The
Majestic Ravine
Babi
Yar is the name of a ravine in the northwestern section of Kiev. A. Anatoli
described the ravine as "enormous, you might even say majestic: deep and
wide, like a mountain gorge. If you stood on one side of it and shouted you
would scarcely be heard on the other."8
It
was here that the Nazis shot the Jews.
In
Kiev, the Nazis murdered approximately 100,000 people in a ravine named Babi
Yar. The killing began with a large group on September 29-30, 1941, but continued
for months.
The
German Takeover
After
the Nazis attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, they pushed east. By
September 19, they had reached Kiev. It was a confusing time for the
inhabitants of Kiev. Though a large portion of the population had family either
in the Red Army or had evacuated into the interior of the Soviet Union, many
inhabitants welcomed the German Army's takeover of Kiev. Many believed the
Germans would free them from Stalin's oppressive regime. In only days, they
would see the true face of the invaders.
Explosions
Looting
began immediately. Then the Germans moved into Kiev's downtown on Kreshchatik
Street. On September 24 - five days after the Germans entered Kiev - a bomb
exploded around four o'clock in the afternoon at the German headquarters. The
Germans were shocked. Then they cordoned off the area and gathered people in
the vicinity as suspects. Then another building on Kreshchatik exploded. The
Germans - and those they had assembled - fled for safety.
For
days, bombs exploded in buildings in the Kreshchatik that had been occupied by
Germans. Many Germans and civilians were killed and injured.
After
the war, it was determined that a group of NKVD members were left behind by the
Soviets to offer some resistance against the conquering Germans. But during the
war, the Germans decided it was the work of Jews, and retaliated for the
bombings against the Jewish population of Kiev.
The
Notice
By
the time the bombings finally stopped on September 28, the Germans already had
a plan for retaliation. On this day, the Germans posted a notice all over town
that read:
All [Jews] living in the city of Kiev and its vicinity
are to report by 8 o'clock on the morning of Monday, September 29th, 1941, at
the corner of Melnikovsky and Dokhturov Streets (near the cemetery). They are
to take with them documents, money, valuables, as well as warm clothes,
underwear, etc. Any [Jew] not carrying out this instruction and who is found
elsewhere will be shot. Any civilian entering flats evacuated by [Jews] and
stealing property will be shot.
Most
people in town, including the Jews, thought this notice meant deportation. They
were wrong.
Reporting
for Deportation
On
the morning of September 29, tens of thousands of Jews arrived at the appointed
location. Some arrived extra early in order to ensure themselves a seat on the
train.2
A
large crowd formed. Each person held onto their family members and belongings.
Children were crying. They couldn't see what was happening up ahead.
Most
waited hours in this crowd - only slowly moving toward what they thought was a
train.
The
Front of the Line
Soon
after people passed through the gate into the Jewish cemetery, they reached the
front of the mass of people. Here, they were to leave their baggage. Some in
the crowd wondered how they would be reunited with their possessions; some
believed it would be sent in a luggage van.3
The
Germans were counting out only a few people at a time and then letting them
move farther on. Machine-gun fire could be heard nearby. For those that
realized what was happening and wanted to leave, it was too late. There was a
barricade staffed by Germans who were checking identification papers of those
wanting out. If the person was Jewish, they were forced to remain.
In
Small Groups
Taken
from the front of the line in groups of ten, they were led to a corridor, about
four or five feet wide, formed by rows of soldiers on each side.4 The
soldiers were holding sticks and would hit the Jews as they went by.
There was no question of being able to dodge or get away.
Brutal blows, immediately drawing blood, descended on their heads, backs and
shoulders from left and right. The soldiers kept shouting: "Schnell,
schnell!" laughing happily, as if they were watching a circus act; they
even found ways of delivering harder blows in the more vulnerable places, the
ribs, the stomach and the groin.5
Screaming
and crying, the Jews exited the corridor of soldiers onto an area overgrown
with grass.6 Here they were ordered to undress.
Those who hesitated had their clothes ripped off them by
force, and were kicked and struck with knuckledusters or clubs by the Germans,
who seemed to be drunk with fury in a sort of sadistic rage.7
In
small groups of ten, the Jews were taken along the edge of the ravine. One of
the very few survivors remembers she "looked down and her head swam, she
seemed to be so high up. Beneath her was a sea of bodies covered in
blood."9
Once
the Jews were lined up, the Nazis used a machine-gun to shoot them. When shot,
they fell into the ravine. Then the next were brought along the edge and shot.
According
to the Einsatzgruppe Operational Situation Report No. 101, 33,771 Jews were
killed at Babi Yar on September 29 and 30.10 But
this was not the end of the killing at Babi Yar.
More
Victims
The
Nazis next rounded up Gypsies and killed them at Babi Yar. Patients of the
Pavlov Psychiatric Hospital were gassed and then dumped into the ravine. Soviet
prisoners of war were brought to the ravine and shot. Thousands of other
civilians were killed at Babi Yar for trivial reasons, such as a mass shooting
in retaliation for just one or two people breaking a Nazi order.
The
killing continued for months at Babi Yar. It is estimated that 100,000 people
were murdered there.
Destroying
the Evidence
By
mid-1943, the Germans were on the retreat; the Red Army was advancing west.
Soon, the Red Army would liberate Kiev and its surroundings. The Nazis, in an
effort to hide their guilt, tried to destroy evidence of their killings - the
mass graves at Babi Yar. This was to be a gruesome job, so they had prisoners
do it.
The
Prisoners
Not
knowing why they had been chosen, 100 prisoners from the Syretsk concentration
camp (near Babi Yar) walked toward Babi Yar thinking they were to be shot. They
were surprised when Nazis attached shackles onto them. Then surprised again
when the Nazis gave them dinner.
At
night, the prisoners were housed in a cave-like hole cut into the side of the
ravine. Blocking the entrance/exit was an enormous gate, locked with a large
padlock. A wooden tower faced the entrance, with a machine-gun aimed at the
entrance to keep watch over the prisoners.
327
prisoners, 100 of whom were Jews, were chosen for this horrific work.
The
Ghastly Work
On
August 18, 1943, the work began. The prisoners were divided into brigades, each
with its own part of the cremation process. Prisoners didn't necessarily work
for one brigade the whole time, they could be switched to do other duties.
Digging:
·
Some
prisoners had to dig into the mass graves. Since there were numerous mass graves
at Babi Yar, most had been covered with dirt. These prisoners removed the top
layer of dirt in order to expose the corpses.
Hooking:
Having fallen into the pit after having been shot and
having been underground for up to two years, many of the bodies had twisted
together and were difficult to remove from the mass. The Nazis had constructed
a special tool to disentangle and pull/drag the corpses. This tool was metal
with one end shaped into a handle and the other shaped into a hook.
The
prisoners who had to pull the corpses out of the grave would place the hook
under the corpse's chin and pull - the body would follow the head.
Sometimes the bodies were so firmly stuck together that
two or three of them came out with one hook. It was often necessary to hack
them apart with axes, and the lower layers had to be dynamited several times.11
The
Nazis drank vodka to drown out the smell and the scenes; the prisoners weren't
even allowed to wash their hands.12
Removing Valuables:
After the bodies were pulled out of the
mass grave, a few prisoners with pliers would search the victim's mouths for
gold. Other prisoners would remove clothing, boots, etc. from the bodies.
(Though the Jews had been forced to undress before they were killed, later
groups were often shot fully clothed.)
Cremating the Bodies:
After the bodies had been checked for
valuables, they were to be cremated. The pyres were carefully constructed for
efficiency.
Granite
tombstones were brought from the nearby Jewish cemetery and laid flat on the
ground. Wood was then stacked on top of it. Then the first layer of bodies was
carefully laid on top of the wood so that their heads were on the outside. The
second layer of bodies was then carefully placed on the first, but with the
heads on the other side. Then, the prisoners placed more wood. And again,
another layer of bodies was placed on top - adding layer after layer.
Approximately 2,000 bodies would be burned at the same time.13
To
start the fire, gasoline was doused over the pile of bodies.
The [stokers] got the fire going underneath and also
carried burning torches along the rows of projecting heads. The hair, soaked in
oil [gasoline], immediately burst into bright flame - that was why they had
arranged the heads that way.14
Crushing the Bones:
\The ashes from the pyre were scooped up and brought to
another group of prisoners. Since there were usually large pieces of bone that
had not burned in the fire, they needed to be crushed to fully destroy the
evidence of Nazi atrocities. Jewish tombstones were taken from the nearby
cemetery to crush the bones. Prisoners then passed the ashes through a sieve,
looking for large bone pieces that needed to be further crushed as well as
searching for gold and other valuables.
Planning an Escape
The prisoners worked for six
weeks at their gruesome task. Though they were exhausted, starving, and filthy,
these prisoners still held on to life. There had been a couple of earlier
escape attempts by individuals, after which, a dozen or more other prisoners
were killed in retaliation. Thus, it was decided amongst the prisoners that the
prisoners would have to escape as a group. But how were they to do this? They
were hindered by shackles, locked in with a large padlock, and aimed at with a
machine gun. Plus, there was at least one informer among them.
Several escape plans were
considered but all seemed doomed to complete failure. Fyodor Yershov finally
came up with a plan that would certainly not let everyone escape, but hopefully
would allow at least a few of the prisoners to reach safety.
While working, the prisoners
often found small items that the victims had brought with them to Babi Yar -
not knowing they were to be murdered. Among these items were scissors, tools,
and keys. The escape plan was to gather items that would help remove the
shackles, find a key that would unlock the padlock, and find items that could
be used to help them attack the guards. Then they would break their shackles,
unlock the gate, and run past the guards, hoping to avoid being hit by
machine-gun fire.
This escape plan, especially
in hindsight, seemed nearly impossible. Yet, the prisoners broke into groups of
ten to search for the needed items.
The group that was to search
for the key to the padlock had to sneak and try hundreds of different keys in order
to find the one that worked. One day, one of the few Jewish prisoners, Yasha
Kaper, found a key that worked.
The plan was almost ruined by
an accident. One day, while working, an SS man hit a prisoner. When the
prisoner landed on the ground, there was a rattling sound. The SS man soon
discovered that the prisoner was carrying scissors (to be used in the escape).
The SS man wanted to know what the prisoner was planning on using the scissors
for. The prisoner replied, "I wanted to cut my hair." The SS man did
not believe the prisoner and then began to beat the prisoner, often repeating
the question. The prisoner could have easily revealed the escape plan, but did
not. After the prisoner had lost consciousness, but was not yet dead, he was
thrown onto the fire.15
Having the key and other
needed materials, the prisoners realized they needed to set a date for the
escape. Though they realized that their job was coming to an end, thus would be
soon killed, they were not sure exactly when this would happen. On September
29, for an unknown reason, one of the SS officers, Vogt, warned the prisoners
that they were going to be killed the following day. The date for the escape
was set for that night.
The Escape
·
Around two o'clock that
night, the prisoners tried to unlock the padlock. Though it took two turns of
the key to unlock the lock, after the first turn, the lock made a noise which
alerted the guards. The prisoners managed to make it back to their bunks before
they were seen. Worried that another such noise would make the guards extremely
suspicious, they decided to wait until the guard was changed.
·
After the change in
guard, the prisoners tried turning the lock a second turn. This time the lock
did not make a noise and opened. The known informer was killed in his sleep.
The rest of the prisoners were woken up and all worked on removing their
shackles. The guards noticed the noise from the removal of the shackles and
came to investigate.
·
One prisoner thought
quickly and told the guards that the prisoners were fighting over the potatoes
that the guards had left in the bunker earlier. The guards thought this was
funny and left.
·
Twenty minutes later,
the prisoners rushed out of the bunker en masse in an effort to escape. Some of
the prisoners came upon guards and attacked them; others kept on running. The
machine gun operator didn't want to shoot because, in the dark, he was afraid
he would hit some of his own men.
·
Out of all the
prisoners, only 15 succeeded in escaping.
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