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05 May 2007 15:32

Memory Beyond Time Patriotic Charitable Action Held at Bykivnia Graves State Historical and Memorial Preserve

May 5, 2007, Memory Beyond Time patriotic charitable action was held at Bykivnia Graves State Historical and Memorial Preserve, initiated by the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund.

Head of the Supervisory Board of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund Kateryna Yushchenko, member of the Supervisory Board of the Children’s Hospital of the Future Charitable Fund Volodymyr Kosterin, Director of the Commercial Department of the Hrinko Company Serhiy Kovtun, and Head of the Kraieva Starshyna (Country General Staff) of the PLAST Ukrainian Scouting Organization Kostiantyn Yakovchuk-Besarab took place in the action along with pupils of the Bukivnia Secondary School and representatives from the Ukraine 3000 Fund, SPOK All-Ukrainian Public Youth Organization, Hrinko Company, Green Party of Ukraine, PLAST Ukrainian Scouting Organization, and other youth and public organizations.

The action was organized by the Ukraine 3000 Fund and PLAST Ukrainian Scouting Organization. The Hrinko Company undertook organizing garbage disposal as beneficent aid.

Addressing those present. Advisor to the Head of the Supervisory Board of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund Andriy Myroshnichenko thanked them for responding to the organizers’ call to take part in the Memory Beyond Time action. He said that its goal was primarily to commemorate those buried in the Bykivnia Forest. “I would like you to remember these people of various nationalities, religions, professions, and political convictions, who had always held their native land close to heart. These people died for our sake; they rest in our land, and we have to revere their memory, first of all, through action,” he said.

Head of the Kraieva Starshyna of the PLAST Ukrainian Scouting Organization Kostiantyn Yakovchuk-Besarab emphasized in his speech that young people should get more actively involved into such actions.

The participants of the Memory Beyond Time action have cleaned up part of the Bykivnia Graves State Historical and Memorial Preserve territory. Specifically, they tidied up the sites of mass shootings of Ukrainian intelligentsia in 1937 and of Soviet prisoners of war returning from Germany in 1945.

A commemorative plaque was placed on the site where the executed prisoners of war were buried.

Addressing the journalists, Head of the Supervisory Board of the Ukraine 3000 Fund Kateryna Yushchenko said, “We don’t know all the names of the people who are buried here. We don’t even know their number. But what we know is, if we forget about them, we’ll lose an important part of our historical memory. If we don’t learn our history lessons, they’ll be doomed to repeat themselves. (…) We urge all young people in Ukraine to get involved into such actions more actively. We wish that these days such actions, commemorating our history, would be held throughout Ukraine.” Mrs. Kateryna thanked everybody who had responded to Ukraine 3000 Fund’s initiative and called on other youth, public, and charitable organizations to initiate and actively support actions aimed at preserving and renewing the history of our country.

After the Memory Beyond Time action had been finished, tour guide Tetiana Skrypnyk narrated for those present the history of the Bykivnia graves, their research, and creating a memorial preserve.

The Memory Beyond Time action was timed to coincide with memorial events dedicated to the Victory Day and commemorating the victims of political repressions, traditionally observed at the Bykivnia Graves in the third week of May.

In 1936-1941, the Bykivnia Forest was used for mass burials of those repressed and executed by NKVD in Kyiv. In 1936, the construction of a special zone for secret burials officially began. Since then till Kyiv’s occupation by the Nazis, the victims of the Communist regime had been systematically buried in the woods near Bykivnia.

Also in the thick of the forest, 800-900 meters away from the territory once enclosed into the green fence, mass graves of the Soviet prisoners of the war and Ostarbeiters were found, who returned home from the German prison in 1941-1945 and were also shoot.

By the historians’ data, around 120-130,000 people were buried in the Bykivnia Forest.

April 30, 1994, the Bykivnia Memorial Compound was unveiled. May 22, 2001, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine led by Viktor Yushchenko passed a decision, On Creating the Bykivnia Graves State Historical and Memorial Preserve, May 22, 2006, by an order of President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, the preserve received the national status.

June 24, 2001, Pope John Paul II visited Bykivnia.