Ukraine: World War 2 Battleground

Ukraine and its capital, Kyiv, witnessed shocking episodes during its occupation by the Nazis in World War 2.

On 29 September 1941, Nazi troops rounded up Kyiv’s 34,000-strong Jewish population, marched them to the Babyn Yar Ravine, and massacred them all in the following 48 hours. Victims were shot and buried in the ravine. Over the next two years, many thousands more lost their lives at Babyn Yar when it was turned into a concentration camp, called Syrets after the Kyivan suburb where it was located. Romany people, partisans and even footballers would be among those killed. The place’s history only came to light after WWII, and three monuments have been erected over time.

Dina Pronicheva, an actress of the Kyiv Puppet Theatre, was one of those ordered to march to the ravine, forced to undress, and then shot. Jumping before being shot and falling on other bodies, she played dead in a pile of corpses. She stayed perfectly still while the Nazis continued to shoot the wounded. Although the SS had covered the mass grave with earth, she eventually managed to climb through the soil and escape. Since it was dark, she had to avoid the flashlights of the Nazis finishing off the remaining victims. She was one of the very few survivors of the massacre – in total there were only four.

The tragedy of the war in Ukraine is commemorated at the National Museum of The History of The Great Patriotic War and the Rodina Mat “Nations Mother” Statue

Kyiv was a decisive battleground in the tectonic clashes between the Soviet Union and Germany, with the Battle of The Dnieper (in 1943) crucial in the turning of the tide against the Nazis. A stroll around the museum grounds feels like an exercise in time travel – straight into the paranoia and suspicion of the 1950s. Tanks are lined up in formation. Missiles stand proud.

A gigantic titanium figure: Rodina Mat – literally “Nations’s Mother” – rises to a height of 102 metres, a 16-metre sword held in her right hand, a 12-ton shield in her left. The statue has been nicknamed “The Iron Lady” and “Tin Tits”. You can get right into her head – literally – via an elevator in the museum. Lengthy slabs of outside wall are given over to elaborate sculptures showing the struggle of Soviet sons and daughters of the soil. Swarthy men clutch rifles while craggy women, bulging of muscle, ferocious of expression and hard of labour, brandish shovels. Meanwhile an eternal flame burns brightly – in memory of WWI victims.The museum itself is a sombre and macabre exhibition – especially Hall no. 6 which displays a pair of gloves made from human skin.

This is a chilling insight into how much Ukraine suffered as Nazi troops moved eastwards towards Moscow.

Destination: Ukraine