United Nations to Join Permanent Missions of Ukraine, Israel in Marking Seventy-fifth Anniversary of Tragedy at Babi Yar, 2 November
To mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of Babi Yar Ravine, the United Nations Department of Public Information, in partnership with the Permanent Missions of Ukraine and Israel to the United Nations, will host a round-table discussion from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 2 November, in Conference Room 1 at United Nations Headquarters in New York. Organized by the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme, the discussion will examine the role of Holocaust education in responding to the complexities and challenges of facing this difficult past.
Babi Yar Ravine, located just a short distance from Kyiv, Ukraine, is the site of one of the largest mass killings at a single location during the Second World War. On 29 and 30 September 1941, German soldiers under the guidance of a mobile killing unit formed by the Nazis, along with their collaborators, murdered more than 33,000 Jewish men, women and children.
Cristina Gallach, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, will deliver opening remarks at the event. Volodymyr Yelchenko, Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations, and Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations will deliver statements. Kimberly Mann, Chief of the Education Outreach Section, United Nations Department of Public Information, will moderate the discussion with an international panel of experts.
Panellists include James E. Young, Distinguished University Professor of English and Judaic Studies and Founding Director of the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, United States; Igor Shchupak, Director of the “Tkuma” Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies, Ukraine; Eyal Kaminka, Lily Safra Chair of Holocaust Education, Director of the International School of Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Israel; Michael Abramowitz, Director of the Levine Institute for Holocaust Education, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.; Carlos Reiss, Director of the Holocaust Museum of Curitiba, Brazil; Tali Nates, Director of the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre, South Africa; and Fumiko Ishioka, Director of the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center, Japan.
Kyiv was the capital of Soviet Ukraine when the Germans invaded the country in June 1941. It is estimated that between 1941 and 1945, 100,000 people perished at Babi Yar. Among the victims were Jews, Roma, Communists and Soviet prisoners of war.
Guests may register to attend at www.un.org/holocaustremembrance. Photo identification is required to pass through United Nations security screening at the First Avenue and 46th Street entrance.
The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme was established by General Assembly resolution 60/7 in 2005 to encourage Holocaust remembrance and education in order to help prevent future acts of genocide. Its multifaceted programme includes online and print educational tools, seminars, exhibitions and the annual worldwide observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, held on 27 January.
For media accreditation, please contact the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit at www.un.org/en/media/accreditation.
For further information, please contact Tracey Petersen, Manager, The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme at tel.: +1 212 963 4578, or e-mail: petersen3@un.org.