Babi Yar

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Ravine near Kiev, Ukraine, where more than 100,000 people (80,000 of whom were Jews, the remainder being Poles, Russians, and Ukrainians) were murdered by the Nazis in 1941. The site was ignored until the Soviet poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko wrote a poem called ‘Babi Yar’ (1961) in protest at plans for a sports centre on the site.

Modelled on the French tricolour, the vertical stripes represent liberty and revolution. The almost square proportions of the flag are unusual. Effective date: 23 January 1831. >>