"Babi Yar" By Yevgeny Yevtushenko: An Analysis

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still bars the marks of the
persecution of the past. There is still terrible persecution of the Jews in
present times because of their religion. These lines serve as the
transition from the Biblical and ancient examples he gives to the allusions
of more recent acts of hatred. The lines also allude to the fact that these
Russian Jews who were murdered at Babi Yar were martyrs as well.

The next stanza reminds us of another event in Jewish history where a Jew
was persecuted solely because of his religious beliefs. The poet refers to
the "pettiness" (line 11) of anti-Semitism as the cause of Dreyfus'
imprisonment. Anti-Semitism is his "betrayer" (line 12) when he is framed,
and anti-Semitism is his "judge" (line 12) when he is wrongly found guilty.
Lines 13-14 claim that even the fine and supposedly civilized women of
society shun Dreyfus because he is a Jew and fear him like they would fear
an animal.

In stanza III, Yevtushenko brings himself to the midst of the pogroms of
Bielostok. ...

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