While I was in the State signing the papers on our new house, A took the kids to the Babyn Yar memorial. It is a ravine which is the site of the largest single massacre of Jews in all of WWII (33,771 Jews on September 29-30, 1941), and is surprisingly close to the center of town. I know that Kyiv was smaller then, but it really is only one metro stop from my office.
Overall, another 100,000 - 150,000 people were killed at this site, not just Jews but Ukrainian nationalists, gypsies (roma), Soviet POWs and communists.
And so the place has a lot of different meanings to a lot of different people. And all of those meanings are sad. About 18 months ago someone in Parliament talked about building a hotel (?!?) in part of the park, not directly on the ravine, but near. Can you imagine? Thankfully smarter people prevailed.
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