As part of the official working visit to the United States, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska, accompanied by the Chairman of the FJC Ukraine Rabbi Meir Stambler and Vice Chairman Rabbi Rafael Rutman, held meeting with the leaders of American Jewish communities and organizations.

During his visit to Washington, DC the first Jewish President of Ukraine took a tour of the Holocaust Memorial Museum, which was attended by the Director of the Museum Sarah Bloomfield, Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer at American Jewish Committee Jason Isaacson, CEO of of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations William Daroff, US Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Ellen Germain, CEO of the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry Mark Levin and Deputy Director Lesley Weiss, and other governmental and communal officials. Executive Vice President of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) Rabbi Levi Shemtov blew the Shofar, as is customary in Elul, the final month of the Jewish calendar.

President Zelensky also gave a speech, in which he talked about his Jewish heritage and expressed high appreciation of the cooperation with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Head of State has brought copies of 43 Yiddish letters from the “Unread Letters of 1941” collection and presented them to the Museum.

′′Most of the authors of these letters, including children, died in August 1941 in the first mass shootings of the Jewish population in Ukraine. Today we transfer copies of these valuable documents, depicting pain and hope, to the US Holocaust Museum. Today we are doing everything to make sure that ‘never again’ actually means ‘never again’,” said the Ukrainian leader.

After addressing the participants, President Zelensky personally invited them to Ukraine for the events commemorating the 80th anniversary of Babi Yar, made a record in the ‘Book of Honoraries’ and lit candles near the ′Babi Yar’ sign in the Memorial Hall.