Stardate: Oct 29, 2007 Mass Graves & Wedding Photos at Memorial Park

Monday, October 29, 2007

Shocking title, huh? Yep, there is this cool wooded park north of Kharkiv that was, during WWII, a vast forest. During the German occupation of Kharkiv, they took innumerable Jews, Ukrainians, Communists, Russians, etc to this forest and shot them dead. The mass graves are huge. There are so many in this park, I didn’t know how to react. But let me back up, the entrance to the park is heralded by two massive cement columns in Soviet Realist style, which depicts the glorious Red Army yada yada yada. There is a long stone-paved walk that leads to a sad-looking statue of the motherland draped in robes. She is sad because at her feet is the eternal flame for all those who died there, for the nameless hundreds of people who are buried in the pit to her left. Antonina (A) showed me the 5 trees at the end of the mass grave and explained that the 5 trees represent the statistic that 1 in 5 Ukrainians survived WWII. Imagine. If you lived 4 other people died. Ukraine was in the center of the battle between the Red Army and the Nazi Army. Many cities were decimated and thousands of people killed by both sides. To further complicate things, the Germans sent Ukrainians to work and concentration camps in Poland and Germany. Also, there was the Ukrainian National Army fighting the other sides. During WWII, it was difficult to be in Ukrainian, because you couldn’t trust anyone. After the war, when the major powers were assigning territories to various countries and carving up Europe, the major powers wouldn’t even allow the Ukrainian National Army to represent Ukraine at the discussion table.

I hate the fact that the West has bought into the Russian perpetuated myth that Ukraine belongs to them. Historically, this is not a fact at all, but the Russians have been saying it louder and longer than they would allow the Ukrainians to. Okay, I’m stepping down off my soap box.

So, wedding parties come here to take photos. It kind of makes me ill...but the tradition was to honor the dead by placing flowers here. It has now turned into this fashion show of brides, grooms and families modeling and posing next to the graves, monuments, etc. Drinking and laugher are all over... I was solemn and sad, I wish they were, too. Maybe their perspective is one of acceptance and moving on. Maybe they have grieved and are past it?