»The surrounding silence screams« – A witness talks about the massacre of Babi Yar
The event »The surrounding silence screams« was organized by the Foundation »Remembrance, Responsibility and Future« (EVZ) as a reminder of the Holocaust in the occupied Soviet Union. The witness Viktor Stadnik, one of the few survivors, will talk about the mass murder at the ravine of Babi Yar. The event will take place at the Information Centre, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, on September 27, at 7 p.m.
Seventy years ago, on September 29 and 30, 1941, following the occupation of Kiev by the German Wehrmacht, the Einsatzgruppe C (task force), helped by Ukrainian militia, murdered 33,771 Jewish children, women, and men from Kiev in the ravine of Babi Yar.
»This massacre has become the synonym for the Holocaust of Soviet Jews: Most of them were gathered in their home towns immediately following the German occupation, shot, suffocated in gas vans, or torn up by grenades«, stresses Dr Martin Salm, chairman of the Foundation »Remembrance, Responsibility and Future« (EVZ).
Uwe Neumärker, Director of the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, adds: »The conversation with Mr Stadnik will contribute to broadening the awareness in Germany of the scope of mass shootings of Jewish children, women, and men in eastern Europe by members of the SS and local helpers.«
Sabine Adler, journalist and author, will moderate the conversation. I. E. Natalie Zarudna, Ukrainian ambassador, will open the evening. The event »The surrounding silence screams« was organized in cooperation with the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst. It is the fourth part of a series of events initiated by the Foundation EVZ to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
Further information:
www.stiftung-evz.de/termine/2011/2709-das-schweigen-ringsum-70-jahre-ueberfall/
Contact:
Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ)
Press and Public Relations, Dietrich Wolf Fenner
Lindenstr. 20 – 25 / 10969 Berlin
Phone: +49(0)30 – 259297-76
Email: fenner [at] stiftung-evz.de
Internet:http://www.stiftung-evz.de
