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Maryna Tkachenko, Oles Honchar Dnipro National UniversityThe more the present turns into the past, the more the past needs to be updated in order to serve as an example and contribute to processes of identity-making of individuals, the society and the state. Without this actualization, the past becomes habitual and loses its convincing power. The Second World War is one of the most important and tragic events of the 20th century. It would seem that the lessons of the war and its sacrifices will never be forgotten. But the contemporaries of those terrible events who carry with them living memories of the war are gradually disappearing. With their disappearance, we cease to "remember." For most, the events of war are perceived at the level of rituals associated with national holidays and monuments which they visit not more often than once a year.This argument is based on the research that I conducted among my fellow students from the history department of the Dnipro National University. I tried to find out what they know about the monuments located in the park that is located near our university.Oles Honchar Dnipro National University. Photo by Ewa Dabrowska (Forum Transregionale Studien)One of the tragicpages of Dnipro’s history were the events on October 13-14, 1941, when 11,000 Jewswere shot on the site of the current University Park.[1]On that day, by order of Chief of the Police Major Wilhelm von Mulde, Field CommandantOberst-lieutenant von Alberti and Commandant of the Dnepropetrovsk Major von Goldeman,approximately 11,000 Jews were gathered in front of the Central DepartmentStore («Центральный универмаг») at Karl MarxAvenue (now Dm. Yavornytsky) and hadall their valuable possessions taken away by the Nazis. Putting people in acolumn of 6-8 people in a row they were driven in the direction of the placewhere the university is situated now (in fact all university complex was builtin the 1970s), where they were shot in a ravine. Local inhabitants, A. I. Sapegin, V. A. Zybalo, V. P. Nachynsky, eye-witnessesto the tragedy in the ravine, testified that, on October 13 and 14, 1941, incold weather, women and men, adults and children were shot. The aggressors thenrandomly dumped the dead and the wounded into the ravine. The children stillalive were thrown there from the 20-meter height.The 1984 monument to the murdered Jews. Photo by Maryna TkachenkoBased on the testimony of witnesses and the findingsof the forensic medical examination, as well as the excavations, theDnipropetrovsk Regional Commission for Accounting for Damages Caused by theGerman Fascist Invaders and Their Associates established that 11,000 Jewish civilianswere shot in the ravine. Being critical of the Commission’s work, the number ofvictims in the Commission’s reports might have been estimated too high.However, the fact that the shooting was in the place of nowadays Gagarin Park (itwasn’t park in times of the war) has been proven. It is important to understandthat this place has a tragic past. The lives of thousands of victims of Nazism –innocent civilians: children, old men, women – ended there.During Soviet times, a stadium was built on theshooting spot. During the construction of the stadium, the remains of peoplewere found but the construction was not stopped. As a consequence of it, archaeologicalresearch could not be continued. It was only in 1984 that a modest monument waserected here, which did not carry any specific information about the events orthe ethnicity of the victims. Then, only in 2001, another monument, withinscription in Hebrew and in Ukrainian, was installed.&#160; The aim of my research was to find out how students ofthe History Department preserved memories of the events that happened at theplace of the current University Park (officially named Gagarin Park) during theSecond World War. In total, 142 students were interviewed. Questions were aimedat determining the level of student awareness of victims of Nazi terror withinthe framework of the project TeraOblita: Open Memory Map. Creating a questionnaire, I asked the followingquestion: “Which associations come to your mind regarding the University Park?”&#160; The students’ associations with the park were thefollowing:30%shootings,22%no associations,9%rest,8%nature,5%monument,3%sports,3%maniacs and drug addicts,12%other (ecological state of the park, students initiation ceremony, destructionof trees, etc.).The monument to the murdered Jews erected in 2001. Photo by Maryna TkachenkoMemory of the shootings of Jews on the site of the UniversityPark is shared by 30% of history students. 22% of interviewed students didn’tgive an answer or their answer was “I don’t know” or “nothing”. The fact thatthis place is often associated with recreation and entertainment proves thatthe level of information about executions is low. An interesting fact is thatthe first-year students associate the park with cutting down of trees, which happeneda few weeks before the survey. This demonstrates the role of the emotionalfactor in the formation of their associations.In general, the research showed the importance ofraising the level of awareness of students about the historical events in theirtowns. Places of memory should be used not only for honoring the events and thevictims but also for the upbringing of future generations. Memory is animportant factor that unites the country's population into a single civilsociety. At the same time, our historical memory is the result of our jointwork and responsibility.[1] The main source ofinformation about this shooting is material from the State Archive of theDnipro region, in the folder No. 2427: Dnipropetrovsk Regional Commission for Accounting forDamages Caused by the German Fascist Invaders and Their Associates. These are documents of losses causedby the event, including statements and correspondence about giving assistanceto citizens, evidence of victims, excavations, and medical examinations.