Babiy Yar: The Forgotten Crime (2003)

A Film from the Artur Brauner Collection at Our Library

Scene from the movie “Babiy Yar: The Forgotten Crime” — Scene from the movie Babiy Yar: The Forgotten Crime
CCC Filmkunst

The film tells of neighborliness, envy, and greed just before the biggest massacre committed by the German Einsatzgruppen, or death squads. Following the occupation of the city of Kiev by the German Wehrmacht, a Ukrainian woman seizes an opportunity for herself and her daughter and denounces their Jewish neighbors. The long-standing friendship between the families gives rise to a surprising twist, which nevertheless cannot stop the killing.

Map with all buildings that belong to the Jewish Museum Berlin. The W. M. Blumenthal Academy is marked in green

Where

W. M. Blumenthal Academy, Library
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
Postal address: Lindenstraße 9-14, 10969 Berlin

On 29 and 30 September 1941, task forces of the security police and the SD (the Reichsführer SS Security Service), shot more than 33,000 Jewish men, women, and children to death at Babi Yar ravine. Artur Brauner lost several relatives in the massacre. The idea for the screenplay of this German–Belarusian co-production was his and he was also involved in the film editing, which integrates original documentary footage into the film. The closing credits point out that the project was denied film subsidies.

Starring Michael Degen, Katrin Saß, and Axel Milberg. Directed by Jeff Kanew.

Babiy Yar: The Forgotten Crime

Babyn Jar

Babyn Jar is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and a site of massacres carried out by German forces and local collaborators during their campaign against the Soviet Union.