Soviet Killing & Atrocity Centers

September 29th and 30th, 1941, marked the massacre of the Jews of Kiev. Kiev, a major city in the Ukraine, was home to a large Jewish population, estimated as high as 20%. For a few days before, notices were posted that all Jews were to report to a 'waiting area' for deportation. Those failing to meet the appointment faced death, so by 6pm of the posted evening most of the Jewish population of Kiev arrived at the holding area near a ravine in the outskirts of Kiev. The next day, machine gun executions began, as groups were marched forward to the ravine & a mass grave. Victims were forced to disrobe,lie down and shot. Immediately covered for burial, the next group was brought & executed in the same way.

The Ukranian and Nazi Soldiers were part of the "Einsatzgruppen Mobile Killing Units"-an elite corp with locals including Kommandos of the Police trained in mass executions of civilians. Headed by Heydrich, the Einsatzgruppen was one of the early avenues of the "Final Solution". The charges used by the Einsatzgruppen for the slaughter of innocent civilians was always the thought that all Jews were partisans: the exact charges used for victims were: " agitators, drifting juveniles, plunderers, sabateurs, political officials, partisans, plague spreaders, communists, Jews forging prison releases, agents/informants of NKVD, those aiding in false deportations of ethnic Germans, Jewish sadists and 'revengers' & other 'undesireable elements'. The result in 2 days was the death of 33,771 Jewish citizens of Kiev, which precipitated the total death count of over 100,000.

Following the mass execution, the site was turned into a lager/holding prison where many of the remaining deaths occurred, named Syrets. Artisans, were especially sent there in slavery to SS and other guards. Nazis even at the end of the war, reported that no Jewish deaths occurred there & claimed that the Jews slaughtered the Ukranians there: the grave was found far later, confirming Jewish eyewitness reports. Babi Yar/Syret was liberated by the Soviet Army 11-6-43. The ravine outside Kiev, bearing a memorial stone, is counted as the largest mass execution of the Einsatzgruppen during the war years ²