The MP for Finchley and Golders Green has spoken of the importance of an exhibition commemorating the Babi Yar massacre – in which more than 33,000 Jews were shot dead by Nazi soldiers over two days.
The travelling exhibition came to parliament on Monday and details the massacre, which took place over two days in the ravine of the outskirts of Kiev, in Ukraine.
More Jewish people were slaughtered there than in any other single massacre by the Germans during the Second World War.
The Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Centre (BYHMC) was established in 2016, on the massacre's 75th anniversary, with the intent of establishing a permanent memorial to commemorate the event.
Lord Pickles and MP John Whittingdale were among the audience at the event, hosted by Finchley and Golders Green MP Mike Freer.
He told the JC he was moved to host the event in the House of Commons after being approached by the Ukranian organisers who have an office in his Finchley constituency.
“What worries me is the rise of the extreme right and left across Europe,” he said. “There is a real worry of people who do not believe the Holocaust took place, or places in which antisemitism is getting traction again.
“Any exhibition that can remind people of where it can lead has to be good. Every year we say people must not forget – and I believe it is right to show people some of the worst aspects of what went on.”
Addressing the audience at the exhibition on Monday, former Soviet dissident and Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky said it was “so important” that Babi Yar was properly commemorated, particularly with rising uncertainty among Jewish communities about antisemitism across Europe.
He said it was also essential that Ukraine — which is yet to have a recognised Holocaust Memorial — went ahead with its pledge to build a memorial for the victims of the massacre, known as “Babyn Yar” in Ukrainian.
Mark Regev, Israel’s ambassador to the UK, told Monday’s exhibition that it raised awareness of massacres in which “many many Jews, one million and a half, were murdered by bullets in places like Babi Yar and all across Eastern Europe".
On September 29 1941, Jewish men, women and children, along with non-Jewish spouses and relatives were gathered together. German forces, along with Ukrainian collaborators, stripped them before shooting hem dead.
Police reports confirmed that 33,771 Jews were shot over the two days.
Also speaking at Monday's event was the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK Natalia Galibarenko.
