This week marks the 80th anniversary of Babyn Yar, the first major massacre of the Holocaust.
In an effort to remember the massacre and memorialize its victims, and to counter attempts at erasing and re-writing history, the National Library of Israel's Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People has recently released never-before-seen photos, part of the archive of Jewish engineer and activist Emmanuel (Amik) Diamant.
Some 35,000 Jews were murdered outside of Kiev on September 29-30, 1941 by the Nazis and their collaborators in one of the Holocaust’s largest massacres. But until the 1960s, the tragic events of Babyn Yar (sometimes spelled "Babi Yar") were largely overshadowed by images of death camps and other Holocaust mass murders.
The Library expressed hope that their collaboration with the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, signed shortly before the massacre’s 80th anniversary, will help scholars better understand the stories of Babyn Yar victims.
Israel's President Isaac Herzog will pay a three-day state visit to Ukraine starting next Tuesday for the anniversary commemoration.