To the President of Ukraine Mr. Leonid Kuchma
A copy: to the Head of President Administration Mr. Viktor Medvedchuk
To the Head of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Mr. Volodymyr Lytvyn
A copy to: the Head of committee on human rights, national minorities and inter-ethnical relations Mr. Gennady Udovenko
To the Prime Minister of Ukraine Mr. Anatoly Kinah
A copy: to the Vice-Prime Minister on the questions of humanitarian policy
Mr. Volodymyr Semynozhenko

National communities of Ukraine together with a considerable part of the Jewish community of Ukraine express their anxiety about an opportunity to build the Jewish Community Center "Heritage" in Babi Yar.
Babi Yar is a symbol of homicide for all Jews, for all citizens of former Soviet Union, for the whole world. 100 thousands of ruined lives, among them were Jews, people of different nations (Roma, Russians, Ukrainians etc.), Soviet partisans and Ukrainian patriots, prisoner of Syrezky concentration camp. All of them remained unburied. Nazis burned their corpses and dispersed ashes all through the neighborhood. That is why attempts to prove a possibility of existence or examination of exposure of burial places seems futile. They were consciously wiped out with not a trace of crime remaining.
Dozen years after the war Soviet authorities did not give a possibility to perpetuate the memory of victims. A monument fastidiously called "a monument to Soviet people assassinated by Nazis" became a compromise.
In 60-s an attempt to destroy a place of tragedy was made. It caused "Kurenevska tragedy". Then in Babi Yar entertaining institutions were intended to build, and only protests of Kiev intelligentsia pulled up this humiliation.
What is going now? The city gave to the American Joint Jewish Distribution Committee "Joint" a place for building community-cultural center "Heritage", where it is supposed to revive a community life in all its spheres (premises for community works, concert hall, theater, cafe, parking place). Public discussion of projects and followed discussion in mass-media (newspaper "The Jewish Observer", "Mirror of the Week", "Einikait", "Revival XXI", "Young Ukraine", "Moscow news", "Pic" magazine, Ukrainian radio) showed, that the majority of Jewish and non-Jewish citizens of Kiev does not welcome the idea of building a community center in Babi Yar.
Now organizers are trying to convince us that building is planned not in Babi Yar, but near it. But is it important that shootings were at this place or 200 or 600 m farther (supporters of the project adduce such ciphers as a serious argument)? You know that after the annihilation of corpses and Kurenevska tragedy all remains were mixed in this horrible place. Attempts to convince people that projected building will be only a memorial-research institution are not cogent, because the project should receive new architectural and essential filling.
We would like to remind that 2 years ago, when a memorial to assassinated Roma was intended to be built, Kiev City Administration in the letter #005-958 from 23.11.2000 explained to the main architecture of the complex of Babi Yar Anatoly Ignaschenko that "A proposition to establish... a memorial sign directly behind the memorial to Soviet citizens, Soviet prisoners of the war, shot by Nazis in Babi Yar, did not find a support because the idea of architectural-planning decision of memorial envisages that the attention of spectators is drawing to the sculptural composition on the background of a landscape. The monument is successfully blended with an authentic surrounding and an absence of additional monumental constructions at this place underlines its importance". A former vice-chairman of Kiev City Administration Mr. A. Tolstouhov undersigned the letter.
But now the city considers possible to build a big complex in a reserved zone. Contrary to the position of major members of a town planning council the project "Heritage" was declared as a confirmed, so the work was not stopped. Such situation can not be out of attention of people, law and executive authorities. The more - Ukrainian government during the examination of events around the historical memorial - Sophia church - had declared and had demonstrated a principle position about a necessity of a professional examination of such projects and a broad public discussion.
Analysis of situation which can occur as a result of building a center in Babi Yar proves that this idea will in all its probability be unacceptable for the wide circle of national communities, political forces and citizens. And only peaceful protests can not be guaranteed at all.
It is obviously that such actions can destroy inter-ethnical peace and international image of Ukraine and can give a possibility to anti-Ukrainian forces to represent Ukraine as an anti-Semitic state.
From the other side, defenders of the project gamble on the fact, that the President of Ukraine took part at the ceremony of placing a stone at the place of projected building. They present it as an indicator of an undeniable support by the President of Ukraine the idea of constructing a community center in Babi Yar. In fact they play into the hand of the forces which try to discredit Leonid Kuchma in the democratic world, to present him as an enemy of European civic values.
The After-war history had proved that it is not possible to built in Babi Yar without breach of the norms of conscience, natural balance, inter-ethnical peace - all that forms priorities of a civic society.
Revival of national values and traditions of ethnic communities in Ukraine, Jewish in particular, should not associate in the world with a place of tragedy, it was revived and develops despite dramatic events of the past.

Heads of 12 national communities of Ukraine signed the Address.