Бабий Яр. Реалии

Kievskiĭ ovrag Babiĭ I͡Ar - odna iz "stolit͡s" Kholokosta, mesto rekordnogo edinovremennogo ubiĭstva evreev, verolomno, pod ugrozoĭ smerti, sobrannykh si͡uda i͡akoby dli͡a vyselenii͡a. Pochti 34 tysi͡achi rasstreli͡annykh vsego togda za poltora dni͡a - 29 i 30 senti͡abri͡a 1941 goda - tragicheskiĭ rekord, polprot͡senta Kholokosta! Babiĭ I͡Ar - ėto arkhetip rasstrelʹnogo Kholokosta, poligon ėksterminat͡sii li͡udeĭ i ėksgumat͡sii ikh trupov, rezident͡sii͡a smerti i bespami͡atstva, ėpit͡sentr zapredelʹnoĭ otrit͡satelʹnoĭ sakralʹnosti - svoego roda mesto vkhoda v Ad. Ėto zhe samoe delaet Babiĭ I͡Ar mirovoĭ dostoprimechatelʹnostʹi͡u i obshchechelovecheskoĭ tragicheskoĭ svi͡atyneĭ. Zhanr knigi - istoriko-analiticheskai͡a khronika, napisannai͡a na print͡sipakh kriticheskogo istorizma, na tverdom faktograficheskom fundamente i v svobodnom obʺektivno-publit͡sisticheskom kli͡uche. Ee kompozit͡sii͡a zhestko zadana: v t͡sentre - istorii͡a rasstrelov v Babʹem I͡Aru, po krai͡am - ikh predystorii͡a i postistorii͡a, posledni͡ai͡a - s razbivkoĭ na sovetskui͡u i ukrainskui͡u chasti. V fokuse, smeni͡ai͡a drug druga, neizmenno okazyvalisʹ tradit͡sionnye kont͡septy antisemitizma raznykh ėpokh i okrasok - rossiĭskogo (imperskogo), nemet͡skogo (nat͡sional-sot͡sialisticheskogo), sovetskogo (internat͡sionalistskogo, no s kharakternym mestnym svoeobraziem) i ukrainskogo (mladonat͡sionalisticheskogo). Otkryvaetsi͡a kniga avtobiograficheskim vstupleniem ("Na beregu Babʹego I͡Ara"), zavershaetsi͡a - razdelom "Babiĭ I͡Ar kak khronicheskai͡a boleznʹ". Kont͡sovka knigi zadumyvalasʹ kak optimisticheskai͡a, vedʹ "khronicheskiĭ bolʹnoĭ" i͡avno shel na popravku i do vozhdelennoĭ dostoĭnoĭ memorializat͡sii Babʹego I͡Ara bylo uzhe rukoĭ podatʹ. No posle 24 fevrali͡a 2022 goda ėta zadacha, kak i vse chto ni estʹ normalʹnogo v mirnoĭ grazhdanskoĭ zhizni, lishilasʹ prioritetnosti i vnovʹ vstala na pauzu. Planetarnai͡a tragedii͡a, tak i ne uvenchavshai͡asi͡a do sikh por, na devi͡atom desi͡atiletii posle sebi͡a, svoeĭ dostoĭnoĭ memorializat͡sii, po-svoemu fenomenalʹna i tragediĭna. Voleĭ-nevoleĭ kniga vopiet i o segodni͡ashnikh riskakh gumanitarnoĭ i kulʹturnoĭ degradat͡sii. Napisannai͡a po zadanii͡u Klio, ona rasschitana na shirokiĭ krug chitateleĭ, interesui͡ushchikhsi͡a istorieĭ Vtoroĭ mirovoĭ voĭny, Kholokosta i antisemitizma v Ukraine i v Rossii.

Babi Yar ravine in Kiev is one of the "capitals" of the Holocaust, the site of a record one—time murder of Jews, treacherously, under threat of death, gathered here allegedly for eviction. Almost 34 thousand people were shot in just one and a half days — on September 29 and 30, 1941 — a tragic record, half a percent of the Holocaust! Babi Yar is the archetype of the shooting Holocaust, the site of the extermination of people and the exhumation of their corpses, the residence of death and unconsciousness, the epicenter of transcendent negative sacredness — a kind of place of entry into Hell. The same thing makes Babi Yar a world landmark and a universal tragic shrine. The genre of the book is a historical and analytical chronicle written on the principles of critical historicism, on a solid factual foundation and in a free objective journalistic manner. Its composition is rigidly set: in the center is the history of the Babi Yar shootings, along the edges are their prehistory and posthistory, the latter is broken down into Soviet and Ukrainian parts. The focus, replacing each other, invariably turned out to be the traditional concepts of anti—Semitism of different eras and colors - Russian (imperial), German (national socialist), Soviet (internationalist, but with a characteristic local originality) and Ukrainian (young nationalist). The book opens with an autobiographical introduction ("On the shore of Babi Yar"), ends with the section "Babi Yar as a chronic disease". The ending of the book was conceived as optimistic, because the "chronic patient" was clearly on the mend and the coveted worthy memorialization of Babyn Yar was already at hand. But after February 24, 2022, this task, like everything that is normal in peaceful civilian life, lost its priority and resumed its pause. The planetary tragedy, which has not been crowned so far, in the ninth decade after itself, its worthy memorialization, is phenomenal and tragic in its own way. Willy-nilly, the book also cries out about the current risks of humanitarian and cultural degradation. Written on the instructions of Clio, it is intended for a wide range of readers interested in the history of World War II, the Holocaust and anti-Semitism in Ukraine and Russia.