Igor Schupak: ‘Babi Yar is not a tragedy for the Jews of Ukraine, but a tragedy for Ukraine, Europe, and the whole of humanity’
Kyiv hosted the International Conference “The historical memory of the war and the Holocaust,” dedicated to the 71st anniversary of the Babi Yar tragedy.
“The conference has a small number of participants, but it is large due to the quality of those present here: it brings together top academics from Poland, Israel, USA, Canada, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine,” says Igor Schupak, director of the Tkumah Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies, the organizer of the conference. The event was conducted jointly with the Nova Doba Ukrainian Association of Teachers of History and Social Sciences, UJE (Ukrainian Jewish Encounter in Canada), the Jewish Foundation of Ukraine, supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of Ukraine, in cooperation with a number of Ukrainian and international agencies and organizations. The conference was held at the House of Scientists.
Particular attention during the conference was drawn to on the righteous of the world – people who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. “If a Dutchman or Dane rescued a Jew in Western Europe, he was fined or arrested for several weeks. Due to the Nazi racial policies and stance toward Slavs, if a Ukrainian saved a Jew, then the Ukrainian was killed along with his family. Ukraine ranks fourth in the world today by the number of righteous people of the world, although our study began only in 1991 – Holland, Poland, and France, which occupy the first places, began to research them immediately after the war. We really have ten times more people who saved Jews than we have righteous among the nations in the world. Metropolitan Andriy, blessed Omelyan Kowcz, the Hlaholyev family, ordinary people, atheists and communists, Christians and liberals – people who did extraordinary deeds,” says Ihor Schupak. And he adds that massive heroism is a Soviet concept; in fact, heroism is a rare and unique phenomenon.
The head of the Tkumah center stresses that “the Holocaust is not a tragedy for the Jews of Ukraine, but a tragedy for Ukraine, Europe, and the whole of humanity. Katyn is not only a tragedy for Poles, but a tragedy for both Russia and Ukraine, and Europe, and humanity. Since the Holocaust took place in almost all European countries, even in neutral territories like Switzerland, it had an unprecedented scale – and from this example we can explore other genocides: the famine of the Ukrainian people and the tragedies of Darfur, Cambodia, Rwanda, and Armenia. The Holocaust is a universal example, which simultaneously has characteristics of universality and unprecedented features.”
“Our histories complement each other; bodies of both Ukrainians and Jews lie together in the ground of Babi Yar. The formation of the modern Ukrainian identity suffers from stereotypes and needs encounters,” Berel Rodal, Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, said in a speech during the conference.
Dieter Pohl, an Austrian professor, notes that the Holocaust became a central theme in the memory of the war only in the 1990s; however, today it is the center of all historical identity in Europe. “Recognition of the memory of the Holocaust is a ticket to the European community,” says the historian.
Igor Schupak is not complaining about the Ukrainian government policies toward the memory of the Holocaust: “I think the main thing that a state can do is not interfere. It is important that at the state level it was decided to celebrate the International Day of the Holocaust on January 27. September 27-29, the anniversary of the Babi Yar tragedy, is also observed, but most important is the daily work to preserve historical memory. I am proud that Ukraine was the first country in the former Soviet Union to include the Holocaust as compulsory school subject in the course of world history and the history of Ukraine.”
In his opinion, the Ukrainian society is not tolerant enough for the situation of Holocaust memory improved. “We have manifestations of anti-Semitism, and Ukrainophobia or Russophobia, there are certain attitudes about Africans, Asians, there are skinheads – for this reason I believe the situation in Ukraine normal. This is in Israel and in France, and in any other country, and another thing is what part of society understands that this is the attitude of a marginal part of the population, that it is a hopeless attitude, an attitude spawned by ignorance, bad manners, lack of historical memorials. Also, we cannot think that the memory of the Holocaust will be stronger than the general historical memory in the country,” said Schupak.
On September 30 participants of the conference held a ceremony honoring the victims of Babi Yar. Also at the conference was the presentation of new books by Professor Vladyslav Hrynevych “Untamed Discord: World War II and Social and Political Attitudes in Ukraine, 1939 – June 1941.”
Olha Makar
