We started this day in Kiev with a visit to Babyn Yar, where between 1941-1943 100,000 Kyivans were murdered. Most, but not all, of these were Jewish. Early on, fliers had been posted telling them to come to a meeting so they could be relocated to a safer place. When the unsuspecting people arrived, they were stripped, beaten, attacked by dogs, shot, and dumped into a ravine. They were then buried, whether they were still alive or already dead. There are 3 monuments here: one Jewish, one Soviet, and one for the children who died.
It was pretty cold, so on our way to St. Michael's Monastery, Andrew bought a scarf with Kyiv's soccer team's logo on it. Go Dyanamo! St. Michael's was built in 1108! Amazing to see buildings (at least partially) that old!
Then we walked down Andriyivski Uzviz (Andrew's decent) past St. Andrew's Church, named after Kyiv's first Christian Preacher. Marvelous.
Then, the moment Andrew had been waiting for since leaving the U.S... The Chornobyl Museum. (You'll find a lot of great info about the cover up if you Google it!) The nuclear power plant had been the pride of Ukraine. Then the government ordered an experiment which ultimately caused the meltdown of the plant and a radiation cloud that caused much death and disease. For those who were there that night and survived after trying to contain the radiation and save many lives, there was a harsh surprise coming. They were prosecuted for causing the explosion. Men who were required to spend 2 years in the military could opt to instead spend 2 minutes at Chornobyl cleaning up the mess. Many of these men died as a result. The land nearby will be uninhabitable for another 500 years.
Everything takes on new meaning when you learn about it where it actually happened...WWII, Chornobyl... wow.
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