Бабий Яр

The biggest mass murder by shooting of the Holocaust occurred during two days in late September 1941. Then, 33,771 Ukrainian Jews – by the Nazis' own accounts – were ordered to gather at a Jewish cemetery near a ravine called Babi Yar, on the outskirts of the capital, Kiev. They believed they were going to be transported for resettlement in work camps.

Instead they were machine-gunned in small groups by two lines of German SS Einsatzcommando troops assisted by Ukrainian auxiliary police and local Nazi collaborators. Their bodies were pushed into the gorge, where they were later buried.

Now Babi Yar, one of the most sensitive sites for Ukrainian Jews, has been slated by Kiev's city council for the building of a hotel to house visiting football fans for Euro 2012, opening a new chapter in its already controversial history.