65 years ago today, Ukraine wasn't a country. Lvov (Lviv) was part of Poland. In Lvov a Jewish Ghetto was established in late 1941 with 106,000 people. The province of Ruthenia still existed and was part of Czechoslovakia. After 1945 this land became part of "the Ukraine" (the borderland).

The German Army arrived in Kyiv on September 19 1941. And some people thought the Germans were the lesser of 2 evils when compared to Stalin.

It was a confusing time for the inhabitants of Kiev. Though a large portion of the population had family either in the Red Army or had evacuated into the interior of the Soviet Union, many inhabitants welcomed the German Army's takeover of Kiev. Many believed the Germans would free them from Stalin's oppressive regime.

From: Babi Yar: Mass Murder

Members' of Stalin's infamous NKVD had stayed behind in Kyiv. And shortly after the German's arrived in Kyiv the NKVD set off a bomb in Germany's HQ. The Germans decided the Jews did it.

There were approximately 150,000 Jews in Kyiv.

The Germans posted the following message around Kyiv on September 28 1941.

All [Jews] living in the city of Kiev and its vicinity are to report by 8 o'clock on the morning of Monday, September 29th, 1941, at the corner of Melnikovsky and Dokhturov Streets (near the cemetery). They are to take with them documents, money, valuables, as well as warm clothes, underwear, etc.

Any [Jew] not carrying out this instruction and who is found elsewhere will be shot.

Any civilian entering flats evacuated by [Jews] and stealing property will be shot.

One rumor was the Germans were deporting the Jewish. People needed to arrive early to get a good seat on the train.

But still another rumor was something bad was going to take place. The Germans had poorly treated some Jews in Kyiv.

Over the next 2 days the Germans herded the Jewish families down to Babi Yar (pictured above). Babi Yar is the name for a small valley.. a ravine in northwestern Kyiv. They killed 33,771 Jews in that short time span.

And this was just the beginning. Babi Yar contains approximately 100,000 bodies. There isn't a ravine anymore. It is a piece of flat land.

Additional information can be found:

Babi Yar: Mass Murder
Babi Yar: Destroying the Evidence
Babi Yar Eyewitness and Survivor