By Erin Levi
QUEENS, NY — Days before Yom Kippur, community members gathered at Babi Yar Triangle in Brighton Beach to commemorate one of the darkest chapters of the Holocaust — the September 29,1941 Babi Yar massacre, where nearly 34,000 Jews were murdered by Nazi forces in a ravine outside Kyiv, Ukraine.
For the ninth consecutive year, the annual memorial was organized by community activist Anna Goldberg, along with a dedicated group of volunteers. The memorial convened local leaders and Holocaust survivors to remember the victims and reflect on the lessons of history. Speakers included Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny and Cantor Semyon Grinberg, who spoke about the urgent need to confront rising antisemitism in New York and across the globe.
Goldberg, who has led the memorial for nearly a decade, emphasized that remembrance is both a moral duty and an act of resilience. “Every year we come here to remind people about Babi Yar,” she said in past remarks, “and to express support for the fighting Ukraine and Israel.”
The ceremony took place at the Babi Yar Triangle, a small memorial park at Corbin Place and Brighton 14th Street, first dedicated in 1989 with Klezmer music and a reading of Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s poem “Babi Yar.” Originally little more than a traffic island, the space was transformed into a peaceful green park inscribed with a Star of David and bronze plaque urging visitors to remember the dead.
Rebuilt in 2022 with new play equipment and quiet spaces for reflection, the park continues to serve as a place of remembrance and resilience in a neighborhood long home to Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
“We should never forget how hate and ignorance resulted in 6 million Jews being slaughtered during the Holocaust,” said Council Member Ari Kagan, who thanked Goldberg and the volunteers for their efforts in a heartfelt facebook post.