Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorates the tragic deaths of six million Jews; nearly one quarter of the victims were in Ukraine. Many elderly Jews in Ukrainian today lived through the horrific ordeal, while others lost family members and friends. Five hundred and twenty-one Holocaust survivors immigrated to Israel from Ukraine in the past year.
On the eve of war in 1941, Ukraine was home to one of the largest Jewish populations in Europe. Unlike what happened in Poland and other countries, in Ukraine the Jews were killed close to home, not deported to distant camps. One of the most infamous and unspeakable events of the war occurred on September 29 and 30, 1941, just outside Kyiv, at a place called Babi Yar: 33,771 Jews were massacred within 48 hours. The atrocities at Babi Yar continued throughout the war; it is estimated that 100,000 people, Jews and non-Jews, were murdered at this site.
We especially remember the people of Ukraine on Yom Hashoah, along with all the victims of the Holocaust, and survivors, children of survivors, and families of survivors throughout the world.
Read more about Yom Hashoah here
