The Kurenivka mudslide occurred on 13 March 1961 in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

, then a city in the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. It took place near the historic

Babi Yar Babi Yar (russian: Ба́бий Яр) or Babyn Yar ( uk, Бабин Яр) is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and a site of massacres carried out by Nazi Germany's forces during its campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. T ...

ravine, which had been the site of the mass murder of more than 100,000 Jews and other civilians during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The

mudslide A mudflow or mud flow is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/second. Mudflows contain a signific ...

began at the edge of the ravine and dumped mud, water, and human remains into the streets of Kyiv. The Soviet authorities suppressed information about the disaster, and claimed 145 people were killed, while forbidding any memorial events for the victims. A 2012 study in Ukraine estimated that the number of victims was closer to 1,500.

Disaster

The mudslide started when a dam securing the

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand ( particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

pulp dump of a

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

factory near the

ravine collapsed after rain, releasing large volumes of pulp sludge, mud, water, and human remains down the steep hill of the modern Olena Teliha Street and into the streets of Kyiv. The slide immediately hit the lower-lying Kurenivka neighbourhood, reaching a residential area, a tram depot, several industrial buildings and a cemetery, as well as traffic moving along the streets. The total volume of pulp in the vicinity of Kyrylivska-Novokostiantynivska streets was up to with a depth of up to . While the contemporaneous official report indicated only 145 fatalities, a more recent study estimated that about 1,500 people died in the tragedy.

Recovery operations

Recovery operations continued for days, but no official notification of the disaster was published by the Soviet authorities. Recovery operations were led by the 120 Detached Engineering Battalion and the Anti-gas Regiment of the Local Anti-Aircraft Defence troops of the Soviet Army in the Kyiv Military District, led by Ivan Kharchenko, a

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...

. The events were censored by the Soviet Government. To cover up the scale of the disaster, people who died were buried in different

cemeteries A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a bu ...

in the city and nearby towns, with different dates and reasons for their deaths written in government records. Any acts of public remembrance were prohibited, and Soviet troops were sent to Kyiv to clean up signs of the catastrophe.

Aftermath

Construction engineers and managers responsible for the dam's design and maintenance were accused of

negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as ...

by the authorities, and subsequently convicted. In 1962 Ukrainian Communist Party leaders ordered the leveling of the Babi Yar ravine and the establishment of a

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. ...

on the site where at least 33,000 Jews from Kyiv and the surrounding area had been murdered in 1941 by the ''

Einsatzgruppen (, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...

''.

References

Sources

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External links

Куреневская Трагедия - Киевский "день Помпеи" (Kurenevskaya Tragedy - Kyiv's "Pompeii Day")
Information and images relating to the disaster (In Russian).
(Запікана куренівська трагедія (Baked Kureniv tragedy)
Eye witness accounts, information and images relating to the disaster from ''

The Ukrainian Week ''The Ukrainian Week'' ( uk, Український Тиждень, translit=Ukrainskyi Tyzhden) is an illustrated weekly magazine covering politics, economics and the arts and aimed at the socially engaged Ukrainian-language reader. It provides ...

'' (in Ukrainian)
«Мы к вам пришли. Не мы — овраги» (“We have come to you. We are not the ravines")
In-depth article by the Ukrainian weekly newspaper ', which includes transcripts of 1960s reports by the Soviet authorities {{DEFAULTSORT:Kurenivka Mudslide 1960s in Kyiv 1961 in Ukraine Dam failures in Europe 1961 in the Soviet Union Disasters in the Soviet Union Landslides in Ukraine Landslides in the Soviet Union Landslides in 1961 March 1961 events in Europe Waste disposal incidents 1961 disasters in the Soviet Union