BRAMA, January 26, 2000, 11:00am EST

Babyn Yar memorial must be inclusive: a cautionary note to the government of Ukraine

Canada's Ukrainian community has reacted with caution to a recent announcement that the Government of Ukraine is prepared to help develop a museum at the Babyn Yar (Babi Yar) site, near Kyiv, where thousands of Ukrainian citizens were murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War.

Commenting, Mr J B Gregorovich, chairman of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said,

"Ukraine suffered more losses to its population than any other nation in Nazi-occupied Europe. We support any initiative that will recall that tragic time in Ukraine's modern history. However, we wish to caution the Government of Ukraine against any involvement or endorsement of any museum or commemorative exhibit at Babyn Yar or any other location in Ukraine that would suggest to the public that only one religious minority was singled out for persecution during the Nazi occupation. Millions of Ukrainians were enslaved or exterminated by the Nazis, including several hundred thousand of Ukraine's Jews. Any memorial at Babyn Yar must be inclusive, recalling all of the victims of Nazi tyranny. We also call upon the Government of Ukraine to commit itself to develop a national museum about Soviet war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kyiv and a series of markers at the many sites where the victims of communism, and particularly of the genocidal Great Famine of 1932-33 in Soviet Ukraine, lied buried in mass graves. To focus national and also international attention only on the war crimes and crimes against humanity of the Nazis, while forgetting about the much greater Terror brought to Ukraine by the Soviet regime, would be an affront to the memory of the millions of victims."

For More Information Please Contact:
Mr J B Gregorovich, Chairman, UCCLA, (519) 323-9349
Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association
National Office, Suite 277, 3044 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M8X 2Y8
please visit our website http://www.infoukes.com/uccla

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