Review: A must read story of Babi Yar
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 27, 2014
The Riddle of Babi Yar by Reyzl Yitkin (narrator) and Ziama Trubakov is an interesting saga into the events surrounding the occupation of Kiev and the horrifying incident at Babi Yar during World War IIZiama was an eyewitness to the atrocities in Kiev and Babi Yar. When they called for all Jews to assemble in Kiev, Ziama did not go and persuaded others not to go either. Thus neither he nor some of his friends were among the 33,771 Jews who were ruthlessly shot on September 29-20, 1941 and buried in mass graves at Babi Yar. Ziama lived openly as a Ukrainian with false papers and tried his best to help others. He would travel outside the city to the countryside and bring back supplies and food for those who were starving. Eventually he was denounced, arrested and sent to Syrets concentration camp. Here he endured the horrors of a concentration camp with a ruthless commandant. He does not spare the details of these horrors in his book. When possible, he names the perpetrators and the victims. He was extremely lucky to have survived. He was chosen to go to Babi Yar and dig up and burn the bodies of those who were killed there. He and 327 others staged an escape at the end of the war. He lived to tell his story and to live a good life. His Ukrainian wife stayed by his side the entire time.Documentation from the KGB files show the incidents did indeed happen as he stated. There is plenty of documentation and not only his. It is an interesting book to read.