Prien's Babyn Yar speech Köppel challenges memory

Sep 29–30, 1941

Köppel reports that education minister Prien commemorated Babyn Yar's victims on its 85th anniversary and advocated remembrance restoring victims' names, dignity, history and identity. He recalls nearly 34,000 Jews killed by German occupiers in two days in September 1941 and subsequent murders until 1943. His extended response alleges Ukrainian nationalist collaboration and continuing honors for Melnyk and Bandera, invoking Stalinist famine as context. He attributes large Jewish and Polish death totals to collaborators and says they probably also participated in the commemorated massacre. He acknowledges the historical ambivalence, including Bandera's later opposition to the Nazis, rejects calling all present-day Ukrainians Nazis and says he speaks as a journalist/reader rather than a Ukraine expert. He criticizes Germany's alignment with Ukraine and what he calls media silence. The sweeping collaboration, honor and discrimination claims remain his allegations, without new direct historical testimony.

Vremya recalls the killing of 33,771 Jews at Babyn Yar in Kyiv on September 29–30, 1941. It presents claims about Nazi and Ukrainian auxiliary responsibility, the assembly notice and Dmytro Myron's role, and survivor accounts by Dina Pronicheva and David Aizerberg. It distinguishes the two-day massacre from its reported cumulative toll of over 100,000 victims by 1943. Specific collaboration and later memory-politics allegations remain attributed to the source and speakers. Köppel's October 7 report repeats the almost-34,000 two-day Jewish toll and subsequent killings until 1943 as context for Prien's commemoration. He alleges nationalist collaboration and says collaborators probably also took part in this massacre, without new direct testimony. His wider Melnyk/Bandera discussion acknowledges later opposition to Nazism and rejects labeling all current Ukrainians Nazis. Those claims and qualifications remain attributed; the current ceremony is a separate occurrence.