Frank, whose death then becomes representative
of the suffering endured by all the children whose
lives were destroyed because of anti-Semitism.
Death
Death permeates the ravine at Babi Yar. Yev-
tushenko describes the physical location as emo-
tionally representative of the massacre that
occurred on that site. The grass cannot rest,
and even the trees stand in judgment of the mur-
ders that occurred in that place. The dead are the
hundred thousand and more people who con-
tinue to scream out in anguish; their silent
screams dispel any idea that Babi Yar is a restful
cemetery. Traditionally, people think of death as
the inevitable end of life, but mass murder is not
the natural end of life, and thus so many unjust
deaths cannot have left the site untouched. These
were not peaceful deaths but lives ended in great
fear and pain. When Yevtushenko’s speaker
imagines that he is each of the old men and
children who were slaughtered at that site, he
does so to put on the mantle of their suffering
and to keep their suffering alive, even beyond
their death. Yevtushenko makes sure that these
deaths will not be forgotten.Genocide
Although genocides occurred before the Holo-
caust, the word was not used to describe such
mass killings until 1944, when a Jewish lawyer
combined two classical root words—the Greek
genoand the Latincide—to create a word to
describe the deliberate killing of a race or tribe
of people. The word was first used at the Nurem-
berg trials, held after the end of World War II.
The wordgenocideis now used to describe very
violent crimes directed against a specific group of
people with the intent to destroy that group in its
entirety. In his poem, Yevtushenko identifies
with the victims of a massacre, the Jews of Kiev,
who were destroyed because they were Jewish.
Their murder fits the description of a genocide,
since the killings at Babi Yar were an attempt to
erase all evidence of Jewish life in Kiev.Identity
Throughout the poem, the speaker’s identity
continues to shift from one person to another.
The speaker assumes the personas of those who
have suffered for their religion, beginning with
the ancient Jews, who were slaves of the Egyp-
tians. Another identity is that of Jesus. In this
guise, Yevtushenko’s speaker is crucified and
bears the scars of his suffering. Later in the
poem, he is the unjustly persecuted Dreyfus,
the beaten boy in Bialystok who watches his
mother being battered, and Anne Frank, whoTOPICS FOR
FURTHER
STUDY Half of all the Jews who died during the
Holocaust died along the war’s eastern
front, which spanned Ukraine, Lithuania,
Latvia, Belorussia, and other countries bor-
dering Poland and the Soviet Union. Many
of these Jews died at the hands of the Ein-
satzgruppen, mobile killing squads. Investi-
gate the Einsatzgruppen and then write a
paper in which you discuss their formation,
how they were used, and the events that led
to their being demobilized.
Anatoly Kuznetsov’s documentary novel
Babi Yaris the story of what he observed
there as a sixteen-year-old. Locate a copy of
his book, and after you have read it, write an
essay in which you compare the novel’s
depiction of the events at Babi Yar to Yev-
tushenko’s poem. What do you see as the
essential differences? In what ways do they
capture the emotional impact of Babi Yar?
Cite specific lines from both texts to support
your findings.
Unfortunately, Babi Yar was neither the
first nor the last massacre of its kind.
Choose another massacre either from
World War II or from any other period of
time. Thoroughly research the events of this
massacre and then give a class presentation
on your findings.
With a group of classmates, research the
history of anti-Semitism, beginning in the
ancient world, as Yevtushenko does in his
poem. Assign each member of your group a
specific century or two to research and then
create a timeline and poster presentation
that traces this history. Collectively analyze
the eras that you have researched and dis-
cuss what can be learned from this history.Babii Yar