This is an extremely fascinating and well-written book. It tells the story of not just the horrible massacre of Jews and other "undesireables" by the Nazis in WWII occupied Kyiv, but also of life in Kyiv under Nazi occupation. Equally fascinating is the account of Babyn Yar (its Ukrainian name) long AFTER the Germans had been pushed out. It is the personal, first-hand account of the author who is a 12-year old boy at the time of the German entrance into Kyiv. One correction to a previous review here - according to the editions I have seen of this book, the author is not Jewish, but half-Ukrainian and half-Russian. This is of minor importance other than for those who might be inclined to reject this book as "Jewish Propoganda". It is a very honest work, portraying everyone involved as all-too-human; sharing all characteristics from the noble to the obscence.

I have been looking for a copy of "Babi Yar" by Anatoly Kuznetsov for several years. I'm not sure this is the same book, but the fact that both books describe the occupation of Kiev during World War II from the eyes of a 12-year-old, including the horrible massacre of Jews and Ukrainians at Babi Yar, lead me to believe that this might be a rewrite of my copy of "Babi Yar" I have been unable to find in circulation. In my copy, printed by Dell in 1966, the protagonist is not Jewish, but Ukrainian-Russian, although many of his friends at the time were Jewish as were many of the survivors the author interviewed after the war whose stories were included in the documentary. Having lived in Kiev for five years in the early 90s, Babi Yar is not only a book of the atrocities that took place in Ukraine during the war, but a glimpse at the survival skills by ordinary Kievites during the occupation. In this way, it chronicles the plight of all citizens of Nazi occupation, not just those of the Jewish residents of this wonderful city. It also describes the way in which the Nazis rounded up young Ukrainians for shipment to farms and factories in Germany, which is the prelude to the stories of thousands of Ukrainians, many of whom returned home after the war and became Soviet citizens I met in Kiev fifty years later. But many of these young Ukrainains who found themselves in the West upon the German defeat immigrated all over the world, comprising the Ukrainian diaspora, who also returned to Kiev after independence to help build this new nation. If anyone knows whether these are the same stories or if the original has been rewritten and expanded, please post this information at this site. In any event, it is unfortunate that both copies of this book are out-of-print because the story of the citizens of Kiev and the atrocities of Babi Yar need to be told.

This is an important book which I hope will be put back in print soon. The story of the Ukrainian occupation during WWII, as well as Babi Yar death camp are fascinating, if also horrifying. The book covers a theatre of the war that is seldom covered in such detail.

The honesty is the most interesting part. The author, a 12-year-old boy at the time, (and NOT Jewish), had no reason to fabricate, and with an innocence that makes it clear he isn't trying to propogandize, just reports the horrors he sees. The book also includes some later gathered (when the author was grown up) interviews with survivors of Babi Yar death camp which are even more harrowing.

The most fascinating part of the copy that I have is that it BOLDs the portions of the book that were edited out by the Russian censors, before the book was published in the Soviet Union. It is interesting to notice what the censors chose to cut out, as much as what they chose to leave in!

Well worth finding in a used book store, if you can.