On 16th March 2018, the Memorandum of Cooperation to establish the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Center in the territory of Kyiv was solemnly signed in Kyiv between: the Ministry of Culture represented by Yevhen Nyshchuk, Minister of Culture of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine represented by Volodymyr Kovtunets, the First Deputy Minister, Kyiv City Council represented by Vitalii Klitschko, Kyiv Mayor, Babi Yar National Historical Memorial Preserve represented by Borys Glazunov, Director General, Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Center represented by Gennadii Verbylenko, CEO.
The goal of the document is to create a memorial complex in the territory of Kyiv to memorialize the Holocaust and the Babi Yar tragedy. The parties have agreed on and documented their participation, consulting and coordination of the process of establishing the future Center.
Opening the solemn signing of the Memorandum, Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko thanked the audience and said: “As Kyiv Mayor, I want to emphasize once again the importance of establishing such a Memorial Center in the Ukrainian capital. The city, the experts of profile departments have already been actively working on the project. And we invite ministers to join this work. After all, only by combining the efforts of all parties, we can successfully implement the project of creating a Memorial Center in the capital. ”
“One could hardly imagine the development of such a project without involvement of the ministries, support of the city and profile cultural organizations. We are all at the very beginning of the great path to the sacred place of historical memory, that is why I am sure that this Memorandum is yet another step towards creation of the Holocaust Memorial Center in Kyiv“, – BYHMC CEO Gennadii Verbylenko said.
Yevhen Nyshchuk, the Minister of Culture of Ukraine, noted that such a project is important for our country: “Memorialization of tragic pages of the people and preservation of its memory is extremely important for our common future. The brutal and cynical destruction of thousands of people of different nationalities during the Nazi occupation, and therefore the long-lasting omission of these terrible crimes in times of Soviet regime, requires the disclosure and comprehension, and, most importantly, learning of those terrible lessons. We face a lot of responsibility and a lot of work, but I am confident that we will be able to achieve the goal through cooperation. “
Signing the Memorandum, the authorized representative from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the First Deputy Minister, Volodymyr Kovtunets noted: “Education and knowledge is the most effective vaccine we can give to the younger generation to prevent the repetition of such tragedies. I hope that in partnership with the Memorial Center we will be able to hold informational, educational, scientific events, develop innovative programs, and disseminate knowledge about the Holocaust. This partnership will only contribute to our educational mission. We must do our best to make repetition of such tragedies impossible.”
Yana Barinova, COO of the project, added: “This memorandum is a rare but very successful example of a public-private partnership – an efficient tool worldwide. I hope that in the near future we will create working groups with the involvement of profile institutions’ experts that would help to improve performance of the BYHMC.”
This step on the part of the Government is a unique confirmation of the country’s interest in creation of the Memorial, while further strengthening of cooperation is aimed at improving democracy and raising tolerance in Ukrainian society.
