Remembering Babi Yar
A great sadness came upon me while hearing of the Pope's recent visit to Kiev, Ukraine. There he visited and prayed at the Babi Yar Soviet memorial monument. Close by is a Jewish memorial menorah. Pope John Paul II, in an attempt to bring harmony between Ukrainian Greek Catholics and the Moscow Linked Orthodox Church, visited the area took note of the Jewish symbol Babi Yar. He offered a prayer for the Holocaust victims and was joined by the Ukrainian Chief Rabbi, Yakkov Dov Bleich. The Pope prayed in silence, recited his prayers in Latin, and told the Chief Rabbi "G‑d bless you."
My sadness was not with the Pope's noble gesture but with the memories of the horrific name of Babi Yar. How, at an early age, I was traumatized by the stories told of this place. Let me share with you the following:
I was a very young teenager when I first heard of Babi Yar. Sasha Gurevitch, an old crippled woman had been in Kiev during the systematic slaughter of the Kiev Jewish population. It was in September 1941 that the Jews were told to gather to the Ukranian capital, Kiev. They were going to be relocated to a safe haven. They were told to bring their valuables and clothing. When arriving to the capital the following took place:
The poor unsuspecting Jews were immediately lined up near a revine in Babi Yar and mercilessly machine-gunned to death. For three days, fifteen to twenty five thousand Jews were led by the Nazi occupiers to the revine and brutally murdered. Complete families were destroyed and their bodies thrown in the revine. In total over one hundred thousand Jews were dumped into this revine. Some were still alive while other were dying and begging for mercy. The heaving of the bodies were seen for days. The cries of the wounded and the dying were unbearable. The nefarious Germans didn't even bother to cover up the dead. Over the years new groups of poor Jewish families were subsequently brought to the revine, killed by machine guns and thrown in the human pile of decomposing human bodies. The stench of the dead was in the air for years. Every Jew in the Ukraine knew of Babi Yar and consider it the most holy resting place for their martyred brothers and sisters. Many still go there to say prayers for their martyred families.
After the war the Soviet Union covered the revine with a park as if to obliterate the horrific crime done to the Jews. Since millions of Soviets were killed no special recognition was to be given to dead Jews. In the early 1960s construction of houses and parks were extended over the revine totally ignoring the pleas of the Jewish population for a respectful monument for their dead to be erected.
Sasha said that "every time the Soviets build something over the Babi Yar graves a catastrophe would happen; the buildings would collapse or the earth would open causing the bodies of the dead to be revealed." The revine flooded and bodies would appear. Jews world over protested but to no avail.
In the late 1960s the Soviet Union finally recognized the "official Jewish suffering" and a monument was placed there. However, it paid tribute only to the massacred citizens of Kiev, not mentioning the Jewish massacre. In 1991 Jews built a menorah on the site symbolizing that the martyred massacred victims were Jews. It was at this Russian monument where the Pope prayed and not at the menorah.
Sasha once told me that as she grew older she would visit the park with her family. A garden had been planted there bursting with beautiful flowers. Young and old would meet; here was a place for all visitors. Once she asked her parents "Why don't the roses smell?" She was told, "Because they were planted in the Babi Yar hell and watered with Jewish blood." Since then, when smelling roses, I think of Sasha's words. I can't bring myself to "smell the roses" without thinking of her words.
I truly appreciate the Pope's role in recognizing the need to apologize for Anti-Semitism and the church's passive action during the Holocaust. His taking the time to visit Babi Yar while trying to make peace between Ukrainian Greek Catholics and the Moscow Linked Orthodox Church is great. It shows the enormous need for condemnation of all types of religious intolerance, especially to the Jews living in the Ukraine.
In spite of all things, my sadness may change to gladness. In a strange way I believe that the Pope's visit will enable me to once again enjoy the smell of bright red roses.