BABYN YAR 80TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME
A number of official events dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy will be held in Kyiv. The exhibitions, book presentations, the National Memory Lesson in Ukrainian schools, the premiere of the documentary “Babyn Yar. Context” directed by Serhiy Loznytsia are among them.
An official commemoration ceremony will take place in Babyn Yar on October 6. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and the Presidents of Germany, Israel and Albania will participate in the ceremony. The memorial object “Crystal Wall of Crying” by artist and author Marina Abramovich will also be presented.
Commemorative events dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy were organized by the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, the National Historical Memorial Preserve Babyn Yar together with the Office of the President of Ukraine and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
The detailed schedule of the events can be found on the page that was specially created for the 80th anniversary of the mass shootings in Babyn Yar. The program will be updated.
“We are building a memorial in Babyn Yar, which will become a part of the world’s cultural heritage as we hope. But the most important thing is that we bring back the memory of this place, the memory of the victims of Babyn Yar. We are grateful for the state’s support in this mission,” said Max Yakover, CEO at the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center.
FINAL 80TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION PROGRAMME
KYIV, 27 SEPTEMBER – 7 OCTOBER 2021
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
Opening of the exhibition “Exclusion Zone” by Jonathan Littell and Antoine D’Agata
Time: 13:00-14:00, Dorogozhychi metro station
Host: Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center
The exhibition is open from September 27 – October 10
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
National Memory lesson held in all schools of Ukraine
Introduction of the educational platform Red Dot Remembrance (online)
Time: Morning for 45 mins
Host: Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center and Ministry of Education & Science of Ukraine
Participants: all secondary schools, combination format
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
Presentation of the Anthology of Poems about Babyn Yar “Yar of Death – Yar of Memory”
Time: 18:00-20:00, Actor’s House, Yaroslaviv Val Street, 7
Host: Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3
March of Remembrance
Time: 12:00-13:45, Babyn Yar
Host: NGO Marsh Pamyati
An annual social initiative when participants walk the route victims took on 29 September 1941
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5
International academic conference “The Mass Shootings During the Holocaust as a Criminal Process”
Time: 9:00–15:10, The National Scientific Medical Library of Ukraine, Lva Tolstoho street, 7
Host: Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center
Presentation of the book We Wanted to Live by Borys Zabarko, Chair of the Association of Jews, former prisoners of ghetto and Nazi concentration camps. Followed by discussion with the author
Time: 16:15–17:15, The National Scientific Medical Library of Ukraine, Lva Tolstoho street, 7
Host: Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center
Opening of the exhibition “The Faces of the Babyn Yar People”
Time: 17:00-18:00, The National Scientific Medical Library of Ukraine, Lva Tolstoho street, 7
Host: Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center
The exhibition is open from October 6 – October 11
Premiere “In Memorium” composed by Valentyn Silvestrov, performed by the Kyiv Chamber Choir directed by Mykola Hobdych
Premiere of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival Special Prize Laureate documentary film Babyn Yar. Introduction by director Sergei Loznitsa for the general public and the delegation
Time: 19:00-22:00, Babyn Yar, main stage in the square next to the Menorah
Host: Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center
The film will be screened for the first time in Ukraine
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6
Breakfast with the Supervisory Board and leaders of Jewish delegations
Time: 09:30-10:30, Hyatt Regency Hotel
Host: Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center
Press conference with the Supervisory Board
Time: 11:00-12:30, Hyatt Regency Hotel
Host: Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center
Lunch with the President of Israel Isaac Herzog
Presentation of the book Righteous Among the Nations. Ukraine
Time: 14:00-15:30, hotel InterContinental Kyiv
Host: Office of the President of Israel with the participation of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center and the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine
Presentation of the book The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell, winner of Prix Goncourt and the Grand Prix du Roman of the Académie Française. Talk with the author
Time: 15:00-16:00, The National Scientific Medical Library of Ukraine, Lva Tolstoho street, 7
Host: Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center
Official commemoration ceremony with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky
Unveiling of the memorial sculpture “Crystal Wall of Crying” by conceptual artist Marina Abramovich
President of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the State of Israel Isaac Herzog, and the President of Albania Ilir Meta will also participate in the event
Time: 17:00-20:45, Babyn Yar, main stage in the square next to the Menorah
Host: Office of the President of Ukraine and Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center
The official ceremony will include a concert performed by the German State Symphony Orchestra 13th Symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich, Kremerata Baltica under the direction of Gidon Kremer, a performance by cellist Mischa Maisky and the trio of Vladimir Tarasov.
Official reception with the participation of the President of Ukraine and heads of foreign states
Time: 21:00-22:00, Hyatt Regency Hotel
Host: Office of the President of Ukraine and Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7
Roundtable on the Past, Present, and Future of Babyn Yar with the participation of the Architectural Advisory Board
Time: 11:00-14:00, TBD
Host: Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center
Members of the BYHMC Architectural Advisory Board will come together with architects who have designed work for Babyn Yar to discuss recent developments and future ideas, strategies, and plans for the site.
