The Drobytsky Yar Ashes Exhibition devoted to the 75th anniversary of ma will be opened in the massacre of Kharkiv Jews in Drobytsky Yar opened in the AVEC Gallery today, December 13. It includes nearly 50 exhibits, which are directly connected with the victims of the Holocaust in Kharkiv. During the exhibition’s opening ceremony, a film with videoframes of Kharkiv in the time of the city’s occupation by fascists and photos of the residents of Kharkiv who died in Drobytsky Yar were demonstrated.
“The exhibits of this exhibition and the film speak volumes, as it is difficult to add something to this,” Ukrainian MP, the president of Kharkiv Regional United Jewish Community Oleksandr Feldman noted. “As long as the fallen are remembered, their souls are among us. I would like to ask young people, who are here now, not to allow this to be forgotten. Pick up the baton from the elders, because every generation must make everything possible not to admit the similar tragedies to happen again. It is the most important thing, especially during the current difficult times.”
Oleksandr Feldman also presented the Verkhovna Rada’s letter of commendation to the director of the Drobytsky Yar Memorial Iryna Ferentseva.
The exhibition is built on the contrast: the part of the exhibit demonstrates the peaceful life of Kharkiv Jews, including the pictures by Kharkiv artists devoted to the pre-war life of Jews, the everyday objects from their apartments (for example, sewing machine, gramophone). The second part directly demonstrates the tragedy of 1941 – a waistcoat with the sewn on yellow star, buttons and fragments of plates found in the place of Jewish ghetto in the KhTZ district. The exhibition also presents the archival documents, the so-called ‘yellow lists’ (the door-to-door lists, which included the information about the Jews), photos, newspapers, leaflets dating back to the period of the occupation by Nazi Germany, letters and memoirs of eyewitnesses, stands with the information from the archives about the shot children. The exhibits were provided by the Drobytsky Yar Memorial, the Holocaust Museum, and by the relatives of those who died.
The Drobytsky Yar Ashes Exhibition will be open in the AVEC Gallery (70, Sumska Str.) through December 20, every day, from 10 A.M. to 8 P.M. The entrance is free.
It should be reminded that after the occupation of Kharkiv in October 1941, the victimization of Jews began. On December 14, at the command of the commandant of the city, all Jews were forced to move to the ghetto barracks located in the KhTZ district. The liquidation of Kharkiv ghetto started on December 27, 1941: under pretence of sending people to work, the fascist began to take the Jews from the ghetto to Drobytsky Yar in the eastern outskirts to shoot them there. Kharkiv Jewish ghetto ceased to exist on January 7, 1942. Roma and captive Red Army soldiers were also executed in the ravine. The total of 16,000-20,000 persons were killed.
On the whole, Nazi killed nearly 6 million Jews during the years of the World War II.
