a place and, at the same time, a boundary of memory.

Eighty-five years later, we continue to name the victims, search for documents, and restore the stories of the people and the place itself.

On September 29, we will remember together.

Official anniversary visual materials are available here >>> https://bit.ly/46PocwU