Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has supported the construction of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center in Kyiv and stressed the importance of honoring the memory of the victims of the genocide, the memorial's press center has told Ukrinform.
According to the report, the head of state emphasized this during a video conference with members of the supervisory board of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Charity Fund.
"Many Ukrainians bear the high title of 'Righteous Among the Nations.' These are Ukrainians who often saved Jews in the Holocaust at the cost of their own lives. The creation of a memorial is very important for our country. There were many tragic pages in its history. However, we must remember them and tell them to our next generations. Such moments should be in the history of Ukraine. They are in our stories, in our memory, in our books. I really want this project to be implemented, and I want us to build history together," Zelensky said.
Nathan Sharansky, chairman of the supervisory board of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Charity Fund, stressed that the history of Babyn Yar is important not only for the Jewish people, but also for other nationalities, including Ukrainians, Belarusians and Poles.
Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko said on the Freedom of Speech program on the ICTV television channel in late June that the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, built by the state, would be opened in 2021.