The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve honored the memory of the victims of Babyn Yar. On the 85th anniversary of the tragedy, on September 29, the Bell of Memory and Hope rang out as a reminder of the mass shootings in the Kyiv tract. Over two days, September 29–30, 1941, the Nazis killed almost 34,000 Jews in Babyn Yar — children, women, and men. These events became one of the most tragic pages in Kyiv’s history, and the tract itself became one of the symbols of the Holocaust. The shootings in Babyn Yar continued throughout the Nazi occupation of the city. According to historians, about 100,000 people died here in 1941–1943. Among them were Jews, Roma, prisoners of war, participants in the Ukrainian liberation movement, prisoners of the Syretsk concentration camp, and patients of the Pavlov psychiatric hospital. After the war, the Soviet authorities hushed up and distorted the history of the tragedy, in particular, hiding the Jewish origin of most of the victims. But Ukraine has not forgotten this crime and every year on September 29, it commemorates all those whose lives were cut short at Babyn Yar. The Bell of Memory and Hope rings out daily from the Great Lavra Bell Tower after a nationwide minute of silence at 9:00 a.m. This tradition was started on December 5, 2023, to remember prisoners of war, political prisoners, civilian hostages, missing persons, and deported Ukrainians. Its ringing is also a sign of support for families waiting for the return of their loved ones.
Bell of Memory and Hope: Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Honors Victims of Babyn Yar
