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Teaching the Holocaust and other Genocides
 
Created in collaboration with the Holocaust & Human Rights Center, the NYS Education Department, and the NYS Archives Partnership Trust.

Babi Yar

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Babi Yar

By Yevgeni Yevtushenko
Translated by Benjamin Okopnik, 10/96

No monument stands over Babi Yar.
A steep cliff only, like the rudest headstone.
I am afraid.
Today, I am as old
As the entire Jewish race itself.

I see myself an ancient Israelite.
I wander o’er the roads of ancient Egypt
And here, upon the cross, I perish, tortured
And even now, I bear the marks of nails.

It seems to me that Dreyfus is myself.  2
The Philistines betrayed me – and now judge.
I’m in a cage. Surrounded and trapped,
I’m persecuted, spat on, slandered, and
The dainty dollies in their Brussels frills
Squeal, as they stab umbrellas at my face.

I see myself a boy in Belostok  3
Blood spills, and runs upon the floors,
The chiefs of bar and pub rage unimpeded
And reek of vodka and of onion, half and half.

I’m thrown back by a boot, I have no strength left,
In vain I beg the rabble of pogrom,
To jeers of “Kill the Jews, and save our Russia!”
My mother’s being beaten by a clerk.

O, Russia of my heart, I know that you
Are international, by inner nature.
But often those whose hands are steeped in filth
Abused your purest name, in name of hatred.

I know the kindness of my native land.
How vile, that without the slightest quiver
The antisemites have proclaimed themselves
The “Union of the Russian People!”

It seems to me that I am Anna Frank,
Transparent, as the thinnest branch in April,
And I’m in love, and have no need of phrases,
But only that we gaze into each other’s eyes.
How little one can see, or even sense!
Leaves are forbidden, so is sky,
But much is still allowed – very gently
In darkened rooms each other to embrace.

-“They come!”

-“No, fear not – those are sounds
Of spring itself. She’s coming soon.
Quickly, your lips!”

-“They break the door!”

-“No, river ice is breaking…”

Wild grasses rustle over Babi Yar,
The trees look sternly, as if passing judgement.
Here, silently, all screams, and, hat in hand,
I feel my hair changing shade to gray.

And I myself, like one long soundless scream
Above the thousands of thousands interred,
I’m every old man executed here,
As I am every child murdered here.

No fiber of my body will forget this.
May “Internationale” thunder and ring3 
When, for all time, is buried and forgotten
The last of antisemites on this earth.

There is no Jewish blood that’s blood of mine,
But, hated with a passion that’s corrosive
Am I by antisemites like a Jew.
And that is why I call myself a Russian!

 NOTES
1 Alfred Dreyfus was a French officer, unfairly dismissed from service in 1894 due to trumped-up charges prompted by anti- Semitism.
2Belostok: the site of the first and most violent pogroms, the Russian version of Kristallnacht.
3 “Internationale”: The Soviet national anthem.
Yevtushenko, Yevgeny.  “Babi Yar.” Truth and Lamentation: Stories and Poems on the Holocaust, edited by Milton Teichman and Sharon Leder. Urbana: University of Chicago Press, 1994. p. 478.

Discussion Questions

  1. What does the lack of a monument and a proper headstone at Babi Yar signify?
  2. How does the line beginning, “I am as old/As the entire Jewish race itself” help the speaker identify with not only Babi Yar but also the persecution of Jews throughout history?
  3. As he imagines the perspectives of Dreyfus, the boy, and Anne Frank - what becomes evident about the treatment of Jews in Russia and elsewhere?
  4. How does the natural imagery of the poem contrast the evil of man?  How does the idea of shared humanity play an important
  5. role in the poet’s perceptions?  How does the poem critique the broader societal indifference to historical atrocities?
  6. The poet calls on Russia to rid itself of antisemitism- what is Russia’s true nature? When will “Internationale thunder and ring”?
  7. What parallels can be drawn between the events at Babi Yar and modern struggles against oppression?

About the Poet: Yevgeny Yevtushenko (1932–2017) was a prominent Russian poet, novelist, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He rose to fame during the post-Stalin "thaw" in the Soviet Union, becoming one of the country's most celebrated and controversial voices. Yevtushenko's poetry was known for its bold political commentary, emotional intensity, and focus on social justice. Yevtushenko's poetry frequently addressed topics like individual freedom, historical memory, and social injustices. He often critiqued Soviet society and politics while maintaining loyalty to the ideals of socialism, which made him both a beloved and polarizing figure.  Babi Yar is a powerful work addressing the historical atrocity at Babi Yar, a ravine near Kyiv, Ukraine.  The first and best documented of the massacres took place on 29–30 September 29-30, 1941, in which some 33,771 Jews were murdered by Einsatzgruppen.  The poem gained attention for its boldness in Soviet times, where open acknowledgment of such crimes and their Jewish context was often suppressed.