Euroasian Jewish News

Poster of the exhibition

Exhibition “The Holocaust Through the Eyes of Ukraine’s Children”

The Department of Culture of the Kyiv Municipal State Administration, the Kyiv History museum, the Sholem Aleichem museum, the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies (headed by EAJC General Council member Anatoliy Podolsky), the Committee for Commemorating Babiy Yar Victims are holding an exhibition of creative works by participants of the all-Ukrainian “History and Lessons of the Holocaust” competition. The exhibition is titled “The Holocaust Through the Eyes of Ukraine’s Children” and is timed to 72 years since the Babiy Yar tragedy.

The all-Ukrainian competition for research papers and creative works “History and Lessons of the Holocaust” was founded by a teacher from Kyiv, Ilya Medvinskiy, in 2001. It has been held for over 10 years now by the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies together with its partners: the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, the Embassy of Israel, the Embassy of the USA, and so on. The competition went international in 2012. In 2013 it was re-named in the honor of its founder and jury member, Ilya Medvinskiy.

The main goal of the competition is to aid in the study of less-known pages of world and Ukrainian history connected to the history of the Holocaust and the fate of Ukrainian Jews during World War II. Young people who participate in the competition learn the history of the Holocaust as part of their own national history. This is how Ukrainian society helps spread the ideas of tolerance, mutual understanding, and international cooperation.

Over the 13 years of its existence, over 3000 works were submitted to the competition, and over a thousand young Ukrainians have made it to the finals. In recent years, participants from Belarus and Moldova also joined the competition. In 2010, separate categories were created for creative works, such as literary works, art, and movies dedicated to the Holocaust.

The exhibition will also display creative works first presented at the Kyiv competition of research projects titled “Babiy Yar: People, Power, History. 70 Years Since the Tragedy,” which took place in 2010-2011 by the Babiy Yar Committee and the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies with the support of the Embassy of France and with the participation of the Kyiv History museum and the Sholem Aleichem museum.

The opening ceremony will take place at 15:00, September 29, at the Sholem Aleichem museum. The organizators would like to thank Sergei Bukovskiy, Taras Maystrenko, Galina Nahmanovich, Yuri Pisniy, Naum Reznichenko, and the Studio TV+ for their help.

Sholem Aleichem Museum is located at: 5 Vasilkovskaya (Krasnoarmeyskaya str). ARENA-CITY. Tel.: (044) 235-17-34