Babi Yar is a large ravine on the northern edge of Kiev which achieved notoriety as a place of mass executions of civilians and prisoners of war carried by German occupying forces. These horrible pictures are taken by German war photographer Johannes Hahle 10 days after Kiev’s occupation…
Ukrainian policemen keep order in a crowd of women in occupied Kiev.
A German traffic-controller at a checkpoint in occupied Kiev.
Soviet prisoners of war repair tramways.
The remains of barricades in occupied Kiev.
Soviet prisoners of war cover the killed with sand under the supervision of SS soldiers.
SS soldiers rummage through the things of the killed.
Killed Soviet prisoners of war on the streets of Kiev.
The Boulevard of Taras Shevchenko.
Location: Kiev
via bigpicture
War… War never changes…
It does change, it gets worse.
The thumbs-up should mean agree or disagree instead of like and dislike. I agree with what you said (and hit thumbs up) but I hate war, and hate it gets worse.
Well, I agree and like your comment!
Interesting pictures, but I always wonder why this site likes to show German occupation, killed Soviet POWs, but never the millions of killed German, Italian, or Polish POWs in Russia. It’s the same kind of spoon-fed propoganda about the “heros” of Mother Russia that you find in American historical textbooks.
One thing the superpowers Russia and USA still have in common, is they both believe their own propaganda.
Don’t compare the “soviet reaction” to the German aggression ! ! ! ! !Soviets just replied the “same response” .Germans and their “allies” were the criminals and aggressors,so anything to stop them was right and justified. RIP to all of defenders of Mother Russia ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
You mean shooting Polish civilians and soldiers after the joint nazi-Soviet occupation was right and justified?
“much vodka” and “John”: You mean dropping nuclear bombs over two cities and killing more than 100,000 civilians in seconds was right or justified? You would say that there is no comparison, or other lame spins… The victims in these photos should be respected. I think you can at least do that.
Did I ever say that this kind of bombing cities – whether with nuclear or other bombs – was justified? Is one crime justifying the other? And did you read my post about mentioning that it would show some respect to the victims if at least the reason why the were killed – being jewish – was mentioned?
vodka: Everybocy knows about the terrible Holocaust, but when you resist to accept that other 100,000 people were killed in Babi Yar, and you insist to talk about an unrelated atrocity, all your arguments sound like anti soviet tall tales. And that’s your problem only.
“much vodka”, Everybody knows about the Jewish Atrocity pictured here. Perhaps this post author considered Jewish people in the pics as Soviet Ukrainian residents (which in fact, they were). Or part of the 150,000 people killed and buried at Babi Yar. You better try some Tequila and enjoy the weekend.
After this officiers attacked russia right after the first WW it was a nice payback in Katyn thats all..
Anything TO STOP THEM, not to mass-kill or rape them after they were defeated.
Well, maybe we then should look 2 years earlier time when Soviets and Germans were a happy allies and similar pictures could be taken in the forests of Katyn where NKVD eliminated Polish prisoners
What about Pland attacking CZ in 1933?
Polish then were very agressive (with an apparent safety umbrella from the West). But this West forgot about it when Stalin appeared to be a better ally.
“pigden”, well, there’s a good reason. Hitler (and a lot of germans) wanted to exterminate or enslave slavs (besides the jewish “question”). Hitler wasn’t a lonely maniac. Millions were mass killed. That degree of inhumanity dwarfes any other; it has no parallels in History.
Yes it has parallels, sadly enough: every planned genocide is comparable. Why would de degreeof inhumanity of the Holocaust dwarf the degree of inhumanity of for instance the genocide in Rwanda?
Fail. Holocoaust was the first and I hope last racial cleaning in an industrialized way of a part of western society.
Because the Germans industrialized mass Death. And resulting death count is unmatched to this day. You really need some vodka.
Disgusting comment by profoundly ignorant man/troll. I bet you are some wanted terrorist scum living in London…..
@John: When for no reason, you invade a country (and massacre its residents), you don’t have much sympathy when the invaded fight back and crushes you. You should be grateful that the soviets didn’t slaughter people the same way the germans did.
Maybe because its site about Russia. Not about Germany, Italia or Poland. If you call pictures showing Nazi Germans slaughtering civilians “propaganda”, you must be Nazi yourself.
@Mi “Maybe because its site about Russia. Not about Germany, Italia or Poland.”
This site must not be about Russia, because Kiev is in the Ukraine, it is an independent country. Well, at least until the Russians try to invade it again.
John, that won’t happen. It’s far more probable that the US would invade a weak Oil rich country.
The “About” link at top of page says this:
“English Russia is a daily entertainment blog devoted to the events happening in Russian speaking countries, such as Russia (Russian Federation), Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, etc.”
Original view on history, try to read a book on it, it will help.
Yes there was just one time winter every 4 years in the fourties.. haha
Better to remind us and to hope that will never happend again!
Why didn’t you mention that the killed people who are being burried were all Jews? These are pictures taken at Babi Yar where 34.000 Jews were slaughtered.
true.
@vodka: The Jewish people there were also Ukrainian; those were only the first to be killed. Later, about 100,000 other Ukrainians got mass murdered there. Just in case if you forgot or ignored that.
I’m not forgetting or ignoring anything, just like one shouldn’t forget or ignore that these people in Babi Yar were killed because they were jewish. I’m surprised about the reactions on my remark, as if this was some inconvenient truth…
It’s very different 34,000 victims, than more than 100,000. A true correction you still argue about… Probably it is you who find that inconvenient (or you simply ignored it). Who knows?
“much vodka”, Wrong. There were other motives besides criminal antisemitism. The big majority of the people mass killed and buried at Babi Yar, is not Jewish. Check your numbers. It’s annoying that for you, only a “kind” of victims is important in this tragedy. Your “surprise” reveals ignorance, or something dark in you.
Why? Does it matter so much to you? If yes, you are creating racism. People were slaughtered, we should condolence them and never forget. I don’t really care if they were Jews, Indians or Aryan.
It matters because the reason they were killed was exactly that they were jewish.
Tell me about the reason of the other 100,000 victims… It matters too.
Shostakovich wrote a symphony dedicated to the victims of the massacre, but it is not performed very often. IIRC, I only heard it once.
Shostakovich is great!
i have Shostakovich ‘song of peace’ as the ringtone on my cell phone. and i am american.
Soviets did the same massacre when they invaded Poland, the only difference is they killed more than in Kiev.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre
And…where were the Brits and Americans when Katyn happened? Nowhere. Brits and French had to declare war against Stalin’s USSR, too. There was a Pact with Poland, you know…. But they knew that their only chance to fight Germany -and win- was with the Red Army. And won, with it. Sir Winston knew it, he was no fool. Poland (and Katyn) didn’t matter, also for the West.
Russian killed pollish officers in Katy which invaded russia in russian civil war. So I guess they will never will try again good work!
You have just justified genocide. You have also proven some sort of brainwashed thinking. Typical for post-homo sovieticus.
Rationalizing genocide of innocent people is something that was made by butchers from Babi Yar. Jews were killed because they were claimed to be inferior human beings.
But You were also rationalizing in your statement genocide in Katyn in the same way. Polish POWs were killed because they invaded Russia in 1920(what a load of bollocks!).
I see. Killing innocent Jews in Babi Yar is bad. Killing innocent Polish POWs is good. What a hypocrisy.
I always thought that civilised people don’t value mass-murder as something good or useful.
The worrisome thing, is that Man can still slaughter another (and his whole family) for money, “patriotic” or religious reasons. And some still think that one “kind” of murdered victim is less valuable than other.
Killing civillians for racial reasons is bad, killing officers in war is just war. No racial background, but I think you believe in the race of polish officers? haha…
“Race” of Military Officers, is more important than massacred Ukrainian families, according to some Cold War commenters here.
In Ucraina era socialism. Deodata a aparut lepra fascista si s-a terminat cu NORMALITATEA! oameni morti pe strada . Nici nu ma pot uita.
Si acum. Dupa atitea milioane sfisiate, romanii au stiut sa alege in 2004, ca presedinte, pe cl mai nenorocit om pe care la produs existenta milenara a acestui popor.
not only jews, but most of them.
awefull
You have to look into German, Italian and Polish sources for this. Wrong spot bro…
Read “Babi Yar”, by Anatoly Kusnetsov. Read it in high school. Gripping account of life in Kyiv under Nazi occupation.
Too many Russian haters come to this web lately. Lecture others how evil Russians are and spreading anti-Russian propaganda.
Katyn atrocity was a cruel reminder and retaliation against the Polish Army. Soviets swore to never forget the unprovoked Polish 1920 invasion to the newborn USSR. Europeans really had a self destruction wish then. The Nazi genocides like Babi Yar are the crown of it.
In 1920 the Soviet Union didn’t even exist… The war between the Red army is not a story of unprovoked attacks from one side against the other, it was the result of fighting over disputed areas between the Communist controlled part of the Russian empire and the newly independent Polish state which wanted to get back territories lost to Rusia in the past. The Katyn massacre was not some sort of justified revenge (if justification would be possible…) but a deliberate attempt of Stalin to kill the Polish military elite that would be a threat to his plans of establishing a communist regime in Poland.
“vodka”; ¿Polish – Soviet War of 1919-1921 didn’t exist? It’s laughable when some people intepret (or rewrite) History. Nothing can justify atrocities (from Poland or from USSR, Germany, etc.). My view of the European suicide wish at the time, stands.
I have seen similar pictures from USA, and the bodies were not even foreigners: it was white skins against black skins, and in some cases whites against other whites. A few years ago the FBI slaughtered an entire church near Waco, Texas for no known reason. The head of FBI was promoted after that.
It is not possible to adequately explain man’s inhumanity to man without supposing the existence of a devil.
Fanatism can do worse things, believe me. You can see it in this post.
Soviet scum bags
Can you see Russia from your house?
War is indeed mankind’s worst invention, alas comes with a lifetime renewed patent.
My name is Tim, i´m from Berlin and i hate what the old generation did. I hope the future will look brighter, but things looks bad…
Tim your grandfathers hated jews, today you hate muslim and tomorrow it will be the jews again..
Regardless of who died and who killed, regardless of where or when or which war, it is a sad, tragic affair. Grandmothers walking down streets littered with the dead is terrible; they should be enjoying life, spoiling their grandkids, not watching people around them die way too soon.
It is a total human disaster. Incredible that humans can do this to other humans.
Trying to steal the land of others was not a German exclusive problem. It was actually like an old European tradition, that nearly destroys them. And some countries insist on that.
for picture of place today and better understanding see:http://www.consumedland.com/elena/serpentswall/page38_en.html
Too much light can be damaging to your shot washing out the colors in your picture so be sure to balance the natural elements.