Babyn Yar memorial should be built by free people, not by a Soviet person – Head of the National Memory Institute

This was stated by the head of the Ukrainian Institute of national memory Anton Drobovych during the forum "Ukraine 30. Humanitarian policy", reports HFCS.

“This euphemism was used in Soviet times and is written on the monument of 1976 “To the deceased peaceful Soviet citizens”. This phrase doesn't mean anything. It doesn't tell us about people, people, causes, drama. He doesn't say anything. Attempts to dissolve Jewish victims in this euphemism are a crime of the highest cynicism,” Drobovych said.

According to him, the Soviet Union decided to dissolve Jewish victims in the so-called “Soviet man” construct.

"Soviet man” what kind of person is this? This is a person who has no family nor roots. Only class affiliation and obedience to the party. To paraphrase Dostoevsky, a ”Soviet man" should be either a "trembling creature" or a ”squealer". Only two modalities of a “Soviet man” could survive in the Soviet Union. Only two versions of the “Soviet man” were built by the Soviet Union,” said the head of the Institute of National Memory.
Anton Drobovych called it a terrible thing, especially in the context when modern figures, oligarchs, directors, etc. call themselves “Soviet people”.

"This is a very dangerous trend. I would very much like Babyn Yar (Babyn Yar memorial complex – ed.) to be built not by “Soviet man”, but by Babyn Yar to be built, perhaps taking into account the experience of “Soviet man”, but remembering what kind of “Soviet man” it is. So that those who can think freely build it. Which can talk about human rights and act in the context of human rights,” Anton Drobovych stressed.

In April last year, the artistic director of the Babyn Yar Memorial Ilya Hrzhanovsky, said in an interview with Polit.ru that he was a “Soviet man”.