Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center Webinar

Wednesday, November 17
Panelists: Nathan Sharansky and Robert Citino, PhD
Moderator: Alan Smason

This year marks the 80^th anniversary of the Babyn Yar massacre in Ukraine, where more than 30,000 Jews were killed by Nazi firing squads, just two days ahead of the Yom Kippur holiday in 1941. In all, the German army killed around 100,000 people during its two-year occupation of Ukraine, making the site World War II’s largest mass grave.

To commemorate the tragedy, Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center hosted an event on its 80^th anniversary, September 29 – October 6 in Kyiv, Ukraine. We are inviting you to learn more about the multi-day program as well as the many angles you might consider for future stories, including:

• Interviewing the lead researchers who for the first time re-created the massacre site in 3D, including world-renowned historian Martin Dean, a former war crimes investigator at the UK’s Scotland Yard.
• Viewing a feature-length film which premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and contains compelling archival footage. We can also connect you with the film’s renowned director Sergei Loznitsa.

The center is in the process of becoming one of the world’s largest holocaust complexes and has already uncovered numerous new details about the horrific events such as: the names of many of the victims, the units of Nazi army involved, and how both the Germans and the Soviet Union tried to cover it up over the years. During the webinar you will hear from:

Natan Sharanksy, chair of the supervisory board of the Babyn Yar Memorial Holocaust Center. He is Ukrainian born, a former Soviet “Prisoner of Zion” and a symbol of human rights. He will discuss his own personal story, the significance of Babyn Yar and the importance of creating a world-class center and memorial to commemorate the past.

Robert Citino, PhD, Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of War and Democracy and the Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian. Dr. Citino is an award-winning military historian and scholar who has published ten books including The Wehrmacht Retreats: Fighting a Lost War, 1943, Death of the Wehrmacht: The German Campaigns of 1942, and The German Way of War: From the Thirty Years' War to the Third Reich and numerous articles covering World War II and 20th century military history. He speaks widely and contributes regularly to general readership magazines such as World War II. Dr. Citino enjoys close ties with the U.S.military establishment, and taught one year at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and two years at the U.S. Army War College.

The webinar will be moderated by Alan Smason, President, AJPA and editor, Crescent City Jewish News and you will have an opportunity to ask questions to the panelists.