Victor Pinchuk Has Joined a Member of the Supervisory Board of the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Center

On March 19, 2017, Victor Pinchuk, Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist, Founder of EastOne and Victor Pinchuk Foundation was appointed among other 11 members of the Supervisory Board of the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Center (BYHMC).

Among the other members are: Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich, Chief Rabbi of Kiev and Ukraine; Joschka Fischer, the former Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany; Mikhail Fridman, Co-Founder and Chairman, Alfa-Group Consortium, Co-Founder and Chairman, LetterOne investment holding, and philanthropist, Co-Founder Russian Jewish Congress and Genesis Philanthropy Group; Pavel Fuks, Chairman, Babi Yar Memorial Foundation; and corporate leader; German Khan, Co-Founder and a Member of the Supervisory Board, Alfa Group Consortium, LetterOne investment holding, Co-Founder Member of the Supervisory Board, the Russian Jewish Congress and Genesis Philanthropy Group; Volodymyr Klitschko, former heavyweight boxer world champion, philanthropist and public figure; Aleksander Kwasniewski, former President of Poland (1995-2005); Joe Lieberman, former U.S. senator from Connecticut; Natan Sharansky, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI); Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, artist, founder of the most successful Ukrainian rock band “Okean Elzy,” civic activist and opinion leader; Yale World Fellows 2015 Alumnae.

Nathan Sharansky was elected as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, and German Khan was appointed as Deputy Chairman. The Meetings of the Board are to be held twice a year.

After the official part the Supervisory Board was introduced to the public at a press conference.

Presenting the project development plan, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Natan Sharansky said: “Today was the first meeting of the Supervisory Board, which lasted for several hours. To create this Center we plan to involve hundreds of public organizations - Jewish, Ukrainian and international. And at each stage: where the center is to be located, how it is to be filled, how educational and research it is to be, etc.; at each stage we will seek public and professional support. We want to create this project with the maximum public involvement. We also expect that in six months, by the next meeting of the Supervisory Board, the place of the future construction of the Center will be strongly recommended.”

“I have been observing Babi Yar for more than 27 years since I came to Ukraine. In Ukraine, we are not learning our own history. This center is to be built especially within this purpose so that children as well as elderly people might know their own history and mistakes of the past.” — commented Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich.

The development of the project is constantly discussed with state institutions: the city council, the presidential administration and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine. The management of the organization constantly meets with embassies and cultural centers of other countries. The project is in dialogue with the professional community and the general public.

The target date for the opening of the Memorial Center is 2021, and will coincide with the 80^th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre.

The goal of the Babi Yar Memorial Center is to honor the memory of all those who were killed by the Nazis at Babi Yar, to create awareness for the mass murder of Jews on the territory of Ukraine and the former Soviet Union which is not sufficiently understood worldwide, and to foster tolerance and openness through keeping history alive and teaching the lessons of the past.