On 19 September 1941, the Germans occupied Kiev, and the Jews were subjected to abuse and persecution from the first days of the occupation. Buildings in central Kiev being used by the German authorities were reduced to rubble by landmines laid by Soviet sappers, and the Germans blamed the city's Jews for this act. On 28 September, the Germans hung signs throughout Kiev instructing the Jews to report at a collection point the following day. They were ordered to bring documents, clothes, money and valuables with them, and warned that failure to report would result in execution. The next day, the Jews gathered at the appointed place, and were marched to the Babi Yar ravine. In the course of two days, 29-30 September (Yom Kippur Eve), 33,771 Jewish men, women and children were murdered at Babi Yar by Einsatzgruppen C soldiers with the assistance of local collaborators. Jews who managed to escape the massacre in September and were discovered in the ensuing months, were brought to Babi Yar and murdered.
Portrayed in this gallery are 80 photographs of Jews murdered at Babi Yar. The photos were submitted to Yad Vashem together with Pages of Testimony memorializing their names; a mute testament to the persecution of an entire Jewish community – from its rabbis, teachers and pupils, to its traders and artisans, philosophers and scientists - men, women, children and babies. Entire families, sometimes four generations – grandfathers and grandmothers, parents and children, brothers and sisters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren – were obliterated in the space of two days. In many cases, no one remained to commemorate the names of the murdered.
Additional photographs of Babi Yar victims can be found in Yad Vashem's online Photo Archive. The online Shoah Victims' Names Database includes the names of tens of thousands of Jews murdered at Babi Yar.
When you click on each photo - you will see the name of the victim and a link to more information on the Page of Testimony submitted in his/her memory.
