Video & Audio Podcast
from Ukraine
Produced by Radio La Benevolencija HTF © 2016-2018
Partner in Ukraine: Roma Woman Fund Chiricli
Directed by: Orhan Galjus
Edited by: Roma Woman Fund Chiricli
Production: Adriana Costa Souza
Production coordinator in Ukraine: Juliya Kondur
BABI YAR
HOLOCAUST BY BULLETS
The single largest Holocaust massacre in Europe took place in Babi Yar, a ravine near the Ukrainian capital Kiev, where German forces and local Ukrainian collaborators killed by bullets around 100.000 people, mostly Jews, but also a large number of Roma, Communists and Soviet POW. This practice of extermination has come to be designated as the “Holocaust by bullets” or “genocide by mass shooting.”
MASS SHOOTINGS OF THE ROMA
THE NAZI IDEOLOGICAL CONCEPT OF RACE
After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the Romani victims of Samudaripen in Ukraine were not deported to extermination camps, but instead killed in mass shootings. The massacres were carried out by German forces and the local Ukrainian collaborators. The victims were killed in and around their villages, often before the eyes of their neighbors, and the bodies were left in the mass graves.
Subtitles and Language settings: click [CC] to choose available subtitles.
This is a version with English graphics. Click here for version in Romani.
In this video, in order of appearance:
Artur Zolotarenko, Babi Yar Museum; Mikhail Tyaglyy, PhD Historian, Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies; Nikolai Zimenko, activist; Zola Kondur, Roma Women Fund Chirikli; Roman Zimenko, student, activist; Rani Romani, Roma poet;
Subtitles and Language settings: click [CC] to choose available subtitles.
This is a version with English graphics. Click here for version in Romani.
In this video, in order of appearance:
Gerald Kuznetsov, eyewitness; Mikhail Tyaglyy, PhD Historian, Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies; Alexander Lomako, Deputy Head of Chernihiv City Council; Maria Ivanova, Lawyer; Zola Kondur, Roma Women Fund Chirikli;
Audio version:
Music: White Atlantis by Sergey Cheremisinov, Night II by Swelling, and some excerpts from the music of Barcelona Gipsy BalKan Orchestra
Highlighted Keywords
Think and Reflect
Some of the most significant statements by the interviewees, the “keywords”, are selected for further discussion and examination. The quotes are presented together with the respective screenshots from the video. Each quote is related to one of the 12 themes (this is marked above each screenshot). Review and discuss the selected quotes. You might also:
Find the selected quote in the video. Listen again to the whole conversation.
Analyze what can we learn from the selected quote.
If it is a testimony/personal experience: when and where did it happen? Who were the protagonists? Describe what happened.
Do you have any similar personal experiences, or other knowledge that helps you understand the described event/experience better?
Why, in your opinion, is the selected quote related to that particular theme. Could it also be related to some of the other proposed themes? Explain.
Watch the video again and find other significant quotes or other moments that made impression on you. Explain why did you choose it, and how did you understand it.
Relate the quote you have chosen with one of the 13 themes. Explain.
Theme:
Recognition
Theme:
Persecution
Theme:
Lasting Imprints
Theme:
Continuity of Discrimination
From video 1:
BABI YAR
Being children, the witnesses of the tragedy told us that they could see from their houses, roofs and lofts how this whole huge pit was breathing by half- dead people, and how the blood flowing as a river was reaching the witnesses’ houses.
Artur Zolotarenko, Babi Yar Museum;
From video 1:
BABI YAR
The anti-Roma policy in occupied Ukraine came down to the extermination of the Roma. This was happening mostly in a way that the Roma were not deported to the concentration camps such as Auschwitz. It was not the case. Actually, the killing was occurring right at the place. Today, modern historians call it “Holocaust by bullets”.
Mikhail Tyaglyy, PhD Historian, Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies;
From video 1:
BABI YAR
Fascists arrived on trucks, took the family in, and brought them to Babi Yar, where they killed them. At that moment, my mother and her elder brother were not home – and only because of that they stayed alive.
Nikolai Zimenko, activist;
From video 1:
BABI YAR
After 75 years from the Babi Yar tragedy, the situation has changed for the better. Yet, today we still see persecutions and assaults on Roma, Roma settlements or families simply due to their Roma origins. There are many types of discrimination of the Roma in Ukraine. For example, discrimination on access to education and labour market.
Zola Kondur, Roma Women Fund Chirikli;
Theme:
Shared History and Roma Identity
Theme:
Persecution
Theme:
Continuity of Discrimination
Theme:
Challenges Today
From video 1:
BABI YAR
Our common history helps us to find the points of contact in order to move ahead. This is a very important part of our identity.
Roman Zimenko, student, activist;
From video 2:
MASS SHOOTINGS OF THE ROMA
Already in the morning, before going to the place of shootings, the Nazis were already drinking schnapps, because it was absolutely unbearable for a person to withstand such horrors, especially when women and children were being killed.
Gerald Kuznetsov, eyewitness;
From video 2:
MASS SHOOTINGS OF THE ROMA
When looking at what happened to Roma in Chernihiv, the killings were happening by the very same scheme as the Nazi were approaching the Jews. So, in fact, there was the same sequence of actions: registration, migration ban, forced labour, robberies, gathering and departure to jail.
Mikhail Tyaglyy, PhD Historian, Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies;
From video 2:
MASS SHOOTINGS OF THE ROMA
Roma are ordinary inhabitants who enjoy and are entitled to the very same rights as Ukrainians, Russians, Jews or Polish people who also live here.
Alexander Lomako, Deputy Head of Chernihiv City Council;
Theme:
Challenges Today
Theme:
Challenges Today
Theme:
Shared History and Roma Identity
From video 2:
MASS SHOOTINGS OF THE ROMA
In some cities we can see a willingness of local authorities to make steps towards resolving certain issues, by taking affirmative actions. However, not always do we see the understanding among Roma themselves to make something to trigger a change in their lives. Yet, it is not because they do not want this to happen, but because they are not aware of how to make it in the right way, or are there opportunities and another life style.
Zola Kondur, Roma Women Fund Chirikli;
From video 2:
MASS SHOOTINGS OF THE ROMA
To all the Roma who watch this video, also in other countries, I want to say – Don’t be afraid of standing for your rights. Educate your children; they are your defenders.
Maria Ivanova, Lawyer;
From video 1:
BABI YAR
I AM HUMAN
Poem by Rani Romani
I am human.
To you I am saying in this way
how Roma people talk
I have his blood;
I have his heart and soul.
Wherever we live, wherever we go,
we understand each other.
We are in solidarity with one another.
When we meet, we bow to the other
When we are greeting
in our truly Romani language,
we wish each other strength,
luck and happiness.
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