Babi Yar: Critical Questions and Comments

1. Preamble

The subject of 'Babi Yar' is confusing in many respects. For a general overview, this brief summary shall therefore identify the major problem areas:

1. The mass murder at Babi Yar took place almost four months prior to the Wannsee Conference, where the killing was allegedly first planned.

2. Widely divergent dates are given for the murder.

3. Depending on the source, the number of victims varies by as much as two orders of magnitude.

4. Widely different methods and weapons are alleged for the murders.

5. There is also no consensus on where the killings took place.

6. The witnesses, or reports respectively, make highly contradictory claims in other respects as well.

7. The number of alleged victims by far exceeds the number of Jews remaining in Kyiv after the Soviet evacuation.

8. To date there has been no forensic investigation of the murder site and weapons. No attempts were ever made to ascertain and secure any evidence.

9. It is also odd that the Soviets would use a site as a location for a garbage dump and incineration area where countless victims were allegedly murdered by the archenemy during the 'Great Patriotic War'.

10. And finally, the allegations are disproved by wartime air photos.

We shall employ standard scientific methodology to examine the issues briefly touched on above. Following some introductory information for a better general understanding of the topic, individual sections will present the first reports, eyewitness accounts, and other sources, and will discuss specific questions that arise in context. A separate section is devoted to general questions.[1]