On Thursday, July 23, representatives of the Supervisory Board of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center Natan Sharansky and Senator Joe Lieberman met with the US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in Washington, press service of Babyn Yar reports.
Nathan Sharansky told the head of the State Department the details of the construction of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center in Kyiv and noted the key role of the United States in the protection of democracy.
“We are grateful for such a warm and friendly welcome,” said Natan Sharansky, head of the Supervisory Board of the memorial. “The United States of America plays a leading role in protecting and promoting human rights and democratic values. The fight against anti-Semitism, manifestations of xenophobia and intolerance, for me, is a marker of humanity's development. We were pleased to inform the US Secretary of State about the progress of the project of memorializing victims of the Holocaust by bullets, which is extremely important for Ukraine and all of Eastern Europe. Babyn Yar in Kyiv is the most famous symbol of this international tragedy. We talked about the unprecedented support of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, which this year will enable the opening of the first stage of the memorial and museum complex in Babyn Yar. The memory of the victims of the Nazis was erased by the Soviet regime for half a century. But now, with Ukraine gaining true independence, we see real changes. The memorial will help preserve the memory of the victims while teaching new generations, developing them, and changing the world for the better.”
Secretary of State Blinken highlighted the global challenges for democracy, the plight of political prisoners around the world, and the importance of combatting anti-Semitism in all of its forms, including Holocaust distortion and denial.
“It was an honor to meet renowned Soviet dissident and human rights defender Natan Sharansky. The United States echoes his call for the release of political prisoners around the world, and we join him in condemning anti-Semitism in all its forms,” the Secretary of State wrote on his Twitter feed.
It's worth noting that Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Centre is a non-governmental charity whose purpose is to preserve and cultivate the memory of the Holocaust and the Babyn Yar tragedy in Ukraine by turning the Babyn Yar area into a place of remembrance.
The Foundation’s mission is to worthily honour the memory of the victims of the tragedy and to contribute to the humanization of society through preserving and studying the history of the Holocaust. A series of commemorations during 2021 will mark the eightieth anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy.