Babi
Yar+
Babi Yar is a place on the
outskirts of Kiev where more
than 100,000 people were machine gunned to death in a deep ravine
by occupying German forces from 1941 to 1943. Of these souls,
33,771 Jews were murdered in the two-day period September 29-30,
1941. The ravine became a burial place for Jews, Russians,
Ukrainians, Hungarians, Czechs, Gypsies, prisoners of war,
patriots, mentally handicapped and ill people. The Nazis did not
even spare children, old people, pregnant women. Many were shot and
buried alive. When the Russian army eventually reclaimed Kiev two
years later, German forces did their best to unearth the tens of
thousands of rotting corpses and incinerate them, in an attempt to
destroy any evidence of their crimes. The fires were so great, the
light could be seen from downtown Kiev.
before we lay down
together
under gray autumnal
skies
we grasp for loving
hands
tendons braced with fear
at the random intersection
of
Melnykov and Dokterivsky
streets
we queue for non-existent
trains
shed clothes and dignity
before faceless
Einsatzgruppen
clipboards and counting
machines
our cold feet wet with
dew
a boy-faced, Waffen-SS
guard
sporting wooden baton
and blood-soaked pistol,
smiles
then strikes dancing
children
shivering, we gaze
beyond
the steep, wooded ravine
and unexplained hatred
of exhausted MG 34s
to the turquoise Dnieper
wrapping a caressing arm
around Podil's shanty
rooftops
and our fractured
innocence
while Andreevskaya's golden
domes
spin heavenward
ambivalence
to Juden seeking
protection
*****
today, I stand in Babi
Yar
scraped clean and
manicured
transformed by time and
shame
a winter soul touches my
face
monuments and microwave
towers
mark forgotten bones and
anger
generations have since
lapsed
daily living replaces daily
dying
a statue of Babi Yar
children
cheated of life, frozen in
bronze
broken necked dolls, uplifted
arms
quieted by horror, bereft of
love
they seek to reconcile
their
obscene, indefensible
demise
perhaps it is simple:
hatred is easy, love is
difficult
Randy Hurst
Take subway to
station ‘Dorogozhytchy’
Visit babiyar
monument at N50 28.271 E30 26.935
Locate old sepulcher
at N50 28.640 E30 27.735
You are looking for
an old stump 43 meters North-East from the sepulcher