In July–August 2025, public libraries in Ukraine will receive 10,000 books about the Holocaust. The initiative is being implemented by the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Centre in cooperation with local authorities. Libraries in Kyiv and the Kyiv region have already begun receiving the first books.
The selection includes documentary, fiction, and memoir works that tell about the tragedy of European Jewry, the mass shootings in Babyn Yar, and the personal stories of families who survived the Holocaust. Among them are Boris Zabar’s ‘We Wanted to Live…’, Lawrence Reiss’s ‘The Holocaust: A New History’, ‘Babyn Yar: Past. Present. Future’ and other publications issued with the support of the Memorial Centre Foundation.
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In the capital, the project was supported by the Kyiv City State Administration. Thanks to coordination with the Department of Culture of the Kyiv City State Administration, dozens of libraries have already joined the initiative, including the Lesya Ukrainka Public Library and the Taras Shevchenko Central Library for Children.
‘Memory is not only about the past, but also about our responsibility to the future,’ said Serhiy Anzhyak, director of the Department of Culture, emphasising the importance of spreading knowledge about the Holocaust among young people.
According to Anna Furman, Director General of the Babyn Yar Memorial Centre, the decision to donate books to libraries was a response to constant requests from teachers, researchers and librarians looking for quality literature on the subject.
As part of the project, the Centre plans to distribute books to all regions of Ukraine by the end of the summer. The organisers emphasise that access to the true history of the Holocaust is part of the cultural and humanitarian security of the state, which shapes critical thinking and empathy in society.
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