Antisemitic Literature and Media
The following citations illustrate the array of antisemitic literature and media in Ukraine:
"There are anti-human monstrous statements in the Talmud.....During the years after the war many specialists came to Lviv. They got the flats, they were provided with jobs, they were accepted for the prestigious posts even without any education.
"The Zhids in Ukraine and in Lviv are really persecuted by none....But the Zhids intrigue and initiate the hostility because it is profitable for them to pretend to be miserable, fearful, worried, etc....They want to dictate to us what to do and disgrace us around the world . But it is known that the brave Ukrainians saved more than 2.5 thousand Zhids during the German occupations. The monstrous studies of the Talmud and Torah demand to slander a 'goy.'"-An article called "Why the People Don't Like the Zhids?" in Za Vilnu Ukraniu by Yaroslav Tymohishyn, January 4, 1997-Ukrainian-American Bureau on Human Rights (UCSJ), January 1997
"The Mason and Bolshevik power wages a slow famine and genocide of the Ukrainian people. They artificially created the crisis that is a sabotage of Ukrainian Independence. They are planning the elimination of more than 25 million people in Ukraine within the next 20 years which is the continuation of 1932-1933 famine plans. It's being done on purpose to free the territory of Ukraine from its native population and inhabit it with the cosmopolitans the way they did it to the native population of the USA.
"By the Statement we declare that according to the Helsinki agreement for human rights, paragraph 14, in order to survive and to preserve Ukrainian civilization, the Ukrainian people have the right to use any forms of struggle and to establish any kind of economic and political power.
"We the participants of the 7th People's Congress-prayer for taking the power by the Christians in Ukraine, organized by the Organization of Ukrainian Idealists...address the Christians, Muslims, Buddhists....and the world community to admit the present Statement and its ramifications and to help us take off the Jewish-mason yoke from the neck and the soul of the Ukrainian People!"-An article called "The Statement of the Enslaved Ukrainian People" in the Idealist, September 24, 1995, and reprinted on August 16, 1996-Ukrainian-American Bureau on Human Rights (UCSJ), January 1997
In August 1996, antisemitic material originating from Russia, Canada and the U.S. were being sold in Kiev's central Maidan Square, despite a supposed crackdown by the police on the sale of such material.- Antisemitism World Report 1996, Institute for Jewish Policy Research and American Jewish Committee
Antisemitic newspapers and books are being imported from Russia, especially to Eastern Ukraine- Dr. Leonid Stonov, International Director of UCSJ Bureaus on Human Rights, 3/25/97
During the 1994 elections, a radio speech blamed the Jews for Ukraine's problems, antisemitic posters were put up in Odessa following the election of a Jewish mayor, and some candidates used the words "Jew," "Israel," and "Zionism," to refer negatively to their political opponents. -Country Reports: Inside the Former Soviet Union-Ukraine, National Conference on Soviet Jewry 1996
"The Shalom Aleichem Synagogue in Lviv was picketed with signs saying 'The Jews are the cause of our economic problems.' One can conclude that while the official government is not initiating anti-Jewish activities, it is difficult to understand why the Ukrainian Government keeps silent in the face of constant anti-Jewish propaganda."-Ukrainian-American Bureau on Human Rights (UCSJ), January 1997
"Almost everyday the newspapers of the Ukrainian Nationalists print antisemitic articles, creating anti-Jewish feelings among the population by blaming the Jews for all the problems the Ukrainians have suffered and are continuing to suffer."-Ukrainian-American Bureau on Human Rights (UCSJ), January 1997
"Za Vilnu Ukraina (For a Free Ukraine) is the largest national newspaper regularly publishing antisemitic articles in Ukraine. According to my source, it has approximately 44,000 readers. When I was in Lvov, I was given a copy of the paper by a family friend of my translator, in which we found an article on the front page on the use of torture in Israel. I was told the newspaper had also run articles on Auschwitz as a safe haven where Jews were evacuated, and Jews as perpetrators of World War II as a means of establishing the state of Israel. My source said this paper is one of five publishing very antisemitic material in Ukraine, the second largest being Evening Kiev." -Source: Marten Feller, man who works with American Jewish Committee in Kiev - Rachel Blustain, journalist for The Forward newspaper, in a letter to UCSJ from Ukraine, January 29, 1997
Since 1991, antisemitic articles have appeared mainly in 5 newspapers, with approximately 200-300 antisemitic articles each year. Source notes that though the number of such publications is relatively small in comparison to Russia-where in Moscow alone, he says, there are some 80 papers with an antisemitic bent-what worries him is that "the government doesn't react...no reaction from the state for a long period of time can be seen as a new form of state antisemitism...silent agreement." -Joseph Zissels, Vaad of
Ukraine - Rachel Blustain, journalist for The Forward newspaper, in a letter to UCSJ from Ukraine, 1/29/97
In February 1995 in Lviv, a flyer was disseminated in the city which said "Kikes!!! Get out from our city!!! We give you the last opportunity leave our Ukraine....Get out immediately if you don't want to die ignominiously! The day is close when you'll pay the price for everything you have done to us!!!DEATH TO KIKES!! LONG LIVE UKRAINE-Leaflet, received from Lviv by CCSJ (formerly the Cincinnati Council for Soviet Jews (UCSJ)), and Israeli Consulate News Bulletin, March 1995
In May 1995 in Lviv, in an article by Sofia Smeshko named "Let's Drown Kikes: Pack of Lies in Zionist Slanders," Jews are blamed for the deaths of millions of ethnic Ukrainians in the 1920s and 1930s. Smeshko wrote "Stop yelling 'Gevalt, antisemitism! Persecution! You won't be allowed to get away with this slander!-Reklama (Advertisement) No. 17 (53), Kiev, March 1995, provided by the American Association of Jews from the Former Soviet Union
"In Odessa the newspaper Russian Strong Order, which had been sporadically distributed in the past, is now being published on a regular basis and is being sold on street corners. It is being published by a fascist organization, Russian National Unity, led by A.P. Barkashov. Ukrainian law requires a license or permit for newspapers to be distributed in Ukraine. There is no record of any license for this newspaper either is Odessa or Kiev. Obviously, Ukrainian officials are willing to look the other way and allow this newspaper to be distributed."- Boris Dobrivker, 9/19/95, as told to South Florida Conference on Soviet Jewry (UCSJ)
In Odessa, in the headquarters of the nationalist group UNA, a large supply of printed materials were found of Russian fascist organizations, particularly from Barkashov's Russian National Unity. There were also explosives and other military equipment. The propaganda was in Russian and Ukrainian. The Ukrainian text was a little poem called "Listen to us, Jew, Auschwitz is waiting for you."-Yakov Penek, Spring 1995 as told to South Florida Conference on Soviet Jewry
"There was a TV broadcast in Western Ukraine where the Jews were blamed for many problems of Ukrainian society. The broadcast was run by Dr. Pavliuk, Director of the Institute of Ethnography of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine, Dr. Los, Professor of Lviv State University, and Mr. Nestor Gnativ, lawyer. The antisemitic statements were strengthened by the fact that a lawyer and high-level scientific experts took part in the antisemitic propaganda, likely to make viewers feel that the antisemitic accusations are based on truth."-Ukrainian-American Bureau on Human Rights (UCSJ), March 10, 1997
G.Y. Salnitskiy, an inhabitant of Lviv, sent an application to the Lviv office of the public prosecutor on July 7, 1995. He asked for criminal proceeding against the newspaper Za Vilnu Ukrainu for the articles "There were no crematoriums and gas chambers in Auschwitz…," and "Hitler and his Politburo…" The historical facts were distorted in the article and the word "Jid" is used. G.Y.Salnitskiy said in his application that the article propagandizes race hatred. Though the materials were sent to the Office of the Procurator-General of Ukraine, the case of Mr. Salnitskiy has yet to be discussed. - Ukrainian-American Bureau on Human Rights (UCSJ), March 10, 1997
Treatment of the Holocaust
One of the manifestations of antisemitism in Ukraine is the failure to adequately acknowledge the Holocaust and the suffering of Jews. In the efforts to define Ukrainian national identity and sever ties with Russia, Ukrainians have "rehabilitated" individuals who fought against Russia in World War II. They fail to recognize that many of these new Ukrainian "heros" who fought against Russia also sided with the Nazis to kill Jews. One example of this perception occured in November 1996, when the extremist group UNA-UNSO began the construction of a monument to Bukovina Kuren "heroes" who helped in the murder of Jews during the Holocaust.-Antisemitism World Report 1996, Institute for Jewish Policy Research and American Jewish Committee
Work and Everyday Life
Although difficult to document, antisemitism still plays a role in normal, everyday life and work experiences. The following are selected examples:
Two teenage girls in Lviv told me they felt more comfortable in a Jewish school. They may not have experienced antisemitism directly when they went to a non-Jewish school, but said they had heard things in the street that let them know they were not very well liked, so they tried "not to show they were Jews." If someone asked them, they would say, yes, I'm Jewish, but otherwise downplayed it to avoid "conflict." - Report by Rachel Blustain of The Forward of her trip to Ukraine, January 29, 1997
"I had an office in Sumi and I was asked five times to leave...many authorities are to be blamed. Last Saturday, we couldn't celebrate Chanukah. We had rented one hall, where we gather twice a month, and approximately 150 people came." But when they arrived on Chanukah, a Seventh Day Adventist group had been rented the space. "If it were just once, I would think maybe it was a mistake, but we have been struggling for seven years." - Source: Alexander Ilyich Leshinsky, of Sumi, Ukraine - Report by Rachel Blustain of The Forward of her trip to Ukraine, January 29, 1997
Vladimir Chizhov, head of the Jewish Sunday School in Chernigov said that once he was preparing some business-related papers that needed an official stamp, and he asked the government for an exemption because the Jewish community has very little money. In the end, the authority in question granted the exemption, but at the same time he noted, "Well, I wonder since when Jews have become poor?" Chizhov also complained about the use of the word 'Zhid' for Jew as regular parlance in some publications.- Report by Rachel Blustain of The Forward, of her trip to Ukraine, January 29, 1997
Attitudes Towards Jews in Official Government Positions
Jews have risen to some prominent public positions in Ukraine. Criticism of these figures is often cloaked in antisemitic terminology. The following are selected examples:
"Edward Gurwitz, the Jewish mayor of Odessa, is recognized as a Jew first and a mayor and businessman second….Anything Gurwitz intends to do is always disapproved, only because he is Jewish. He is considered a "little cooperator" (a small businessman) in public opinion, rather than a politician."-Boris Dobrivker, 8/21/95
"In the fall of 1993, Mayor Gurwitz' former political challenger Kostishev showed a movie on the local television in which Gurwitz is portrayed as an agent of the world's Zionism who wishes to sell Odessa, his native town, to the world's capitalism."-Yakov Penek, June 1995, as told to South Florida Conference on Soviet Jewry (UCSJ).
Yefim Zvyagilsky, a former head of the Ukrainian government who emigrated to Israel after being accused of embezzling $25 million in public funds is likely to return soon to Kiev. Zvyagilsky was the acting prime minister from 1993-94. The embezzling charges were levied against him by some members of Parliament and the media. In February 1997, the Ukrainian Parliament dismissed all the charges against him. No formal investigation was ever carried out. Zvyagilsky, in a recent interview in a Kiev daily newspaper, called his premiership a "tragedy" for him as a Jew, and stated that the groundless allegations against him were made mainly because he is Jewish.
Last year, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Gennady Udovenko, during a visit to Washington, said of the Zvyagilsky case that Ukrainian authorities might want to think twice about appointing Jews to senior offices in the future. Udovenko later claimed that reporters misinterpreted his remark.-Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 18, 1997
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and former President Leonid Kravchuck have officially condemned the antisemitism of the Soviet era and have acknowledged the existence of Ukrainian support of Hitler in the extermination of Jews during World War II. The following incidents are examples of responses that are representative of those given by the government and grass-roots organizations.
An Ukrainian ultra-nationalist group was denied registration for the second time by the Justice Ministry, despite the group's recent efforts to tone down its radicalism, Ukrainian agencies reported on October 8, 1996. Deputy Minister Mykola Khandurin told the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA) that despite the group's announcement in May that it had disbanded its paramilitary wing-the Ukrainian National Self-Defense Organization (UNSO)-the UNSO continued to operate, violating Article 37 of the Ukrainian Constitution, which bans paramilitary formations. Last year, UNA was stripped of its registration for allegedly inciting violence at an Orthodox patriarch's funeral. The UNSO had also claimed that it had renounced violence and would use political means to achieve its goals. -OMRI Publications, October 11, 1996
The Ukrainian ministry of information announced in December 1996 a plan to launch legislation to ban the use of the word zhid [kikes] to refer to Jews in the mass media. However, Jewish activists responded
that even if such legislation were adopted, it would only cover one of many pejorative references to Jews.-Antisemitism World Report 1996, Institute for Jewish Policy Research and American Jewish Committee
During the events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, President Kuchma promised to take all necessary steps to fight "neo-Nazism, that malignant tumor, from taking root in Ukraine." He made similar declarations during President Clinton's May 1995 visit to Ukraine.
In early June 1996, 23 leading Jewish personalities, including public figures, scientists, writers, composers and war veterans, published in a newspaper an open letter to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma protesting against the "systematic publication by a number of Ukrainian newspapers of openly antisemitic materials that offend the honor and dignity of the Jews of Ukraine and inflame inter-ethnic hostility." The newspapers they condemned include Za Vilnu Ukrainu in Lviv, Vechernii Kiev (Kiev) and Neskorena Natsiia (Kiev). The authors of the letter said they were angered by the "inaction and indifference of the Ukrainian Procurator's Office, the Ministry of the Press, and other offices and organizations to react to the repeated appeals made to them."
A second letter to President Kuchma was sent by a group of 50 "Righteous Gentiles," Christians who saved Jews from the Nazis and the massacre at Babi Yar during World War II. The letter condemned a Holocaust revisionist article in the newspaper Vechernii Kiev which questioned the verity of the mass murder of Jews at Babi Yar.-Antisemitism Worldwide 1995-1996, Anti-Defamation League and the World Jewish Congress
An open letter was issued by Miroslav Marinovich, the head of Ukrainian Amnesty International and occasional contributor to UCSJ's Monitor, condemning antisemitic articles published in Za Vilnu Ukrainu. Marinovich's letter was published on July 19, 1995 in Galitska zorya, a liberal newspaper, in Chas, owned by the moderate nationalist party Rukh, and in the independent Vesti iz Ukrainy.
On April 15, 1996, an anti-fascist conference was held in Kiev that concluded with a staged parody of the Nazis. The conference was given full coverage on local television and radio.
An international conference-"For Peace without Extremism and Fascism"-was held in Kiev on April 27-29, 1996. Conference participants, mostly academics and journalists, adopted a resolution to fight all manifestations of xenophobia.- Antisemitism World Report 1996, Institute for Jewish Policy Research and American Jewish Committee
Discrimination Against Other Religious Minority Groups
Jews are not the only religious minority group in Ukraine affected by discriminatory treatement by officials on the local level. In fact, Ukraine was used as an example at a November 27, 1996 briefing of the Congressional Committee for Security and Cooperation in Europe on the impact of majority religions on the religious liberty of minority faiths. Lee Boothby, Esq., Vice President of the Council on Religious Freedom and Counsel for the Seventh Day Adventist Church, called Ukraine an excellent example of a region where strong national protections exist but where local officials give themselves the authority to intrude into the internal affairs of religious organizations. For instance, Boothby claimed that the Director of Religious Affairs in Kiev permitted only 100 baptisms by the Seventh Day Adventist Church during authorized public meetings.-CSCE Digest, January 1996.
Ukraine has made progress toward developing a democratic country based on rule of law. In the four years since independence, the president has become stronger than the Parliament and a new constitution was drafted which provides safeguards for human rights and establishes the principle of judicial review, strengthening the court system. A human rights ombudsman, to be appointed by the Parliament, has also been provided for in the new constitution and will be responsible for helping citizens defend their human rights. However, the force of the new constitution depends on enabling legislation, most of which had not yet been passed by the end of 1996.
Though human rights violations stayed at 1995's relatively low level, problems continue in the unreformed legal and prison systems. Detainees and prisoners are regularly beaten by police and prison officials, who are rarely punished by the government. Prison conditions remain poor and there are long delays in trials which are often interfered with by political forces. Attempts by the government to control the press still occur, and there are serious limits on freedom of association and on non-native religious organizations. Significant violence and discrimination against women and ethnic and religious minorities endure, and organized crime and official corruption remain a serious problem for the country.
Alexandr Rozumkov, head of the Council of experts at the Ukrainian Center of Economic and Political Studies (UCEPS), reports that "The modern state of affairs in Ukraine can lead to social unrest, since a lot of explosive social dissatisfaction has accumulated." According to UCEPS, 8 percent of the adult population in Ukraine is ready to use extreme forms of social protest against economic conditions, and about 15 million people took part in 8,185 massive expressions of dissatisfaction during the first nine months of 1996, 62 percent more than in 1995.-Prava Ludyny, Information Bulletin of Kharkiv Human Rights Protecting Group, January 1997
Jews have lived in Ukraine for almost 1,000 years, and intolerance towards them can be traced to the establishment of the early Russian Orthodox Church. Antisemitism has also found free expression in the past in folk art, literature, political thought and pseudo-scientific writing about the practices of Judaism. During the period of Polish-Lithuanian rule, the impoverished population regarded Jews as allies of their oppressors, who used the Jews as lessees of their estates and collectors of taxes. Thousands of Jews were massacred in 1648 in an uprising led against the Polish Lithuanian rulers. When the territory had become part of the tsarist Russian empire in the 18th and 19th centuries, attacks on Jews were made by groups of peasants who were regarded by the Ukrainians as national heroes. This inspired a popular tradition of antisemitism in which the Jews were identified with unwanted foreigners and the hated government.
During World War II, Nazi invaders of the former Soviet Union were welcomed as liberators by Ukrainian nationalist forces, who joined the Nazis and participated in the round-up and murder of Jews. In 1939, there were over 1.5 million Jews in Soviet Ukraine; hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Jews perished in the Holocaust.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukraine's declaration of independence came both a new phase of state tolerance towards the Ukrainian Jewish population and the rise of a number of fringe nationalist parties whose platforms include antisemitism.
Conclusion
The Ukrainian federal government has shown a willingness to fight antisemitism, and is to be lauded for such a move. In addition, Ukrainian Jewish life has experienced an important revival.
However, government authorities on the local level often condone antisemitic activities and local newspapers have been reviving ancient antisemitic accusations. An individual Jew may experience persecution and have no recourse for protection. The Ukrainian court system is often resistant to investigating antisemitic incidents or opening related cases. Government authorities do nothing to oppose antisemitic literature or stop its import from Russia, and take few steps to bring about restitution of Jewish property or to protect Jewish cemeteries from vandalism.
Popular antisemitism has very deep roots in Ukraine. While the national government has made significant gestures to the Jewish community, antisemitism persists on a local level where the region's dismal economic, political and social conditions ignite historic antisemitism.
Return to Antisemitism Report Table of Contents
More on Ukraine
[HOME] [ACT] [CONNECT] [JOIN] [ABOUT] [SEARCH]