[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 171 (Thursday, October 1, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E912]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




COMMEMORATING THE VICTIMS OF THE NAZI MASSACRE AT BABYN YAR IN UKRAINE 
                      BETWEEN 29-30 SEPTEMBER 1941

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                          HON. ELIOT L. ENGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 1, 2020

  Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate all those who 
lost their lives in the Holocaust and honor the memory of those who 
were so brutally murdered in the atrocities that took place between 29-
30 September 1941 at Babyn Yar in Ukraine.
  It is of great importance to me to bring this issue to the attention 
of the United States Congress because of my Jewish heritage and family 
ties to Ukraine, but also to shine a light on one of the darkest 
chapters in our shared history. The past must never be forgotten, and 
the lessons we learn, especially the painful ones, should guide us to a 
better future.
  As we see a resurgence of antisemitism and Holocaust denial across 
the world, and when there are fewer and fewer living survivors to tell 
the story first hand, it is essential that we learn the tragedies of 
the past and educate future generations so we can prevent these events 
from never happening again.
  Today, it is critically important to remember one of the Holocaust's 
most oft-forgotten horrors--the massacre that took place at Babyn Yar 
in Ukraine and in other Eastern Europe countries, silenced for so long 
by the former Soviet Union.
  The massacre of Kyiv's Jews at Babyn Yar was one of the largest mass 
killings by the Nazi regime at a single location during World War II. 
It is incumbent upon us to remember the sorrow and grief of the victims 
and their families of the Babyn Yar massacre, and I commend the 
Ukrainian people for coming together to deal with this tragedy and 
commemorate the horrific atrocity at Babyn Yar.
  In honor of the 79th anniversary of the horrifying massacres at Babyn 
Yar, where it was officially estimated that up to 100,000 people were 
murdered during the Nazi occupation of Kyiv from 1941 to 1943, I rise 
today to honor all those who lost their lives, remind our colleagues 
and the world of the tremendous evil that took place at Babyn Yar, and 
commend the people of Ukraine for their commitment to remembering these 
horrific events. We must continue to stand up and say, ``never again.''
  A review of the timeline of events surrounding the Babyn Yar tragedy 
are an important part of our solemn duty to ensure that terrible events 
like these can never happen again:
  On September 19, 1941, Axis forces occupied Kyiv. A week later, the 
Nazi occupational government and SS leadership convened at Rear 
Headquarters Army Group South and made the decision to exterminate the 
Jews of Kyiv.
  On September 28, 1941, the Nazi occupiers of Kyiv posted the 
following notice: ``All [Jews] living in the city of Kiev and its 
vicinity are to report by 8 o'clock on the morning of Monday, September 
29, 1941, at the corner of Melnykova and Dokterivska Streets (near the 
cemeteries). They are to take with them documents, money, valuables, as 
well as warm clothes, underwear, etc. Any [Jew] not carrying out this 
instruction and who is found elsewhere will be shot. Any civilian 
entering homes vacated by [Jews] and stealing property will be shot''.
  On September 29-30, 1941, the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of 
the year in Judaism, 33,771 Jewish civilians were shot and killed by 
machine-gun fire at Babyn Yar, a ravine northwest of Kyiv. Between 
September and early October 1941, about 38,000 Jews were murdered at or 
near Babyn Yar; and the total Jewish death toll there until the Nazi 
retreat was around 40,000.
  When Nazi forces retreated from the Soviet Union, they attempted to 
hide evidence of the massacres at Babyn Yar by exhuming the bodies and 
burning them, but in 1991, the government of independent Ukraine 
erected a monument in the shape of a menorah dedicated to the Jewish 
victims at Babyn Yar. Sadly, the names of many of these civilians who 
perished have been lost forever.

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