"Stalin and the Black Book of Soviet Jewry" and "The Road to Babi Yar"

Organized by the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center with support from the Embassy of Israel in the United States and Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University

*Note: Each screening takes place at a different location and requires separate registration. All screenings are free and open to the public. More information and registration information coming soon.

“The Road to Babi Yar”: Film Screening and Discussion

January 28, 7:00PM

Location: Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia
Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia
8900 Little River Turnpike
Fairfax, VA 22031

With the invasion by the German Wehrmacht into the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, a new stage of the Holocaust began—mass execution by bullets. Documentary film “The Road to Babi Yar” (Israel, 2018) presents events of the first 100 days of the occupation of Soviet Ukraine, as well as the evolution of the mass murder system at hundreds of killing sites symbolized by Babi Yar. Conversations with historians such as Timothy Snyder, eyewitnesses, and Jewish survivors help recreate a comprehensive picture of the fate of the 1.5 million Jews of Ukraine who died in the Shoah.

Speakers:

Boris Maftsir, Israeli documentary filmmaker

Izabella Tabarovsky, Senior Associate, Kennan Institute

Dessert reception sponsored by Embassy of Israel to follow the screening.

To register, please click here.

Stalin and the Black Book of Soviet Jewry

January 29, 3:00-5:30 PM

Location: Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC

In 1944, Soviet writers Ilya Ehrenburg and Vasily Grossman together with the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee prepared a 500-page book of testimonials about the mass murder and resistance of the Soviet Jews during the Holocaust. Shortly before publication, Stalin reversed his decision to publish the book, members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee were executed, and silence descended upon the memory of the Holocaust. The Black Book would not be published in Russia until 2014. In this event, we will screen excerpts from Israeli filmmaker Boris Maftsir’s upcoming documentary exploring the fate of the Black Book and consider Stalin’s views and policies vis-à-vis Soviet Jewry.

Speakers:

Boris Maftsir, Israeli documentary filmmaker

Zvi Gitelman, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan

Joshua Rubenstein, Associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University

To register, please click here.

“The Road to Babi Yar”: Film Screening and Discussion 

January 30, 3:30-6:00 PM

Location: George Washington University, Lindner Family Commons (Room 602), 1957 E St., NW, Washington, DC

With the invasion by the German Wehrmacht into the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, a new stage of the Holocaust began—mass execution by bullets. Documentary film “The Road to Babi Yar” (Israel, 2018) presents events of the first 100 days of the occupation of Soviet Ukraine, as well as the evolution of the mass murder system at hundreds of killing sites symbolized by Babi Yar. Conversations with historians such as Timothy Snyder, eyewitnesses, and Jewish survivors help recreate a comprehensive picture of the fate of the 1.5 million Jews of Ukraine who died in the Shoah.

This film will be subtitled in English.

Speakers:

Boris Maftsir, Israeli documentary filmmaker

Walter Reich, Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Professor of International Affairs, Ethics and Human Behavior; Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, George Washington University

To register, please click here.