Students Visit Babyn Yar Exhibition on Nazi Propaganda

First-year students of the International Law program, accompanied by faculty from the Department of Comparative and European Law, visited the Babyn Yar National Historical and Memorial Reserve to attend the international exhibition "State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda," developed in collaboration with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.

On December 1, 2025, the group—led by Associate Professor O.V. Honcharuk (head of the educational and research criminal law club), O.M. Lysenko, and B.A. Veselovskyi—explored the exhibition as a continuation of their studies on the international condemnation of Nazism as a crime against humanity. Prior to the visit, participants viewed the new film Nuremberg, which enriched the subsequent discussions.

Opened to commemorate the 84th anniversary of the mass shootings at Babyn Yar, the exhibition illustrates how Nazi propaganda—through words, visual imagery, newspaper headlines, posters, and immersive installations—cultivated public acquiescence to the Holocaust and justified the regime's war of annihilation.

The display features artifacts from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the State Scientific Archival Library of Kyiv City, including occupation-era leaflets and posters. This integration of global and local sources maps the propaganda mechanisms that enabled mass atrocities.

The visit included a meeting with Rosa Tapanova, Director of the Babyn Yar National Historical and Memorial Reserve. Students and faculty engaged in dialogue on historical memory, legal mechanisms against crimes against humanity, and contemporary strategies for preserving 20th-century truths.

This experiential learning initiative bridges theory and practice, equipping future international lawyers with insights into international criminal law and the critical need to counter propaganda that undermines human rights.