Teachers and students of grades 5-11 of schools in Odessa and the region took part in the All-Ukrainian historical and educational initiative "National commemoration lesson for the 80th anniversary of the Baby Yar tragedy." Such a lesson was held throughout the territory of Ukraine for students of 15 thousand schools at the same time.
Prominent public figures who have high moral authority and are respected in society joined its holding in the main educational institutions of the country's capital and its largest cities.
In Odessa, the Odessa Law Lyceum was chosen as the main educational institution for the National Remembrance Lesson. Here, a lesson on the call of the heart and for family memory was opened by public figure Pavel Kozlenko, a historian, lawyer, Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine and specialist in Holocaust research.
"For me, September 29 is not just a calendar date of remembrance, but a personal tragedy for my family: my grandmother's sister and her three children were left lying in Baby Yar," he said, addressing the schoolchildren. — It is very important that for the first time the National Remembrance Lesson is being held at the state level. The events of the Holocaust are a terrible historical lesson, and children and teenagers must draw conclusions from it. Nazism, racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance and hatred of people on any grounds lead to human victims."
The well-known Ukrainian musician Svyatoslav Vakarchuk came to the opening of the National Remembrance Lesson at the Lyceum "Liko School" in Kyiv with an introductory speech.
"Today is the day of a terrible tragedy. Exactly 80 years ago, one of the most terrible pages of Ukrainian and world history took place. Here, in Kyiv, not far from here in the tract of Babiy Yar, more than 33 thousand people were shot in two days. Only because they were simply of a second nationality - Jews. Later, tens of thousands of people of other nationalities, in particular Roma and Ukrainians, were killed there. We must all remember: today's history lesson is not just a lesson to consolidate the material. You will remember this lesson in your heart. Things like the Holocaust don't just happen because it happened, it's not an accident. This was a regularity, which led to many reasons: anger and hatred of people, closed society, fear of raising one's head, and most importantly, the destruction of a person's freedom, his dignity. Therefore, we must always remember that dignity and freedom are the most important, these are the things that we must protect," said Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, who also told the story of his family, which faced the horrors of the Holocaust.
The initiators and organizers of the National Lesson of Remembrance — the Babiy Yar Holocaust Memorial Center and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine — set the goal of recalling the historical tragedy associated with the mass extermination of Jews and other civilians during World War II.
Thanks to modern technologies, everyone could join the National Memory Lesson: it was streamed on the online platform "Red Dot of Memory", and also broadcast on the website of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the official website of the Ministry on Facebook, the official website and social networks of the Memorial Center "Babiy Yar" Holocaust.
"The lesson should reveal the essence of the tragedy of the Holocaust in Ukraine and illuminate the topic of executions in Babi Yar. Young people should learn ethical and moral lessons from the tragedy that changed the course of history of the XNUMXth century. We will never forget these sacrifices. The preservation of peace and the affirmation of humanistic values will be the best memory of the innocent victims," Serhiy Shkarlet, head of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, said in his speech at the opening of the National Memory Lesson.
He called on teachers to take an active part in the work filled with materials about the Holocaust and the popularization of the online platform "Red Point of Memory". It is an instrument for preserving and researching the history of the Second World War and the Holocaust.
"Red dot of memory" was created as an assistant for history teachers and offers a new method of teaching the school subject - interactively and interestingly for students. Teachers and researchers highly appreciate the educational and historical role of the online platform "Red Point of Memory".
"Babiy Yar Holocaust Memorial Center created, in my opinion, a unique interactive project: schoolchildren, museum workers, local historians had the opportunity to share all the information they have about the facts of the Holocaust. A single information platform will allow you to see the extent of the evil deeds of the Nazis during the Second World War in Ukraine," public figure Pavel Kozlenko, who himself actively documents and studies the pages of the Holocaust, shared his impressions of getting to know the possibilities of the online platform "Red Point of Memory".
"We strive to change the approach to the study of history and make the process interesting for schoolchildren. This lesson is the first in history to revive the memory of the Holocaust.
"Thanks to the author's method using information technologies and elements of research practice, students will be able to better understand the events from the textbook and make their contribution to the restoration of the truth," Anna Mazarchuk, director of educational projects of the Babiy Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, commented on the historical and educational initiative.
The national lesson of memory, timed to the 80th anniversary of the Baby Yar tragedy and the creation of the historical and educational online platform "Red dot of memory" - the first joint steps in the implementation of the memorandum on partnership in the field of education, science and educational activities concluded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Babiy Yar Holocaust Memorial Center.
