change language
you are in: home - news newslettercontact uslink

Support the Community

  
September 23 2013 | KIEV, UKRAINE

"There is no future without memory"

A march of memory to remember the victims of the mass shootings in Babij Jar.

 
printable version

The Babij Jar march of memory, organised on 15 September by the Community of Sant'Egidio and by the "Youth for Peace" movement, was attended by many inhabitants of Kiev: families, students, old people and poor people who are friends of the Community. The presence of a woman, witness to the tragic events of September 1941, was precious. They went together to the neighbourhood of Podol, the old neighbourhood of the city where Jews once lived and from where they left on their last trip. The Nazis killed more than one hundred thousand people, mostly Jews, in Babij Jar, on the outskirts of Kiev, in about three years of occupation. More than thirty thousand peaceful inhabitants: Jews and Roma gypsies, women, children and the elderly, were killed in Babij Jar only between 29 and 30 September 1941.

The march ended with a commemorative meeting. "I saw with my own eyes how they shot ... undressed the people, plucked the small children and threw them into the ditch ... I attended the ninth grade, we went to accompany our Jewish friends, who were taken away, no-one knows where ..."- As Anna Bebych, a just woman of Babij Jar,  told at the meeting. Her family saved the lives of eight Jews. "There are very few witnesses of Babij Jar still alive and there will soon come a time when you will gather without them on the days of memory" - said Boris Zabarko, head of the Association of former deported Jews of the concentration camps and the ghetto. The president of the Jewish community of Kiev sent a greeting on behalf of the Chief Rabbi of the city and thanked the Community for its commitment to preserve the memory of this tragedy. He also expressed his joy at the fact that many young people and children came to the march. Many have thanked the Community for the opportunity to honour the memory of the victims and for the work that it leads to spread a culture of peace, mutual respect and solidarity.

A symbolic fact was that, during the meeting, the preparation of the 4th international conference "Young Europeans for a world without violence" was announced, which will take place in September 2014 in Krakow - Auschwitz.

The meeting ended with an intervention by the Community, in which it was said that"memory is not a cause of division but, on the contrary, the memory of these tragic events makes us work to overcome the divisions between the Roma, the foreigners and the others, the rich and the poor; to overcome the current divisions between young and old people".

The march took place for the second year and is becoming a precious tradition for the city. The initiative of a march of memory was born at the city meeting of 2011 " 70 years of Babij Jar. There is no future without memory".



 ALSO READ
• NEWS
September 1 2017

September 1st, memory of Saint Egidio. The Community that took his name give thanks in every part of the world

IT | EN | ES | DE | FR | PT | CA | ID
March 20 2017
ROME, ITALY

Congress of the representatives of the Communities of Sant'Egidio of Africa and Latin America took place in Rome

IT | EN | ES | DE | FR | PT | CA | NL
January 10 2017

Christmas with the poor in Russia and Ukraine: the warmth of friendship in the cold winter

IT | EN | ES | DE | FR | RU
December 17 2016

Best wishes Pope Francis! Thank you for the joy of a Gospel that points out to the world a way of mercy and peace

IT | EN | ES | DE | FR | PT | NL
September 1 2016

September 1st, memory of Saint Egidio. The Community that took his name give thanks in every part of the world

IT | EN | ES | DE | FR | PT | CA
June 4 2016
MARZABOTTO, ITALY

Sant’Egidio on pilgrimage to the places of the Nazi massacre at Monte Sole, remembering the victims of all wars

IT | EN | HU
all the news
• PRINT
February 25 2018
kathpress

Kardinal Marx fordert mehr Engagement für Einheit der Menschen

February 25 2018
Domradio.de

"Gräben zuschütten"

February 25 2018

„Gräben zuschütten, Spaltungen überwinden“

February 24 2018
Domradio.de

Im Dienst der karitativen Arbeit

February 22 2018
Br-Online

Interview mit Sant'Egidio Mitgründer Andrea Riccardi

February 22 2018
Sonntagsblatt

Die katholischen 68er

all press releases
• EVENTS
November 16 2017 | FLORENCE, ITALY

Marcia in memoria della deportazione degli ebrei di Firenze

November 5 2017 | GENOA, ITALY

Marcia in memoria della deportazione degli ebrei di Genova

ALL MEETINGS OF PRAYER FOR PEACE
• DOCUMENTS

Dove Napoli 2015

Comunità di Sant'Egidio: Brochure Viva gli Anziani

Analisi dei risultati e dei costi del programma "Viva gli Anziani"

Messaggio del Patriarca ecumenico Bartolomeo I, inviato al Summit Intercristiano di Bari 2015

Marco Impagliazzo

Saluto di Marco Impagliazzo alla liturgia di ringraziamento per il 47° anniversario della Comunità di Sant’Egidio

Omelia del Card. Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, arcivescovo dell’Havana, alla liturgia di ringraziamento per il 47° anniversario della Comunità di Sant’Egidio

all documents

PHOTO

1020 visits

1013 visits

980 visits

994 visits

1073 visits
all the related media