Once upon a time, Arkady Shmist and Gregory Korol could barely gather 10 people for common prayer. Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky currently heads one of the largest Jewish communities in Ukraine. Then, in 1941, the Nazis shot thousands of Jews in occupied Dnipropetrovsk. Today, 80 years later, a large number of caring people gather in the city's central square to honor the memory of the massacred innocent people. At the moment, leading researchers, scientific institutions, and public organizations are working to restore the thousands of names of the dead, thus contributing to the revival of the great Jewish culture that was almost destroyed during the Holocaust. They all work for one aim - to prevent the recurrence of the Holocaust, any other genocide in human history.

"We must make every effort to ensure that this never happens again, that anti-Semitism and xenophobia never exist again!" was said on the ceremony dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the mass shootings of Jews by the Nazi occupiers took place in the central square of Dnipro, and then in the local Botanical Garden (Haharin Park). The events were co-organized by Museum "Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine" and "Tkuma" Institute. One of the developers of the concept of the event was the director of Museum and "Tkuma" Institute, Dr. Igor Shchupak. Deputy Director of Museum and "Tkuma" InstituteDr. Yehor Vradii moderated the ceremony in the city center, which was attended by the Chief Rabbi of Dnipro and the region Shmuel Kaminetsky and spiritual leaders of all religious denominations of the Dnipropetrovsk region.

During the ceremony, insightful words were heard from the Chief Rabbi of Dnipro and the region Shmuel Kaminetsky; Mayor Borys Filatov; First Secretary of the Embassy of the State of Israel Mark Dovev; Rector of Oles Honchar Dnipro National University prof. Serhiy Okovyty and other dignitaries. Deputy of the Regional Council, prof. Svetlana Moroz told a touching story of her family in those terrible times of 1941.

Dr. Igor Shchupak mentioned the thousands of "Babyn Yars" in Ukraine, in which 1.5 million Jews were killed - almost a quarter of all Holocaust victims in Europe. He stressed that during this crime against humanity there were those who helped the murderers, betrayed to death their Jewish neighbors; and there were those Ukrainian heroes who risked their lives and the lives of their loved ones to save the Jews from imminent destruction.

The presentation of the project of the Holocaust Memorial in Dnipro was presented at the meeting (the author is the architect Oleksandr Sorin. By the way, the Menorah Center was built according to his plan).

Today it is very important for all of us to realize our responsibility to the innocent victims of the Holocaust, to our own conscience; responsibility to prevent anti-Semitism, any form of xenophobia against any human community.

Because there is no other people's pain - this is the motto of our Museum

We invite you to see a photo report from the spiritual ceremony on the Dmytro Yavornytskyi Ave., walk around the city center, and commemoration ceremony at the Botanical Garden on Museum's Facebook page.

Video on the Youtube channel of Museum.