World War II Museum

We went to the World War II museum on April 7th and it was really interesting. It was crazy for me to see Kyiv bombed in places that I have been to and it's just so sad how Ukraine was so devastated by the war. I think Ukraine actually had the highest population loss of all the countries involved. I read that Ukraine lost 19% of its population. At a place called Babi Yar (a ravine in Kyiv), almost 34,000 Jews were killed in one two-day operation on September 29th and 30th, 1941. As I learned online, it was the largest single mass killing for which the Nazi regime and it's collaborators were responsible during its campaign against the Soviet Union and is considered to be the largest single massacre in the history of the Holocaust." After this massacre it is estimated that 100,000 to 150,000 more people were killed there and later the Syrets concentration camp was set up only a few hundred meters away. I found out that Babi Yar is at my metro stop. That was so crazy to me because I just could not believe that it happened so close to where I live. The metro stops aren't even that far apart, but to get to Babi Yar, you get off at the same metro stop as you do to get to my house. Going to the museum was different than learning about WWII in school because it actually happened in Ukraine and the museum was filled with real things from the war, like boots and clothes that people actually wore at a concentration camp, tons of equipment - just so much stuff! And it was really disgusting, they also had gloves made from human skin and soap made from fat. There were lots of pictures of Ukraine and Ukrainian people during the war and it was so, so sad! I'm so glad that I had the experience of going to that museum. It gave me a different perspective on WWII. It also made more sense to me why Ukrainian people never smile. Ukraine suffered so much during WWII and things just continued from there. It didn't get easier for people after the war, during Soviet Union times, so I can understand why smiling would not be a part of their culture anymore. It was also interesting because the Soviet Union symbol (the hammer and sickle) was all over the museum. It is patriotic here and has absolutely no negative connotation like it does in the US. 

This is a WWII memorial on the way to the museum (about a 10 - 15 minutes away by walk)

The view from the memorial (it's on a big hill)

Another memorial

An awesome church we saw as we were walking to the museum

The entrance to the museum

The Motherland Monument - it is 62 meters tall and weighs 530 tons

This is the Memorial Hall

Memorial Hall is right under the Motherland Monument and it's the only place inside the museum  where you can take pictures

It has over 11,600 names of soldiers honored during the war