A group of Jewish pilgrims who visited the Babi Yar site in Ukraine’s capital were shocked by what they described as the “desecration” of the site that serves as the resting place for 183,000 Jews.
In a video uploaded to Twitter by Meyer Tauber, locals can be seen cheerfully sliding on the snow that accumulated above the mass graves, and the place resembles a makeshift winter amusement park for local families.
Kiev: Horrific Video taken today 2/14 in the morning by Babi Yar shows the mass grave site of over 183,000 Jews and POW being desecrated and used by the locals as a sledding site.@yadvashem @simonwiesenthal @DmytroKuleba @HolocaustMuseum @Ukraine @AronWieder @MFA_Ukraine pic.twitter.com/ELN7kjTmzj
— Meyer Tauber (@meyertauber) February 14, 2021
Immediately after the Nazi occupation of Kyiv in September 1941, the Nazis and their collaborators murdered approximately 33,771 Jewish Ukrainians at Babi Yar. And tens of Thousands more were executed there in the following two years.
The site is marked by a stark monument that mentions the historic significance of the site as the resting place of over 100,000 Jewish victims.
Many Jewish leaders expressed outrage on the neglect on behalf of Ukrainian authorities in protecting the sacred grounds.
“My ancestors were murdered here. Decades later and across the ocean, this ravine was the setting of all our nightmares, its name intoned with a chill down the spine” responded Jewish Journalist Avital Goldschmidt who called upon the Ukrainian President to take action on the matter.
