Babi Yar — ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and site of Nazi massacres
The largest single massacre in Holocaust history up to that date, with 33,771 Jews killed in two days at a Kyiv ravine in September 1941.
Key Facts
- Jews killed (29–30 Sep 1941)
- 33,771
- Total estimated victims
- 100,000–150,000 people
- Duration of first massacre
- 2 days (29–30 September 1941)
- Perpetrating unit
- Sonderkommando 4a, Einsatzgruppe C
- Occupation period
- German occupation of Kyiv, 1941–1943
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following the German capture of Kyiv in September 1941, the decision to murder all Jews in the city was made by German military governor Generalmajor Kurt Eberhard, SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln, and Einsatzgruppe C commander Otto Rasch, acting within the broader Nazi policy of extermination on the Eastern Front.
On 29–30 September 1941, Sonderkommando 4a, Order Police battalions, and Ukrainian Auxiliary Police herded approximately 33,771 Jewish men, women, and children to the Babi Yar ravine on the outskirts of Kyiv and shot them. The site continued to be used for mass killings of Soviet POWs, communists, and Roma throughout the German occupation.
Between 100,000 and 150,000 people were ultimately killed at Babi Yar during the occupation. The massacre became one of the defining atrocities of the Holocaust and the Eastern Front, later prompting international recognition, memorial efforts, and serving as a focal point for historical memory of Nazi genocide in Soviet-occupied territories.