Ukraine To Mark Anniversary Of Babi Yar KIEV, Ukraine -- When
the notices went up in Kiev ordering the Jews to gather on the
corner of Melnyka and Dokterivska streets by 8 a.m., they
assumed the Nazis were shipping them to a ghetto. Some even
arrived early for a good seat on the train. There were no
trains. What met the Jews that morning was death in a ravine
called Babi Yar. The mass murder on the outskirts of the
Ukrainian capital 65 years ago Friday has made the name Babi Yar
infamous and has come to be seen as foreshadowing the gas
chambers and crematoria of the Final Solution. Forced to
undress, the Jews were herded in groups _ men, women and
children _ to the edge of a ravine. For 48 hours, the Nazis
gunned down the crowd until at least 33,771 Jews _ the number
recorded by the German executioners _ were dead. The bodies that
toppled down the embankment would be joined in the ensuing
months by at least another 70,000 dead: Jews, Soviet POWs, other
Kievans. "Time can heal wounds, but it should not erase t