The Ravine of Memory: Babyn Yar Between the Holocaust and the Great Patriotic War

The Ghetto Fighters’ House invites you to a special Talking Memory program marking the launch of Dr. Shay Pilnik’s book, The Ravine of Memory: Babyn Yar Between the Holocaust and the Great Patriotic War.

Prof. Elissa Bemporad

Our first speaker is Prof. Elissa Bemporad. Drawing on the long history of Jewish life in the lands of present-day Ukraine, she invites us to look beyond familiar narratives of persecution and to consider a more complex historical reality.

In her presentation, she argues that any examination of Jewish life in the lands of present-day Ukraine must begin with an important caveat: it would be a mistake to impose a teleology of violence on a long and rich history that generated remarkable religious, political, and cultural contributions to Jewish civilization. While episodes of violence undeniably formed part of this history, relations between Jews and non-Jews were shaped far more often by coexistence, interaction, and mutual entanglement.

This caution is particularly relevant in the context of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, which has relied in part on historical distortions. More broadly, it serves as a reminder against reading the Jewish experience in the region retrospectively, as though it were destined from the outset to culminate in persecution and catastrophe.

Dr. Shay Pilnik

Our next speaker, Dr. Shay Pilnik, joins us on the occasion of the publication of his new book, The Ravine of Memory, which examines the place of Babyn Yar in Soviet literary and cultural memory.

In his talk, he explores how Babyn Yar—where more than 100,000 people, the vast majority Jews, were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators—has been remembered and forgotten in Soviet literature and culture, in both Russian and Yiddish. Revisiting well-known works alongside lesser-known texts, he reveals how Babyn Yar became a powerful symbolic site that illuminates both the fragility and the courage of those who bear witness to atrocity.

Inna Kalenska

Our final speaker, Inna Kalenska, will bring us from the historical and cultural landscape explored in The Ravine of Memory to the ongoing work of preserving and reconstructing the history of Babyn Yar today.

Her presentation examines the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center’s approach to memory work through archival research, digitization, and public engagement. It will focus on the “Names” Project and the role of archives in reconstructing the individual histories of Holocaust victims.

The talk will also reflect on how the ongoing war shapes contemporary memorial practices and influences the ways historical memory is preserved and communicated.