Mixed Emotions
The Germans reached Kiev on September 19, 1941. 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. In only days, they would see the true face of the invaders.
Looting began immediately. Then the Germans moved into Kiev's downtown on Kreshchatik Street. On September 24, five days after the Germans entered Kiev, a bomb exploded around four o'clock in the afternoon at the German headquarters. The Germans were shocked. Then they cordoned off the area and gathered people in the vicinity as suspects. Then another building on Kreshchatik exploded. The Germans - and those they had assembled - fled for safety. For days, bombs exploded in buildings in the Kreshchatik that had been occupied by Germans. Many Germans and civilians were killed and injured.
After the war, it was determined that a group of NKVD members were left behind by the Soviets to offer some resistance against the conquering Germans. But during the war, the Germans decided it was the work of Jews, and retaliated for the bombings against the Jewish population of Kiev.
Plan for Retaliation
By the time the bombings finally stopped on September 28, the Germans already had a plan for retaliation. On this day, the Germans posted a notice all over town that read: "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, to 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."
Most, including the 175,000-person Jewish community of Kiev, thought this meant the Jews were to be deported. On the morning of September 29, tens of thousands of Jews arrived at the appointed location. Some arrived extra early in order to ensure themselves a seat on the train.
A large crowd formed and soon after people passed through the gate into the Jewish cemetery. The crowd was large enough that most of the men, women, and children did not know what was happening, and by the time they heard machine-gun fire, it was too late to escape. The Jews were then ordered to undress, beaten if they resisted, and then shot at the edge of the Babi Yar gorge. According to the Einsatzgruppen Operational Situation Report No. 101, at least 33,771 Jews from Kiev and its suburbs were killed at Babi Yar on September 29 and September 30, 1941: systematically shot dead by machine gun fire. As many as 60,000 more people, including Roma and Soviet POWs were later shot at the site
Death Squad "Einsatzgruppe C"
Carrying out the massacre was the Einsatzgruppe C, supported by members of a Waffen-SS battalion and units of the Ukrainian auxiliary police, under the general command of SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Friedrich Jeckeln. The participation of local collaborators in these events, now documented and proven, is a matter of painful public debate in Ukraine.
Upon the war's conclusion, Jecklen was captured by the Red Army and interrogated, most likely under torture, before being placed on display at a show trial in Riga, Latvia. His trial began February 3, 1946 and he was executed later that day.