Hromadske Radio: How will Kyiv commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy?
Robert Paul Magocsi, curator of the events to mark the anniversary, speaks about the program planned by the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter.
Iryna Slavinska: The seventy-fifth anniversary is a very serious challenge for Ukraine and for Kyiv in particular. We can certainly expect in Kyiv both major solemn events and activities related to research. I'm aware that the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter is planning to hold a major conference. Let's start our discussion with this.
Robert Paul Magocsi: We are not talking here about a conference, but about a project that we started to plan one and a half years ago, in fact, two years before these activities will take place at the end of this September. What should I say about this project? The Babyn Yar project consists of four parts, or four programs. The first part addresses youth, the second part is a symposium, the third concerns a memorial space, and the fourth a commemorative concert.
Iryna Slavinska: Let's discuss this project perhaps step by step, according to its components. The first mentioned was the project for youth. This is quite noteworthy, because issues that address memory in general, the transmission of memory to younger generations, are rather complicated. Let's talk about that. What is the message that you put into this part of the project intended for youth?
Robert Paul Magocsi: Indeed. The series of programs for youth are a subject of our special concern. I would point out by the way that each of the program components has its own manager who is responsible for it. I am responsible for the concert, and arranged the program. If we are talking about youth, this is under the responsibility of Dr. Ihor Schupak from Dnipropetrovsk. We are planning, in fact, to call and invite 150 young people from different countries. About 90 of them are from different parts of Ukraine and 60 are from abroad: North America, Western Europe, and Israel.
So what do we want? What we are planning to do with youth? There will be a series of so-called public meetings or, as the Americans say, town halls. It's similar to the way electoral campaigns are now held in America. The candidates address the public, who ask questions and comment. We will have various prominent people.
Iryna Slavinska: Are they similar to public lectures?
Robert Paul Magocsi: Public lectures on various topics, not just history. There may be, actually, there certainly will be a history meeting addressing the Holocaust or Babyn Yar. But it could deal with current problems in Ukraine or in the world and so on. This is what the first program is about.
Iryna Slavinska: As for the second part of program, you mentioned a symposium. As far as one may assume, this activity is intended for the academic community.
Robert Paul Magocsi: It's both for academics and the general public. First of all, it's a public symposium. The person in charge is Dr. Liudmyla Hrynevych. They've done something, I might say, unusual. We are planning to publish a new book about Babyn Yar. This does not mean that we organized a conference with papers followed by a book to be published a year or two after. On the contrary. We are initially preparing a book and, in fact, it's already in progress. It's called Babyn Yar: History and Tradition. There will be English and Ukrainian editions, both published by Dukh i Litera Publishers. They will be presented at the symposium. The symposium will in fact be a major book launch.
Iryna Slavinska: And what is between the covers? Is this a collection of articles?
Robert Paul Magocsi: I wouldn't say that this is a collection of articles. I would rather say that we as researchers compiled it as a monograph from the very start. Dr. Vladyslav Hrynevych and I are the chief editors of the monograph. The book has eleven chapters, and each chapter's subject was defined long ago. We engaged different authors to write about a certain subject and not something else, because this is not a collection of articles, but a collective monograph by different authors. For example, there will be an article about Babyn Yar as a historical symbol of the Holocaust, Babyn Yar in memoirs, Babyn Yar in fiction, Babyn Yar in movies, in music. Obviously, there will be an article about what happened in Babyn Yar during those days in late September 1941, but from the perspective of others. We can tell the story as a distinguished historian once wrote about the Byzantine Empire, Byzantium after Byzantium. This means Babyn Yar after Babyn Yar.
Iryna Slavinska: Yes, Babyn Yar after Babyn Yar is, surely, a challenge to memorialization, since Babyn Yar in Kyiv is a very specific place. Everyone knows where it is, and this place has its own context. It has a historic site nearby, St. Cyril's Church, and a hospital. A subway station, residential quarters, an older Soviet monument to the victims of Babyn Yar, and so on are also next to it. I remember that at the beginning of our conversation you also mentioned creating a memorial space as part of the program. Let's talk about that.
Robert Paul Magocsi: Yes, absolutely. The third program is dedicated to memorial space, and...
Iryna Slavinska: A museum or a monument will be created?
Robert Paul Magocsi: Actually, we decided at first to hold an international competition. The competition, under the auspices of the International Union of Architects of Paris and the National Union of Architects of Ukraine, has already been announced. It was announced on December 25th last year. An international jury has been formed, and we refer to a certain concept. We had to formulate it when announcing the competition. We don't want a large monument or a big museum. We understand that Babyn Yar is a holy place. We must approach this with great respect, so it would be a kind of landscape design for the necropolis. One shouldn't forget that this is a place where thousands and thousands of people are buried. First of all, Jews. This project started, unfortunately, with them, But we know that after this, throughout the war, various other people—prisoners of war, Ukrainian nationalists—died there.
Iryna Slavinska: Among them also were famous people, like the writer Olena Teliha. There were the unknown, but also very well known figures.
Robert Paul Magocsi: Yes, obviously. This is our core vision, and we are engaging the world's landscape architects to find a solution, to create a necropolis memorial space, as I said before.
Iryna Slavinska: What is going to happen in September? Will there be a presentation of the winning project?
Robert Paul Magocsi: Well, in fact, on one of these days, to be precise, on September 28th, as we already know, the winner will be announced. Before that, throughout the week, the seven best designs will be exhibited, and on September 28th we will announce who won first, second, and third place. And after that the world's public will know, will be interested, in what the Ukrainian government, state, or city is going to do with this. We can neither dictate nor know, but nevertheless we will give them an impetus and the world’s ideas about it.
Iryna Slavinska: So actually—I just want to make it clear—in September the local authorities will be offered three projects to choose from. But do you know whether there are real plans to create a landscaped park on the Babyn Yar site? Or is it rather a suggestion by the organizers of the conference?
Robert Paul Magocsi: This is a suggestion by the organizer of the project, that... well, it's related to the conference, but also to our major project.
Iryna Slavinska: Our conversation is coming to an end. It's time, in fact, to talk about the fourth part of this multifaceted and multidisciplinary project. This last component is a concert. It is actually a very good tradition, in the best sense of the word, to include concerts as part of such events. I believe we are talking about a symphony concert, not an entertainment. What will it be?
Robert Paul Magocsi: Specifically, on September 29 in the afternoon, an official public event will be held on the site of Babyn Yar. In the evening we are planning a major concert at the Opera. It will engage artists from all over the world. The performers, symphony orchestra, and the choir are from Ukraine. Among the rest will be soloists from Canada, England, Israel, and Germany. The orchestra conductor is Oksana Lyniv, a remarkable conductor who works today in Munich although she's a Ukrainian. By the way, this program, this commemorative concert, is under the direction of Paul Hunka, a prominent singer also from the Munich Opera. He is of Ukrainian descent and lives in England.
The program of this solemn concert will feature three works. The first work is short. It's a form of Jewish prayer by Max Bruch. Then follows the first core part of the program, the “Babyn Yar” Kaddish-Requiem by Stankovych. After the break, Brahms's Requiem. An outstanding designer from Holland will do the staging. In fact, we can say that artists from all over the world will come to pay tribute on this date.
Iryna Slavinska: Thank you, we've heard very detailed plans for September. I am sure that discussions of the upcoming events on 29 September 2016 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the date when the massacres started in Babyn Yar will continue closer to that day and we will hear updates of these plans. This is truly a major event, and I think it is very important how Ukraine will mark this date, since for Kyiv this is a tremendously tragic page of its history.
