Jews in Kyiv commemorated victims of Holocaust in Babyn Yar. PHOTOS

The annual ceremony in memory of the Jews killed in the 1941 mass shootings took place on the territory of the Babyn Yar National Historical and Memorial Reserve.

A joint memorial prayer for representatives of Jewish organisations and communities in Kyiv was held in the Symbolic Synagogue "Place for Reflection" by the Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine, President of the Association of Jewish Religious Organisations, Yaakov Dov Bleich, Censor.NET reports citing Ukrinform.

"In the autumn of 1941, the Nazis shot tens of thousands of Jews at this place. It happened on the eve of Yom Kippur. There is not a single Jewish family left in Kyiv that has not fallen victim to this tragedy. That is why it is so important for us to remember this also because the terror that is now taking place on our land must be stopped," Bleich addressed the audience.

The tragedy at Babyn Yar during the Second World War became a worldwide symbol of the Holocaust. On 29 September 1941, the Nazis began mass executions of the Jewish population of Kyiv in the tract. More than 22,000 people were shot that day. The conveyor belt of death did not stop there, and by mid-October, the number of victims exceeded 50,000.

According to various estimates, between 70 and 150,000 people were killed in Babyn Yar, including 50,000 to 70,000 Jews, as well as Soviet prisoners of war, members of the Ukrainian National Council, Roma, and patients of a psychiatric hospital.