On January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yuriy Latysh spoke on the Maguswest YouTube channel about how the understanding of the Babyn Yar tragedy has evolved in Ukrainian society and how this topic is used in memory politics. The discussion was hosted by historian and University of Memphis (USA) professor Andrei Znamenski.

Why did Ukraine’s first president, Leonid Kravchuk, consider remembrance of the Holocaust an important step on the road to Europe? How did Volodymyr Zelensky attempt to distance himself from historical politics by not attending the flower-laying ceremony at Babyn Yar, and why did this prove impossible? And why is Babyn Yar still perceived today not so much as a site of remembrance but rather as a “park of culture and recreation”?