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10/29
May 2002
5762 Sivan

DISPUTES OVER THE BABIY YAR CENTER
(prolongation of a theme...)
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Yuly Lifshits, arts researcher.

It is not worth staying here any longer because all projects here are a mixture of park pavilions with the feeble attempts for the 1970s vanguard models.

There is not a single architectural, I mean, unusual, symbolic concept.

I would like to stress that it is supposed to be a Jewish center. Despite the dispersion of Jews all over the world, there are definite, though not numerous, Jewish symbols and space designs. They do exist in Ukraine at least. There are, for example, shtetls built according to specific and independent principles. For example, we do all know that a building constructed by a Jew or for a Jew is not to be completed until the Temple is restored.

I think that the authors of these projects do not stick to the Jewish tradition and know little about the basis of Jewish life - the Torah.

Therefore, I don't see anything Jewish in the projects. The architects thought only about the function of the complex but a true and talented professional will always relate the function with traditional symbols and definite idea.

Frankly speaking, the choice of the site for the complex is a failure.

Babiy Yar can host only a memorial center, like Yad va-Shem. It should be located round the Menorah. The community center needs another place.

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