Babi Yar
Babi Yar or Babyn Yar (Russian: Бабий Яр; Ukrainian: Бабин Яр) is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and a site of massacres carried out by Nazi Germany's forces during its campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. The first and best documented of the massacres took place on 29–30 September 1941, in which some 33,771 Jews were murdered. Other victims of massacres at the site included Soviet prisoners of war, communists and Romani people. It is estimated that a total of between 100,000 and 150,000 people were murdered at Babi Yar during the German occupation.
| Babi Yar | |
|---|---|
Soviet POWs being used by Germany to cover the mass grave after the massacre, 1 October 1941 | |
| Also known as | Babyn Yar |
| Location | Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union 50°28′17″N 30°26′56″E |
| Date | 29–30 September 1941 |
| Incident type | Genocide, mass murder |
| Perpetrators | Friedrich Jeckeln, Otto Rasch, Paul Blobel, Kurt Eberhard and others |
| Organizations | Einsatzgruppen, Order Police battalions, Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, Sonderkommando 4a, Wehrmacht |
| Camp | Syrets concentration camp |
| Victims |
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| Memorials | On site and elsewhere |
| Notes | Possibly the largest two-day massacre during the Holocaust. Syrets concentration camp was also located in the area. Massacres occurred at Babi Yar from 29 September 1941 to 6 November 1943, when Soviet forces liberated Kyiv. |
The decision to murder all the Jews in Kyiv was made by the military governor Generalmajor Kurt Eberhard, the Police Commander for Army Group South, SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln, and the Einsatzgruppe C Commander Otto Rasch. Sonderkommando 4a as the sub-unit of Einsatzgruppe C, along with the aid of the SD and Order Police battalions with the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police backed by the Wehrmacht, carried out the orders. Sonderkommando 4a and the 45th Battalion of the German Order Police conducted the shootings. Servicemen of the 303rd Battalion of the German Order Police at this time guarded the outer perimeter of the execution site.
The massacre was the largest mass-murder by the Nazi regime during the campaign against the Soviet Union, and it has been called "the largest single massacre in the history of the Holocaust" to that particular date. It is only surpassed overall by the later October 1941 Odessa massacre of more than 50,000 Jews (committed by German and Romanian troops), and by Aktion Erntefest of November 1943 in occupied Poland with 42,000–43,000 victims.