by Menachem Rephun

World Jewish Congress leaders recently visited Ukraine in connection with the 75th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre, in which over 33,000 Jews were murdered by the Nazis in 1941.

“Babi Yar is one of the most infamous pieces of ground in the entire world,” World Jewish Congress leader Ronald Lauder said. “Tens of thousands of our people were killed there for only one reason: because they were Jewish.”

Lauder noted Ukrainian collaboration with the Nazis to murder Kiev’s Jews.

“While Babi Yar was organized by the Nazis, there were willing helpers in the Ukrainian militia,” Lauder said. “This happened all across Europe. In almost every occupied country, local people helped the Germans round up their Jews.”

With that said, Lauder reserved praise for Ukrainians who “risked their lives to save their Jewish neighbors.” Lauder said that collaboration with the Nazis was typical throughout Europe.

“In some cases, the locals were even more enthusiastic in their killing than the Nazis,” Lauder said. “And that is what happened at Babi Yar. Seventy-five years later, we are here to remember everything. We are here to try to learn lessons from this horror. ”

Under the Soviet regime as recently as 25 years ago Kiev’s Jews were prevented from openly practicing their faith, Lauder said.

“They were singled out with by the Soviet government because they were Jewish,” he explained. “Jews could not teach their children about their religion. Jews could not study. Jews could not pray together. They could not celebrate any of the rituals of their religion without fear of being thrown into prison.”

Lauder extolled the “many incredibly brave people [who] stood up to this intolerance and risked everything, their jobs, their health and what little freedom they had because they wanted one of the basic human rights the right to choose their God and practice their religion. We called them refuseniks because they refused to give up their Judaism. They refused to surrender to the Soviet regime.”

“We are here to celebrate the rebirth of a strong Jewish community here in Ukraine,” Lauder concluded. “This rebirth is nothing short of a miracle.”

Ukraine now boasts a “thriving Jewish community that celebrates bar mitzvahs, weddings and brit milah,” Lauder said. “There are Jewish schools where Jewish children learn. Parents no longer live in fear when they teach their children. Who would have believed this?”

The dinner was opened with a moment of silence for Shimon Peres, Israel’s 9th president who passed away this week. Lauder announced that his visit to the Ukraine would be cut short so he could travel to Israel for Peres’s funeral.

Full article here.