- Drobitsky Yar
Drobitsky Yar is a ravine 8-12km south east from
Kharkiv ,Ukraine . In December 1941,Nazi troops invading theSoviet Union began killing local inhabitants over the following year. At the end of this period, some 30,000 people, mainlyJew s were killed. Notably onDecember 15 ,1941 , when the temperature was −15 degrees Celsius (+5 °F), over 15,000 Jews were shot.Nazi s also executedRussia ns, Ukrainians andArmenia ns at this site.Memorial
In the beginning of the 1990s, an artistic contest was held for the best design of the memorial which is supposed to immortalize the thousands of citizens who perished from hands of the
Nazi s. Twenty-nine designs were submitted. The winner was the architectA. Leibfreid . The construction of the complex was lasted several years and was then suspended due to the lack of funds. The location of the memorial is at 49°56'5.23"N 36°26'55.36"E.At a meeting in late August 2001, the
Kharkiv Oblast administration decided to resume the construction of the memorial. The oblast authorities supervised the construction process. The Cabinet of Ministers ofUkraine allotted 600,000hryvna s for the construction. Contributions have also been made by city andoblast administrations, as well as by sponsors.On
December 13 ,2002 , the President ofUkraine ,Leonid Kuchma , opened the memorial.The main part of the memorial is a monument symbolizing a
synagogue with theTen Commandments between its columns; most notably: "Do not kill". The memorial begins with a monument stylized under a Jewishmenorah . A road leads from a blackmenorah to a white main building of the complex. Thousands ofKharkiv Jew s took their last path along it in 1941-1942. These dates are found on the wall of the main arched building. Underground is a hall of memory; the wall will bear the names of the victims who are known to have died.The territory includes two burials area. One trenches is 100 metres long and the other is 60 m. The
Kharkov archives contain data of fifteen thousand victims. However, the "Drobitsky Yar" foundation considers the number of the dead to be thirty thousand.180 tonsvague of a
Zhytomyr granite was used in the construction of the memorial. This is the same material that was used forLenin 's Mausoleum. Due to thegranite 's particular qualities (it has reddish veins), the stones lying atmenorah 's foot seem to bleed. [ [http://www.jewukr.org/observer/jo24_43/p0204_e.html Observer] ]Museum
On
January 27 ,2002 , a new exposition in theKharkiv City Holocaust Museum was officially opened. The exposition was created in December 2001, whenKharkiv commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Drobitsky Yar tragedy. Excursions to the ravine had already been held before, but the official openning was onJanuary 27 . Six candles were lit in memory of the six million Jews, who died in theHolocaust . [ [http://holocaustmuseum.pochta.org/index.html Museum website (in Russian)] ]References
External links
* [http://www.kholokostmemorial.org/main.php Kharkov Charitable fund "to Victims of Holocaust in Drobitskiy Yar"]
* [http://www.artukraine.com/historical/kharkivmon.htm Memorial information]
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