Res. No. 1549 Title Resolution commemorating the lives of all those who were massacred at Babi Yar by the German Army during the Nazi Era. Body By Council Members Fisher, the Speaker (Council Member Vallone), Berman, Nelson, Miller, Eisland, Freed, Henry, Lopez, Marshall, Michels, Warden, Abel, Golden and Stabile; also Council Members DiBrienza, Foster, Lasher, Leffler, Linares, McCaffrey and Rodriguez Whereas, On September 19, 1941, Kiev was captured by the German Army, which proceeded to occupy a group of buildings in the city center; and Whereas, Between September 24th and 28th of the same year, the Soviet security police bombed a number of these buildings, killing many of the occupying German soldiers; and Whereas, The Germans retaliated with a decision that the Jews of Kiev would all be put to death, and posted notices throughout the city ordering Jews to convene the following morning on September 29th for resettlement; and Whereas, Masses of Jews assembled at the appointed spot, and were directed to proceed to the Babi Yar ravine which was cordoned off by barbed-wire and guarded by police and SS officers; and Whereas, The assembled Jews were ordered to surrender all of their valuables, to strip off their clothing, and to advance toward the ravine in groups of ten, where they were gunned down by automatic weapons fire; and Whereas, 33,771 Jews were murdered in the first two days of firing, and in the following months many thousands of Jews were forcibly removed to Babi Yar and killed; and Whereas, Babi Yar served as a slaughterhouse for non-Jews as well, such as gypsies and Soviet prisoners of war, with a final death toll at the ravine exceeding 100,000 people, according to the Soviet National Committee for Research into Nazi War Crimes; and Whereas, The Germans, in July of 1943, returned to Kiev in order to erase all evidence of the mass carnage and the terrible crimes committed there, and in an effort to do so conscripted the inmates of a nearby concentration camp to exhume and cremate the corpses at Babi Yar; and Whereas, The prisoners, many of whom were Jewish, were ordered to drag the corpses to cremation pyres, and then to sift through the ashes for gold and silver; and Whereas, Among the many acts of courage that took place at Babi Yar, one of the most compelling transpired on the morning of September 29th, when twenty-five prisoners who learned that they were about to be put to death planned an escape; and Whereas, Shortly after midnight, under cover of darkness and the fog which enveloped the ravine, the prisoners broke out and fifteen succeeded in making their escape; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York commemorates the lives of all those who were massacred at Babi Yar by the German Army during the Nazi Era. SF:bg LS#3472Babiyar D-Res.#5 9/20/00 |10
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