Russia’s attack on Ukraine is an atrocity. Christians have to speak up
Updated 3/10/22: Sources in Ukraine have reported that the bombing near Babyn Yar damaged the cemetery and not the actual memorial. The op-ed has been updated to reflect this.
On March 1, 2022, Russian missiles struck near the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial site in Kyiv, Ukraine. Having done extensive research on the Babyn Yar site as a graduate student working on my Masters in Holocaust Studies, the news gripped my heart. Damage to this important site, especially in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s claims about seeking the “denazification of Ukraine,” is disturbing and heartbreaking.
As a Christian who is dedicated to advocating for the Jewish people and fighting against antisemitism, I want to see sites like Babyn Yar preserved for generations to come. Holocaust denial and distortion are on the rise, making the preservation and memorialization of sites such as Babyn Yar all the more important.
Babyn Yar is infamous as a symbol of the “Holocaust by bullets.” Before the gas chambers of death camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka were built, the Wehrmacht (German army) deployed Einsatzgruppen or “Special Operation Groups” as mobile killing squads to round up Jews and shoot them. It was members of Einsatzgruppe C who rounded up the Jews of Kyiv on September 29, 1941, as retaliation for the destruction of buildings in use by the Germans after they occupied Kyiv. Despite the buildings having actually been destroyed by members of the Soviet secret police, the Jews of Kyiv were selected for punishment by German field commandant Kurt Eberhard.
The Jews of Kyiv were told to report on the morning of September 29 to the northern outskirts of the city, near the Orthodox and Jewish cemeteries, with all of their belongings and documents, for “resettlement.” Instead, the Germans marched the Jews who followed the orders to the ravine at Babyn Yar. The Germans, along with local Ukrainian forces, made the Jews strip naked, stand either on the edge of the ravine or inside the ravine, and used machine guns to shoot almost 34,000 Jewish men, women, and children into the ravine.
The murder of the Jews at Babyn Yar took two days, from September 29, 1941, to September 30. Jews who did not follow the “resettlement” orders were murdered a few days later in gas vans, their bodies were then thrown into the ravine. Additionally, non-Jewish victims were also murdered at Babyn Yar, including Roma, the disabled, Soviet prisoners of war, and those accused of anti-German activities. Though precise numbers are unknown, it is estimated that a total of 70,000 to 100,000 people were murdered at Babyn Yar during the course of World War II.
Babyn Yar, then, is a site of immense significance. However, unlike Holocaust-related sites such as Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland and Dachau concentration camp in Germany, Babyn Yar has yet to be fully memorialized. Plans for a Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center are currently in the works, but the project has seen its fair share of controversy. Additionally, the site is affected by turbulent national and regional politics, ethnic tensions, and interpretational differences. If completed in the very near future, the Babyn Yar Memorial will most likely “constitute the final such memorial to be completed during the lifetime of the last living survivors of the Nazi crimes,” notes Tablet Magazine contributor Vladislav Davidzon.
Last night, as I scrolled through social media, I came across a video of elderly Jews huddled together in a bunker in Ukraine. Among them were Holocaust survivors who shared their stories.“My name is Oleg Yakovych,” said a man leaning against the bunker wall. “I was born in Kyiv in 1940. My relatives died in Babyn Yar in 1941. Now I am hiding in a bomb shelter and we are under enem[y] bombs.” After each testimony, the group gave an impassioned plea: “We want peace!”
These men and women, who lived through and lost relatives to the Holocaust, and are now facing another war, are among the last remaining living testimonies to the atrocities of the Holocaust. Once these survivors pass away, we will no longer have access to their stories in the same way.
This is why the memorialization of Babyn Yar is so important. Russia may not have intentionally attacked a Holocaust memorial, but the incident should re-awaken us to the importance of remembering and grieving the history of Jewish persecution.
That’s why I am calling on Christians in the West to lend their voice in decrying this outrage. Christians have a responsibility to be aware of the church’s history of anti-semitism we, therefore, have a responsibility to speak up against attacks on the Jewish people today.
For even though we cannot change the past, Christians can influence the present and create a better future between Jews and Christians. We can champion efforts to preserve and memorialize Holocaust sites like Babyn Yar; we can donate to different campaigns to help suffering Ukrainians; we can advocate against antisemitism and stand up and speak up for the Jewish people when the opportunity arises; we can partner with Jewish organizations that support Jewish communities around the world.
No matter how we get involved, we ought to remember that we are called to look after all people who are suffering and not forget the Jewish people, the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8). And so, in the midst of these chaotic times, let us devote ourselves to vigilance and prayer for the Jewish communities of Ukraine.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Brittany Bertsche is the associate director of leadership development at Passages Israel.
