Steven Spielberg's company has completed and released a documentary film on Babi Yar. It appears to only be available in Ukraine right now.

Babi Yar is where the Nazis killed and buried about 100,000 people. 30,000 Jews were killed in just 2 days. I have a longer blog about it here.

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In a country where Jewish tradition was nearly obliterated by the Holocaust and communist anti-religious persecution, reviving Jewish tradition today has relied almost entirely on foreigners, mainly Israelis or Americans.

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More than 80 percent of its Jews emigrated when communism ended -- only about 700 Jews remain, Kolesnik estimates, in a city of 200,000 [IVANO-FRANKOVSK].

Ukraine Native Staying Home to Keep Jewish Tradition Alive

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I love this baseball story. Basil Tarasko is a first generation American. His parents are Ukrainian. And he has been struggling to fund raise to support the children's baseball activities in Ukraine. If you want to donate a baseball bat or other supplies to Basil, go here.

Despite a lack of playing fields and funding, amateur baseball is finding fertile ground in Ukraine, with programs at schools and orphanages spearheading development.

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This June, Ukraine’s Little League program will be organizing the country’s first ever baseball tournament for orphans – the only one of its kind in the world – in Kaniv, Cherkassy Region.

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Ukraine boasted the largest Little League in Europe last year, with 22 Little Leagues and 62 teams. Of these, 11 were at orphanages.

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[Basil] Tarasko, a retired college baseball coach from the United States with Ukrainian roots, was invited by the Ministry of Sports to help develop baseball in the Soviet Union in 1991


American goes to bat for kids

In this story, Basil mentions why so many baseball teams are at Ukrainian orphanages.

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