By Laura Frykberg
The New Zealand School of Music is putting on a special performance of Boris Pigovat’s Requiem, to mark the 70th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre.
Almost 34,000 people were killed in just two days. But despite that, it remains one of World War II’s least known atrocities.
“My great grandfather and great aunt were among those people who were killed there,” says Yuri Gezentsvey. “Jews were ordered to walk to the outskirts of Kiev.
“When they heard the machine gun sound it was too late to escape. There were Nazi soldiers with dogs standing all around, there were two machine guns working non-stop.”
The Nazi’s told the Jews in Kiev, Babi Yar was their new home. Instead, in just two days almost 34,000 were shot dead.
Tonight’s viola soloist Donald Maurice feels honoured to help raise awareness of the massacre.
“Obviously the Germans wanted to keep it quiet but also the Russians, after they regained control, were not that keen on telling this part of their history, because there is a lot of anti-Semitism also in Russia,” he says.
“It’s only recently really that the full story has been told openly.”
But tonight, it’s not the telling but the playing which will teach audiences about the horrors so many faced.
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