Jewish Telegraphic Agency - 08.29.2006

Foundation to back Babi Yar complex

(JTA) — A foundation was inaugurated in Ukraine to fund construction of a new memorial complex in Babi Yar. 

Organizers of the Babi Yar International Fund said the group would finance a memorial, synagogue and Jewish religious school near the site where 33,000 Jews were murdered in September 1941, and 200,000 people were murdered in all during World War II. 

Launched Aug. 22 in Kiev, the foundation was initiated by Vadim Rabinovich, a business magnate who heads the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress. 

The inauguration was attended by Ukrainian Jewish leaders, Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, and grandsons of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin. 

No Ukrainian officials attended. 

However, some Jewish leaders argue that private individuals should not be allowed to build memorials to a national tragedy, saying the government should take complete responsibility for the memorial. 

A government-sponsored ceremony commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Babi Yar tragedy is slated for next month.