NCSEJ Leadership Mission to Kyiv, Ukraine Commemorating the 75 th Anniversary of the Massacres at Babi Yar September 27-30, 2016 MISSION REPORT JEWISH MEMORIAL AT BABI YAR 1 MEETING WITH PRIME MINISTER ARSENIY YATSENYUK
Introduction From September 27-30, 2016 NCSEJ led a leadership delegation to participate in the Ukrainian government s commemoration of the 75 th anniversary of the massacres at Babi Yar in Kyiv. The delegation of over twenty NCSEJ officers, board members and supporters included NCSEJ Chairman Daniel Rubin, President Alexander Smukler, NCSEJ Executive Vice-Chairman and CEO Mark Levin, Deputy Director Lesley Weiss, NCSEJ Vice-Presidents Martin Goldstein and Allen Kronstadt, Executive Committee Member William Hess, Past President Joel Schindler, Board Members Frank Brodsky and Constance Smukler, President and CEO of HIAS Mark Hetfield, and Chief of Staff of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany Arie Bucheister. Also on the delegation were NCSEJ supporters Felix Aisen, Leonid Bard, Ted Bornstein, Marilyn Brody, Philip and Rosa Friedman, Larry Magid, Gerald Platt, Julie Rubin, Cindy Smukler Benhamo, Alla Straks, and NCSEJ Kyiv Representative Ilya Bezruchko. As a member of the Ukrainian President s Commission on the 75 th Anniversary of Babi Yar, NCSEJ joined with government leaders from the United States and Europe, and members of the Jewish community from around the world to remember the massacre of Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators at the Babi Yar ravine on the outskirts of Kyiv. In two days in September 1941, over 33,000 people, mainly Jews, were killed by Nazi forces at the Babi Yar ravine. From 1941 to 1943, between 50,000 and 100,000 people Jews, Roma, and Soviet prisoners of war were slaughtered during the Nazi occupation of Kyiv. U.S. and Ukrainian Government Briefings The Leadership Mission began with a briefing by Mayor Vitali Klitschko at his City Hall office. The Mayor discussed his plans for developing a museum at the Babi Yar memorial site to commemorate the victims killed there during the Holocaust. He also outlined his vision for the future of the city. AT KYIV CITY HALL WITH MAYOR VITALI KLITSCHKO
NCSEJ leadership met with U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, at her residence and discussed the ongoing economic and political reform efforts and the integration of the Jewish community into the larger Ukrainian society. Later the delegation met with the Head of the Presidential Administration Ihor Rainin and the Chairman of the National Investment Council Borys Lozhkin, where the discussion included Israel- MEETING WITH U.S. AMBASSADOR MARIE YOVANOVITCH Ukraine relations, efforts to combat extremism and anti-semitism, and expanding the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship. MEETING WITH THE HEAD OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION IHOR RAININ AND THE CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL INVESTMENT COUNCIL BORYS LOZHKIN These meetings concluded with a dinner with a key note address by WJC President NCSEJ Chairman Daniel Rubin, President Alexander Smukler, and CEO Mark Levin attended a signing ceremony, where the national government of Ukraine and Kyiv city government proclaimed their intention to build a museum at the Babi Yar memorial dedicated to Holocaust victims and the history of the Holocaust. The signing was organized and hosted by Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Speakers included President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and major donors to the project. hosted by the World Jewish Congress Amb. Ronald S. Lauder PRESIDENT PETRO POROSHENKO
Later the delegation attended a concert performance at the National Opera of Ukraine, sponsored by the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, dedicated to the victims of the massacres. Following the concert, the delegation attended a gathering of senior members of the government and the international Jewish community sponsored by President Poroshenko and met with the President, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and other Ukrainian government officials and visiting dignitaries. MEETING PRIME MINISTER VOLODYMYR GROYSMAN Jewish Community Leadership AT THE KYIV CHORAL SYNAGOGUE Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Yaakov Bleich hosted the group at the Choral Synagogue and Chabad Chief Rabbi Moshe Azman met with them at the Brodsky Synagogue. ALEXANDER SMUKLER, CHIEF RABBI OF UKRAINE RABBI YAAKOV BLEICH AND MARK LEVIN MEETING WITH CHABAD CHIEF RABBI MOSHE AZMAN
In addition, the delegation met with other community leadership including the Chairman of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress Josef Zissels, the President of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine Boris Fuchsman, and the Co-President of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine Andrey Adamovsky. An impromptu meeting with a Jewish ALLEN KRONSTADT WITH JEWISH MILITARY OFFICER military officer arriving to pray at the Brodsky Synagogue afforded the group interesting insights into the Ukrainian military and Ukrainian Jews place in the army. Ceremony at Babi Yar PRESIDENT OF HUNGARY JANOS ADER, GERMAN PRESIDENT JOACHIM GAUCK, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT PETRO POROSHENKO AND WIFE MARYNA POROSHENKO, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL DONALD TUSK, U.S. SECRETARY OF COMMERCE PENNY PRITZKER AND ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE BORIS LOZHKIN The official ceremony was led by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko who said, We have a moral obligation to remember all the victims of the Nazis. There have been those [in Ukraine] for which one felt shame. And this, too, cannot be erased from our collective memory. Collaborators have left their mark in almost all Nazi-occupied European countries, but they do not represent their people. Further remarks were made by German President Joachim Gauck, President of the European Council Donald Tusk, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, and World Jewish Congress CEO Robert Singer. Attendees also included Deputy Knesset Speaker of Israel Tali Ploskov and President of Hungary Janos Ader. PRESIDENT PETRO POROSHENKO SPEAKING AT THE CEREMONY AT BABI YAR
President Gauck stated Germans must approach Babi Yar with unspeakable guilt It is immeasurable suffering that we see, and unspeakable crimes that we Germans bear the blame for, when we look into the abyss that is the Shoah. Speaking to possible future atrocities, European Council President Tusk said when confronted with evil and violence, humankind cannot be divided only into DURING THE CEREMONY AT BABI YAR victims, perpetrators and bystanders. We must try to emulate those who are called the Righteous Among the Nations. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin spoke earlier to the Parliament but left before the ceremony upon hearing the news of the death of former Israeli President Shimon Peres. The program culminated with a candlelight procession by the speakers and participants at the Menorah-shaped memorial that was erected on the 50 th anniversary of Babi Yar (to specifically identify victims as Jews). This was the first time Ukraine held an official ceremony at the Jewish memorial. MONUMENT TO THE CHILDREN KILLED AT BABI YAR CANDLES AT THE BABI YAR MEMORIAL Report prepared by Deputy Director Lesley Weiss and Atlas Corps Fellow Yury Terekhov.