Babi Yar

Babi Yar is a ravine in Kiev that was the site of a series of massacres against the Jewish people during the 1940's. Though the majority of the people killed were Jewish, other nationalities such as Ukranian, Romanian as well as political Soviet POWS and communist were killed as well. An estimated 100,000 people were killed. In 1961 the Russian Poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko wrote one of his most famous poems entitled "Babi Yar". Yevtushenko, speaks of not only the atrocities committed by the Nazis but also those committed by the Soviet Union against the Jewish People. Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich, included the text of Babi Yar as well as several other poems of Yevtushenko, in his 13th Symphony also entitled "Babi Yar".

the following is an audio recording of Yvevgeny Yevtushenko reciting Babi Yar in a combination of Russian and English with excerpts of Shostakovch's Babi Yar.