NCSEJ WEEKLY TOP 10 Washington, D.C. June 15, 2018

Ukrainian Interior Ministry, WJC agree to join forces to counter anti-Semitism Ukrinform, June 12, 2018 https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/2479209-ukrainian-interior-ministry-world-jewish-congress-agree-to-join- forces-to-counter-antisemitism.html

The Interior Ministry of Ukraine and the World Jewish Congress have agreed to unite efforts to combat xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov wrote this on Twitter after his meeting with Director General of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) Robert Singer.

"During a working meeting with Robert Singer, we agreed to unite efforts to combat xenophobia and anti-Semitism as tools for a hybrid war. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry was highly praised by the WJC regarding the response to anti- Semitic excesses in the country," Avakov wrote.

Earlier Avakov said that anti-Semitism was unacceptable in modern democratic Ukraine.

Czech shoah survivor warns against rising tide of antisemitism and racism across Europe Doris Grozdanovicova, 92, one of few living survivors of SS concentration camp in Terezin, returned this week to unveil By Kim Sengupta UK Independent, June 9, 2018 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/holocaust-anti-semitism-racism-europe-czech-republic-nazis- a8390101.html

In 1942, at the age of 16, Doris Grozdanovicova was arrested with her family and sent off to the SS concentration camp at the Czech town of Terezin.

Tens of thousands were sent there to die there during the Nazi occupation, including her mother. Another 90,000, among them her father, were sent on to be murdered at Auschwitz and Treblinka in Poland.

Ms Grozdanovicova, one of the very few survivors of the camp still alive, travelled to Terezin this week to unveil a memorial to those who lost their lives.

She had just returned from a visit to Germany where she had been speaking to school pupils about the terrible damage caused by antisemitism, racism and intolerance, and stressing the need to learn lessons from the past.

“It is sad to say, but we need to remember now what happened more than ever. It is very depressing to see what is happening in Europe, the extremism and the effect it’s having,” she said.

“So I try and do my bit while I am still alive, go and talk to people, at colleges and schools about what happened. The harm that was done.”

Terezin was used as a transit camp by the Nazis to send Jewish people first from Germany and Austria, and then from the Netherlands and Denmark after those countries were occupied.

Among the 150,000 who passed through, there were 15,000 children. Almost none of them returned home.

“It was a place not just for Czechs, of course, but people from other places, sent from one part of Europe to die in another part,” said the 92-year-old.

“So many countries in Europe suffered because of this hatred, I am sorry to see this hatred again in Europe in my lifetime.”

The rise of populism across the continent has seen right-wing nationalist parties win political power in a number of states, the latest Slovenia where the anti-immigration Slovenian Democratic Party is due to form a coalition government.

The party’s leader, Janez Jansa, is an ally of Hungary’s hard-line prime minister, Viktor Orban, whose electoral success has been one of the most marked in the surge of nationalist victories in Poland, Austria and Italy.

The common denominator in the policies of these parties in a fervent anti-migrant rhetoric, even when it comes to refugees and asylum seekers, and a strident opposition to accepting them under the European Union’s quota system.

There has also been an accompanying surge of antisemitism, not just in those countries but elsewhere, with physical attacks, the desecration of cemeteries and Nazi slogans heard in marches.

In Warsaw, the Senate in February passed a bill which would make illegal to accuse the Polish people of complicity in Nazi-era war crimes, a move which has led to international condemnation and accusations of attempting to airbrush history and pandering to right-wing, antisemitic votes.

Last November, on Poland’s Independence Day, members of far-right groups from across Europe took part in a march in Warsaw with chants of “Sieg Heil”, “Clean blood”, “Jews out of Poland” as well as “White Europe” and “Refugees out”.

Around 90 per cent of the Jewish population were exterminated during the War, leaving a community now of just under 10,000.

Police responded by arresting 45 anti-racist demonstrators, while the country’s foreign ministry declared the day had been “a great celebration of Poles, differing in their views, but united around the common values of freedom and loyalty to an independent homeland.”

None of the hard-right marchers were detained.

When a reporter asked Poland’s interior minister what he thought of the far-right banners, the minister responded: “That’s your opinion because you behave like an activist.”

At the unveiling of the Terezin memorial in early June, Dr Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, said: “The lessons of the Holocaust have been forgotten, facing the sands of time, and a new open and mainstream antisemitism is spreading.

“It has reached an unprecedented and alarming scale, Jewish communities across Europe require massive protection and security.”

The targeting of minority communities, he wanted to point out, will only spread unless action is taken. “This has become a sign of a profound social sickness and is a danger not only to Jews, but to countries and citizens across the globe. Hatred and intolerance are everyone’s problem and we expect layers of civil society to be at the forefront of this battle.”

Tomas Kraus, executive director of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic, wanted to stress: “It is worth remembering that we the Jews have always been the first in Europe to suffer from the haters, but we were never the last.

“Those who want to target and persecute communities don’t just stop with one set of minorities.”

There has been a rise in antisemitic acts in the Czech Republic – attacks on properties, a rise of threats on the internet, and abusive remarks by a few politicians – but the level remains relatively low compared to some other countries in the continent.

“There was more antisemitism in this country in the past, and there are some worrying aspects like attacks on George Soros, but we are lucky in relation to other places that there have been no terrorist attacks against us for example and the main parties have been very supportive,” he said, referring to the Jewish Hungarian-American billionaire who is a figure of hate for the far-right.

“But we are part of the same interconnected continent, and we can see very worrying things developing across Europe.”

The far-right in the Czech Republic did surprisingly well at the last election, with around 11 per cent of the votes, at the expense of traditional parties.

The leader of the successful anti-immigrant and anti-EU Freedom and Democratic Party (SPD) had, among other things, urged people to walk pigs around mosques and stop eating kebabs to show their dislike of Islam.

“We want to stop any Islamisation of the Czech Republic; we push for zero tolerance of migration ... The European Union can’t be reformed, it only dictates to us. We refuse a multicultural European superstate,” said the leader.

The leader, Tomio Okamura, is of Japanese and Czech parentage and spent part of his childhood in Japan.

And he was not always an anti-immigrant hardliner. He had appeared on the jury at beauty pageant Miss Expat with migrant contestants, and had shared photographs on social media of his Czech girlfriend wearing body-concealing clothes to enter a mosque in London, describing the way she was welcomed as a “fine experience”.

Mr Okamura shifted dramatically to the right in 2015, launching the SPD to take advantage, it has been claimed, of this trend towards populism.

The political journey of 29-year-old Lukas took place roughly around the same time.

The electrician, of Czech and German background, who does not want his surname published, was working in Dresden three years ago when hundreds of thousands of refugees were trekking into Europe, many to escape the Syrian war, with a large number heading into Germany.

“My friends and I were just curious as first, but we began to see more and more of these people coming into the country, there seemed to be no end to this.

“So myself and a few others began to take an interest; we went to discussion groups and then protest marches against this. We thought Europe was being changed in front of our eyes,” said Lukas.

The anti-immigrant Pegida movement had taken to the streets in Dresden, and Lukas was soon marching with them. As his interest in far-right politics grew, he began to attend meetings of other nationalist organisations like Alternative for Germany (AfD), and the National Democratic Party (NPD), as well as another group he was not prepared to identify.

All had pan-European and, to a lesser extent, trans-Atlantic connections, he pointed out.

“Different people had some different views, but the general fear was that we as European Christians were being taken over. There was a lot of racism and the more you went into these groups, the more extreme it became,” Lukas, who is now living near Prague, reflected.

“The hatred was general, against foreigners, against Muslims, and for those who were more into that kind of politics, against Jews.

“You heard all the stuff about how the Jews controlled the banks, the newspapers and television, owned politicians. And some people believed all that about the foreigners and the Jews.”

Lukas cut his ties with his far-right companions after becoming increasingly concerned about a spate of attacks against refugee centres, immigrant hostels, and Jewish cemeteries, and saw that the inflammatory rhetoric was becoming the norm.

“There was violence, fighting with the police, it was getting too much. I began to look around me and realised I didn’t belong with these people.”

Lukas returned to the Czech Republic when a job offer came early this year. He is no longer involved with any organised groups, but remains interested in politics.

Considering the rise of the SPD, he commented: “This country has very few foreigners; you can look around and see that. But even here, politicians can play on fear and do well.

“So if it is like this here, you can see why the right wing are doing well elsewhere in Europe where there are more different religions and races. This is not a problem which is going to go away; people need to realise that and confront it.”

But Ms Grozdanovicova said she is determined to continue doing her share of confronting hatred and extremism.

“We must keep telling people not to believe lies and be divided. My son lives in London, he is a lawyer, married to an Indian girl, so I have mixed Czech and Indian grandchildren,” she said with a smile, standing in front of Terezin concentration camp.

“They are doing fine and I am very happy I have such a family. I remain an optimist in life.”

On the ground: An eyewitness to antisemitism in Ukraine By Iris Georlette Jerusalem Post, June 10, 2018 https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/On-the-ground-an-eyewitness-to-antisemitism-in-Ukraine-559603

In a Jewish cemetery in the city of Kremenchuk, Ukraine, the desecrated grave of the daughter of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov is apparently another testimony to the new antisemitism that is currently flourishing in the country. "I approach antisemitism on a daily basis," said Edward Dolinsky, a Ukrainian-born Jew and an expert on antisemitism.

"A statue is a symbol, it does not express a mood," said Ofer Kretzner, an Israeli businessman and consul of the Ukrainian government. "This is a provocation financed by Russians to show there could be a problem against the Jews. But there is no trend of antisemitism; There is appreciation for the Jewish people. There is not one leader here who hates Jews. Israeli businessmen come here and do not feel antisemitism. Perhaps there are one-off cases with alcoholics or drug addicts, but it does not mean anything."

The desecration of the grave was the most severe example of antisemitism in recent years. According to eyewitnesses, the structure of the tent was burned down, and the tombstone was smashed to pieces and scattered in the area. This is not the only proof of new antisemitism. Just last October there was a torch parade held in Kiev marking the 75th anniversary of the Ukrainian rebel army that massacred Jews during the Holocaust and turned Jews over to the Nazis, and such parades are not rare in the Ukrainian landscape.

"The manifestations of antisemitism in Ukraine are essentially different from those we know from Western Europe or North America, where they are often portrayed as 'anti-Zionist' or as part of the BDS movement," said Israel's ambassador to Ukraine, Eli Balotzarkovsky. "Antisemitic expressions in Ukraine are based primarily on the actions of thugs from low socio-economic strata, who find relief from their frustrations with the demolition of tombstones, graffiti and insults, a phenomenon that is well known, rooted but still marginal. Recent events are rooted in the rise of the extreme right in the country, which expresses deep-rooted antisemitism, either stemming from an ignorant belief in the negative role of the Jews or in an attempt to gain political capital from those sectors of the population that have given up on politicians and seek to improve their dire situation.

"However, there is certainly room to increase public awareness by including this specific issue in public discourse through the unequivocal condemnation of the attack by the heads of state," added Belukarkovsky. "We have recently heard such condemnation from President Petro Poroshenko, and we hope that this will lead to more awareness and unity through condemning this phenomenon. Enforcement plays an equally important role in the prevention of future events. There is a need to increase enforcement and bring to trial the perpetrators of the attacks."

"The number of antisemitic incidents increases every year throughout the world, but in Ukraine the numbers are unclear because of the system of government," said Yaakov Haguel, deputy director of the World Zionist Organization and head of the antisemitism department.

"There is fog, and it is difficult for us to analyze the event. We do not know everything because of the government's lack of cooperation in this area. From the Jewish point of view, there is an increase in the number of immigration certificates attesting to distress. Tourists also have noticed antisemitism. Last year there was a sign in a hotel: 'No entry for Jews.' It is important to say that there is an opposite trend. On one hand, certain groups praise the situation of the Jews, and on the other hand, there are those who claim everything is deteriorating."

Among other things, what affects the situation of the Jews in Ukraine today is the civil war that broke out in the country in early 2014, the rise of tensions with and Russian annexation of the Crimea. "The Jews are scattered on both sides, in battle zones and in other areas," said Haguel.

"The fighting against Russia has provoked a lot of aggression in the country," said a Ukrainian parliamentarian. "The criticism is directed at the government, at the oligarchs and the Jews. The narrative that Jews are to blame for everything is dangerous and reminds us of Germany before World War II. We have to be careful that the situation does not deteriorate as it did in Germany."

Among other things, Ukraine bears the stain of the Holocaust, in which more than one million Jews who lived in the country on the eve of World War II were murdered, and tens of thousands of Ukrainians helped the Germans to execute them.

"Our president, Reuven Rivlin, came here to mark the 75th anniversary of the massacre at Babi Yar in September of 2016. He went to our parliament, spoke about Ukrainians who are righteous among the nations and recalled the citizens who took part in the execution of the Holocaust. The media went crazy. They said it was Russian propaganda and talked about severing relations and asked to expel the president. I am certain that it is more dangerous for a Jew with a skullcap to walk today on the streets of Paris, Berlin or Brussels than the streets of Kiev," said Shimon Briman, a Jewish journalist and historian of Ukrainian origin.

"In September 2016 Ukraine marked the 75th anniversary of the tragedy of the Holocaust in Babi Yar, and I saw with my own eyes that for the modern Ukrainians, the tragedy of the Holocaust becomes part of their history and their pain. But there is also a dangerous, very alarming tendency. This is a unique phenomenon in the world, under the name: 'Love Jews - respect their persecutors.'"

Sympathy for Jews and Israel, the desire for peaceful relations and partnership with the Jewish community and the Jewish state are integrated into much of the Ukrainian national movement with the glorification of national leaders who collaborated with the Nazis and the Third Reich. Such glorification is supported by the state and causes pain to many Jews in Ukraine.

"The problem of modern Ukraine is the general weakness of the authorities and the forces of order," added Briman. "Therefore, the large number of incidents against Jews and vandalism against Jewish targets remain unpunished. On social media, accusations of Jews as the root of all the problems of Ukraine are heard without punishment. We must understand that dialogue between Ukrainians and Jews always exists with the attempts of a third party - Russia - to intervene in the Ukrainian-Jewish issue for propaganda against Ukraine."

"The subject of commemoration is not properly addressed in Ukraine," Ambassador Blotzarkovsky admitted. "There was certainly a positive attitude toward those Ukrainian citizens who saved Jews, including more than 2,500 righteous among the nations. However, there is room for serious and in-depth consideration of the issue of collaborators. President Poroshenko has apologized in the past for the crimes committed by those Ukrainians who collaborated with the Nazis and actively participated in the murder of Jews. However, beyond this there is no public discourse on the subject, and any attempt to raise such a discourse was rejected on the grounds that it is Russian propaganda. The process of glorification of individuals and organizations that fought against Russia is also carried out indiscriminately between elements acting out of ideological motives and those involved in war crimes, especially the extermination of Jews. Demonstrations are another expression of the existence of radical elements outside the political system. In this context, we are also witnessing the rise of elements identified with the extreme right. This is marginal, but at the same time requires significant attention by law enforcement agencies."

Dolinsky has also been concerned about the issue of commemoration.

"Recently, when they named a street after Bogdan Khmelnytsky, a known instigator of pogroms, we asked to change the name of the street to Golda Meir but they did not agree," he said. "Today, survivors of wars with Russia are being remembered as historical war heroes, most of whom supported the Holocaust. They made so much noise about the Polish Holocaust law, and here there is a much worse parallel Ukrainian law, according to which all the organizations that participated in the Holocaust were heroes, and it is forbidden to criticize these organizations. While the Poles are taking steps for the Jews, we do not have Holocaust museums or memorials. Babi Yar does not agree to set a memorial plaque for the murder of Jews. They say it's a tragedy for all, but that's a lie. 99% of those killed in Babi Yar were Jews. Even in Ukrainian schools there is very little about the Holocaust. Just recently there was a march in Lvov to mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the SS Division in Galicia. The parade was supported by the municipality. I buy vegetables in the market, and the seller says to me: 'The Jews are taking over everything. They're rich.' I drive in a taxi in Kiev, and the driver tells me: 'The Jews are taking over the state.'"

Those who gain from the conflict

There are those who also insist on presenting the other side. "The Jewish community in Ukraine is the fourth largest in the world," said George Luginsky, a Jewish MP and head of the Ukrainian parliamentary lobby.

"There are about 50 Jewish organizations and three synagogues, including the largest synagogue in the world, and we have a community center for Judaism - the largest in the world. There are 4-5 Jewish schools, a number of kosher certificates, ten flights a day from Israel to Ukraine. But every coin has two sides. When the Jews are immigrants, there is envy. The Jews are always to blame for the poor and undeveloped state. The danger is that as jealousy grows, so does antisemitism. And we did hear about people who sent antisemitic texts."

The fact that the current prime minister of Ukraine, Volodymyr Groisman, who has been in office since April 2016, is a Jew - an unprecedented phenomenon in the world, except in Israel of course - has raised hope for an improvement in the Jewish situation in the country. But there are those who claim that his declared Jewishness has caused an opposite effect. "The Jewish prime minister leads a discourse that the Jews control Ukraine," says Anna Zaharova, chairman of the Israel-Ukraine Association. It's easy to say that the Jews are guilty and get more votes. There are bodies that benefited from the conflict and from the antisemitism card. This July, we are holding a first conference on the Holocaust in Lvov, and this is a first step on the subject and very important. "

In Poland, ‘a Narrow Window to Do Justice’ for Those Robbed by Nazis By Joanna Berendt NY Times, June 10, 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/10/world/europe/poland-holocaust-nazis-restitution.html

WARSAW — Miriam Tasini and her sister, Alisa Sorkin, were toddlers in 1940 when they were loaded onto cattle cars bound for a gulag in Siberia, just two of the one million Polish citizens, including 200,000 Jews, deported by the Soviets to labor camps.

Their parents were allowed to take only what they could carry, including gold coins sewed under the buttons of their daughters’ winter coats, which were later traded for food.

But the real fortune was left behind when the family fled east from their native city of Krakow to Lviv after the war in Poland first broke out: the family’s large house overlooking the Vistula River and a lucrative bakery business that was seized by the Nazis and then nationalized by the Communist government after the war.

Ever since 1989, when Communism in Poland ended, the sisters, who now live in the United States, have been fighting to reclaim what was stolen from their family.

Poland is now considering restitution legislation, but even if it passes, the sisters, along with thousands of other victims of the war and occupation, would lose out because of what advocates call onerous requirements, including proof of Polish citizenship.

Those requirements, said Gideon Taylor, the chairman of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, would “exclude virtually all Holocaust survivors.”

Poland — the only country in Europe that has not passed legislation to compensate owners for properties seized under Nazi and Communist rule — has long wrestled with the difficult riddle of restitution. Different Polish governments have tried to pass regulations more than 20 times since the fall of the Communist regime.

All previous efforts failed, however, with one of the biggest obstacles being concerns among lawmakers about how much the restitution legislation could cost.

Home to the largest population of Jews in Europe before the war, Poland has more property that was stolen during the war and nationalized in its aftermath than any other nation. In addition to the Holocaust victims, tens of thousands of other Poles could also make claims on property. The compensation could total billions of dollars.

President Trump recently added new urgency to the issue when he signed a measure that requires the State Department to monitor what European countries have done to compensate Holocaust survivors who had their assets stolen by the Nazis. It does not single out Poland, though Warsaw feels targeted by the law.

The Polish government has also been feeling pressured to amend the pending legislation, unveiled last fall, to make it easier for claimants, including for those who do not meet the current citizenship requirements. Right now, those seeking restitution can claim their properties only by initiating private lawsuits. The process is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, often taking years or even decades, as it has for Ms. Tasini and Ms. Sorkin. If successful, however, claimants can receive full compensation for the property.

If passed, the new law would cancel all these lawsuits. While this means many of those seeking restitution will have to refile their claims with the state, the law is designed to considerably speed up the compensation process — a decision could be rendered as soon as one year after a claim was refiled.

Under the legislation, those who win their claims would be paid by the state, but compensation is limited to 20 percent of the value of the property, and is not necessarily paid right away but when the budget allowed it. The official government estimate is that the legislation would cost about $4 billion., although other estimates are much higher.

In addition to what many say is a short claim period — filings must be made within one year of the law’s enactment — the legislation would prevent people like Ms. Tasini and Ms. Sorkin from being compensated because they don’t fit the narrow citizenship criteria.

The legislation as currently written requires claimants to be citizens of Poland now and at the time when their property was seized, and it would exclude heirs other than spouses, children and grandchildren.

Since some 90 percent of the Jews in Poland were killed in the Holocaust, most claimants would be more distant relatives. Moreover, up to 90 percent of those who survived left Poland during or soon after the war and were not in the country when their properties were seized or nationalized.

Stories like that of Jacob Finder, the grandfather of Ms. Tasini, 82, and Ms. Sorkin, 80, are common. Running from the Nazis, he left his bakery business, Ziarno, that included a flour mill and a bakery complex. Ziarno’s share certificates were lost during the war, preventing Ms. Tasini and her family from filing a court claim.

“My grandfather had to hide from the Nazis in a salt mine,” she said. “Paperwork wasn’t exactly on his mind.”

After two decades of convoluted legal maneuvers and a change in the property’s ownership, a developer in 2011 turned the mill into loft apartments. The transaction, Ms. Sorkin said, was worth $17 million.

“Our grandfather’s legacy — and we never saw a penny out of it,” Ms. Sorkin said.

The sisters’ claim is further complicated by past efforts at restitution, including an international treaty between Poland and the United States. Under the 1960 agreement, Poland paid the United States $40 million to settle all claims by American citizens for property seized and nationalized in Poland.

Under the Communist government in Poland, the state nationalized all industries and seized almost all properties after the war. Warsaw, the capital, which was nearly destroyed in the war, passed its own regulation to nationalize some 40,000 properties. The city created in 1945 a flawed mechanism for seeking restitution; of the 17,000 claimed properties, only 300 were returned to their owners by the end of the Communist era.

Everything changed in 1989, after the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the arrival of capitalism, with its notion of the sacred right to private property. The sudden possibility of claiming their old properties by private lawsuits came as a shock to many people, said Lucyna Dygas, a Krakow-based lawyer who specializes in restitution of Jewish properties.

“For over 40 years, there was hardly any inheritance proceedings because the sense of private property was practically nonexistent and people didn’t see the point,” she said. “And now people were faced with a task of proving that they are a rightful heir, which meant carrying out inheritance proceedings for all those relatives who had died since the beginning of the war.” But Poles quickly adjusted to the new legal environment, and claims were filed by the thousands — many legitimate but some of dubious provenance.

Since 1990, the city of Warsaw has paid compensation for or returned 4,500 properties.

“We estimate that about 10 to 20 percent of those were of a purely criminal nature,” said Mikolaj Paja, who works at a civic organization, City Is Ours, that serves as a restitution watchdog in Warsaw. He named corruption in the mayor’s office as one of the main sources of the illicit claims.

The government has set up a special committee to investigate questionable claims.

Witold Pahl, Warsaw’s deputy mayor, said that there had indeed been “an abuse of trust on the part of public officials,” although he added the numbers given by Mr. Paja were exaggerated.

“It’s the human element that failed,” he said in an interview. “But to put a police officer over every official’s shoulder is pointless. We need a national legislation that will finally solve this Gordian knot.”

Advocates for claimants see an urgency to do the right thing.

“Holocaust survivors are dying every day,” Mr. Taylor said. “We have a narrow window to do justice when they are still with us.”

Muscovites Rally To Protest 'Catastrophic' Violations Of Human Rights, Freedoms RFE/RL, June 10, 2018 https://www.rferl.org/a/muscovites-rally-to-protest-catastrophic-violations-of-human-rights/29282359.html

MOSCOW – Demonstrators have taken to the center of to protest against mass violations of and to call for the release of political prisoners.

Participants in the rally, dubbed For Free Russia Without Repression And Arbitrariness, gathered on Moscow’s Sakharov Avenue on June 10, two days ahead of Russia Day, a patriotic holiday, and as the country prepares to host the World Cup soccer competition from June 14 to July 15.

Police said about 1,700 people participated in the demonstration, which was authorized by Moscow's authorities, while organizers put the number at up to 5,000.

Some protesters carried a huge banner bearing a portrait of Oleh Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker, who opposed Moscow’s 2014 seizure of Crimea and is now on a hunger strike in a Russian prison colony.

Sentsov has been on hunger strike since May 14, demanding that Russia release 64 Ukrainian citizens that he considers political prisoners.

According to the independent police-monitoring group OVD-Info, two people were arrested, including activist Darya Polyudova, who in August 2014 became the first person in Russia to be charged under a law on separatism that came into force in May 2014.

Sentenced to two years in prison in 2015, Polyudova was declared a prisoner of conscience by the Russian rights group Memorial. Ahead of the Moscow protest, veteran human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov, a harsh critic of President Vladimir Putin, said the purpose of the demonstration was "to draw public attention to the catastrophic situation in the country with violations of the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens."

The rally was attended by opposition figures such as Gennady Gudkov and Sergei Udaltsov and rights defenders including Svetlana Gannushkina.

Last month, Putin was sworn in to a six-year fourth term following a landslide election that foes said was marred by fraud and international observers said did not present voters with a genuine choice.

With reporting by Interfax

Chairman Wicker Acts to Protect Religious Freedom in Europe and Central Asia CSCE, June 11, 2018 https://www.csce.gov/international-impact/press-and-media/press-releases/chairman-wicker-acts-protect-religious- freedom

Helsinki Commission Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (MS) today introduced a bipartisan resolution (S.Res.539) urging President Trump to take action against some of the worst violators of religious freedom in Europe and Central Asia. Key targets of the legislation include the governments of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Russia, as well as Russian-led separatist forces in Ukraine.

“Our founding fathers made religious freedom a cornerstone of our country, and President Trump carries that legacy forward by making religious freedom a cornerstone of his presidency. This resolution is a blueprint for action in a region where governments have often attacked religious freedom instead of protecting it. When governments take steps toward improvement, as Uzbekistan has done, we should support and bolster their efforts,” said Chairman Wicker.

Helsinki Commissioner Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (NH) is the lead co-sponsor of the resolution. Other original co-sponsors of S.Res.539 include Helsinki Commissioners Sen. Thom Tillis (NC), Sen. John Boozman (AR), and Sen. Cory Gardner (CO), along with Sen. James Lankford (OK).

S.Res.539 targets governments of participating States of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that have not complied with specific OSCE commitments to respect fundamental human rights and freedoms, including religious freedom.

The resolution urges President Trump to:

• Re-designate Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan as “Countries of Particular Concern”—nations that engage in or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom such as torture, prolonged detention without charges, abduction or clandestine detention—and take actions required by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 • Designate Azerbaijan, Russia, and Turkey as “Special Watch List Countries” for severe violations of religious freedom, and designate Kazakhstan if it continues to tighten restrictions on religious freedom • Block entry to the United States and impose financial sanctions on individual violators in these countries, including but not limited to: o Turkish officials responsible for the imprisonment of Andrew Brunson, an American pastor who has been unjustly jailed since October 2016 o Kremlin officials responsible for Russia’s forcible, illegal occupation of Crimea o Russian-led separatist forces in Ukraine • Instruct the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, former Helsinki Commission Chairman Sam Brownback, to develop a U.S. government strategy that promotes religious freedoms in these countries, especially prioritizing support for ongoing reforms in Uzbekistan

An Honorary Doctorate Breathes Hope Into Polish-Jewish Relations By Samuel Norich Forward, June 11, 2018 https://forward.com/opinion/402902/an-honorary-doctorate-breathes-hope-into-polish-jewish-relations/

The honorary doctorate being awarded this week by Krakow’s Jagiellonian University to San Francisco-based philanthropist Tad Taube is noteworthy for two reasons. One speaks to Poland’s recent history, the other to the present political moment.

No one has done more during the last 30 years to repair the anguished relationship between Poland and the Jewish people than the Jagiellonian University, on the Polish side, and Tad Taube, on the Jewish side. Each was singularly well- suited to their roles.

The Jagiellonian University, founded in 1364, is the oldest and most respected university in Poland, and one of the oldest in Europe. In 1988, even though Poland was still part of the Soviet bloc, the University’s then-rector, Professor Joseph Gierowski, asked the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research to lend its widely acclaimed photo exhibition on Jewish life in Poland between the world wars, “Image Before My Eyes.”

Gierowski wanted to show his students and remind his faculty and countrymen of the teeming vitality and richness of prewar Polish Jewry. He wanted this exhibition, curated by the late Lucjan Dobroszycki and by Barbara Kirshenblatt Gimblett, to open in the Collegium Majus, the university’s first building, where Copernicus had worked, on the 45th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising in April 1988.

Gierowski was pushing the limits of what glasnost made possible in 1988. But it was also an attempt at reconciliation: Lucjan Dobroszycki and his family were among the Polish Jews who had been victims of the anti-Semitic campaign of March 1968, when 15,000 were spit out by their country to make new lives in Israel, the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Sweden and elsewhere. Unfortunately, Dobroszycki had a stroke three weeks before he was to leave for the exhibition’s opening in Krakow. Speaking at the opening in his place, I said that Dobroszycki had not left Poland two decades earlier. “Poland had left him.”

The Jagiellonian University established a Judaic studies program soon thereafter. Two years ago the Forward reported that 142 students were enrolled in master’s degree programs in Judaic studies at the Jagiellonian University. I don’t know of any American university that can claim anything close to that.

Tad Taube is a native son of Krakow, born there in 1931, barely two years after his father had earned a law degree at the Jagiellonian University. He and his family immigrated to the U.S. in the summer of 1939, weeks before the German and Soviet invasions of Poland. For the last 15 years, Taube and the foundations he headed have been the most generous donors to a broad range of projects in Poland, Israel and the U.S. that today bring together Poles and Jews. He made the largest donations to the core exhibition at Warsaw’s rightly lauded POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, without which it wouldn’t have been realized. That museum, jointly funded by the Polish government and by Jews in the U.S. and other countries, is itself an extraordinary contribution to repairing the Polish-Jewish relationship. (Full disclosure: the Taube Foundation has also made donations to the Forward.)

Regrettably, that process of repair is now in question. The government of Poland adopted legislation earlier this year that criminalizes “defamation” of Poland for the actions of Poles during the Nazi occupation. That law seems to have acted as a kind of dog whistle signaling that anti-semitic slurs and harangues in social media and the nationalist press are once again acceptable. In response, every Jewish organization in Poland signed on to an unprecedented open letter to the government that compared the new atmosphere to the worst memories of March 1968. The “anti-defamation law” has been condemned in Israel, Europe, the U.S. and, indeed, in Poland. Taube, too, even though he serves as Poland’s honorary consul in the Bay Area, has criticized it as a “mistake” in an opinion piece in the Forward on the occasion of this year’s Warsaw ghetto commemoration, and called on the government to rescind it, in whole or in part. This honorary doctorate, awarded at this political moment to one of the leading proponents of Polish-Jewish reconciliation, should be seen as a blow against the nationalist currents that seem dominant in Poland today. The Jagiellonian University is on the side of free inquiry and unfettered speech, which is essential if the repair of Poland’s relationship with the Jewish people is to continue.

Samuel Norich is president of the Forward Association.

In Russia, change will come from grassroots By Barbara von Ow-Freytag Politico.eu, June 11, 2018 https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-change-will-come-from-grassroots-vladimir-putin-cracks-down-on-civic- opposition/

PRAGUE — The accepted narrative about Russia is simple: Vladimir Putin rules and a lemming-like society submits. The reality is more complicated. Despite crackdowns, Russia’s political and civil opposition is far stronger and more active than the West appreciates. And in order to thrive, it needs more consistent European support.

Over the past month, thousands of Russians have taken to the streets all over the country. Demonstrations have taken different forms, including local rallies against toxic landfills, urban flash mobs throwing paper planes to protest internet censorship, and nationwide protests decrying Putin’s czar-like grip on power.

So far, these different movements have failed to coalesce into a coherent whole. Protests focused on social and environmental issues remain local, while the rallies organized by opposition activist Alexei Navalny or Telegram founder Pavel Durov are confined to younger urban elites.

To be sure, Putin’s authoritarianism has shrunk the space for civic activism, which faces levels of restriction last seen in the 1990s. Today, the Kremlin defames NGOs as traitors and “foreign agents,” and represses independent thought in society more widely. Freedom of assembly is severely limited, while censorship has risen steeply, not just on the internet, but also in arts and education.

Despite this crackdown, Russian civil society has shown an impressive ability to adapt. A 2017 study by the Centre for Economic and Political Reform shows a significant increase in protests throughout the country — even if outright political rallies remained rare. Of a total of 1,100 protests staged between January and September 2017, about three- fourths concerned local socio-economic issues such as unpaid wages, layoffs, closures of industrial plants and pollution.

The wave of “garbage uprisings” against toxic landfills outside Moscow is just the most recent example. It is a genuine grassroots movement. Local residents blocked roads, picketed plants, signed online petitions and openly called for the resignation of local officials.

Distinctions between various social groups are becoming more blurred. In 2017, protests by angry Moscow citizens against Mayor Sergey Sobyanin’s new housing scheme drew a diverse mix of local residents from all demographic and social classes. Environmental activist groups also unite segments of society that are usually invisible, or actively opposed to one another. They include traditional activists, old babushkas, liberal students and even Cossacks who normally defend the Kremlin line.

Most of the big U.S. funders of Russian civil society have pulled their funding, leaving the EU as the main foreign donor. The EU has a vital interest to offer support. Many Russian NGOs and new civic movements are keen to find Western partners, share know-how and connect to wider civil society networks. Despite fierce Kremlin anti-Western propaganda, prominent human rights activists such as Ludmilla Alexeeva have called on the West to uphold its support and solidarity.

Europe should move fast to increase its political, economic and moral support of those pushing for change in Russia. Amid Russia’s growing political self-isolation, it is crucial that the country’s civic vanguard stays connected to Europe. As powerful and unending as Putin’s regime may appear today, supporting Russia’s beleaguered civil society is the best tool at Europe’s disposal. Societal change can only take root if it is supported from the bottom up.

So far, EU policies are less than promising: Basic funding for Russian civil society has not significantly increased in recent years, amounting to just €7 million to €9 million a year, and it accepts only some 10 percent of all applications for funding it receives from Russia. This is inadequate. Neither Russian civil society nor the EU can afford to let so much potential go untapped.

The EU also needs to step up expert staff in its Moscow delegation, and reach out beyond traditional NGOs to wider civil society, including bloggers, lawyers, film producers, artists, designers and urban developers.

As Russia’s civic space continues to shrink, funding provided through the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) will be crucial.

Sadly, however, the European Commission’s recent proposal to merge this core program for EU democracy and human rights support with other funding into a single external instrument is a step in the wrong direction. Instruments that lend support to civil society groups should become smaller, more flexible and easier to access for Russian partners, not more convoluted and unwieldy.

The goal should be to build a diverse “ecosystem” of civic networks that connect Russian civic activists with partners not only in the EU, but also across the entire post-Soviet region. At a time where Europe’s relations with Russia are frozen, support for Russia’s civil society is the Continent’s best opportunity to gain influence and rein in Putin’s aggressive behavior.

Barbara von Ow-Freytag is a journalist, political scientist and adviser at the Prague Civil Society Centre.

Can Russia, with history of racist attacks, hooligans, put on a World Cup welcome? By Amie Ferris-Rotman Washington Post, June 12, 2018 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/can-russia-with-its-history-of-racist-attacks-and-hooligans-put-on-a- world-cup-welcome/2018/06/12/88f88ac0-6da4-11e8-b4d8-eaf78d4c544c_story.html

MOSCOW — For popular African musician Black Z, racism in Russia is no worse than in any other country, including those on the African continent.

“I’m black, I live in Moscow, and I sing for Russia,” the Congolese man says of the city he has called home for the past four years. “In all my time here, I’ve never had any problems.”

The 26-year-old has even created a song for the Russian national soccer team ahead of the World Cup. Called “Allez gagner” in his native French, or “Let’s win,” he hopes the track will lead Russia to victory.

But not everyone shares his rosy view. With Thursday’s opening match between Russia and Saudi Arabia just around the corner, racism is rearing its ugly head. Russian soccer history has been marred by discrimination against non-white people, and incidents of racist and homophobic chants shot up over the past year, according to a study released last month by Russian rights group Sova and the Fare Network, a nonprofit that analyzes prejudice in soccer.

Over the past few days, the social networking communities of Russian soccer fans have filled with taunts and hostile language toward minorities and teams opposing Russia. One group with 60,000 followers posted a song Tuesday called “White Pride” on its VKontakte page, Russia’s answer to Facebook. Black Z says racism exists all over the world, and points to America. But widespread and open racism in Russia prompted FIFA, the global soccer federation, to adopt new measures at this tournament. For the first time in its 88-year history, it has given referees the right to interrupt or call off a game if there are racist chants or slurs.

Some worry that is not enough. Danny Rose, a black player for England who was pelted with stones and subjected to monkey chants on the pitch in Serbia, said last week he has urged his family not to come and see him play in Russia, fearful they would suffer racist abuse.

Rose’s concerns are not without precedent. Earlier this year, FIFA fined the country’s soccer union after an exhibition match between Russia and France in St. Petersburg turned nasty when Russian fans yelled racist chants at some of France’s top players — many of whom will again be competing on Russian soil during the World Cup. Russia’s national team was also fined for racist fan behavior at the last two European championships.

Even the ever-confident head of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, admitted some last-minute worry Tuesday, telling a Swiss newspaper, Blick, that there were still risks of racism and riots.

According to Sova, Africans are the third-largest ethnic group to be targeted by racists in Russia, after people from former Soviet countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus. In the study, Sova and the Fare Network said they did not have “much confidence in the prevention of non-violent racist incidents, despite the many well intentioned reassurances,” adding that the Russian authorities did too little, too late.

However, the groups were more positive in their outlook when it came to the looming prospect of Russian hooliganism. Street violence is still fresh in many soccer fans’ minds after extremely well-organized Russian men clashed with English men in the 2016 European championship in Marseille, France, leading to dozens of injuries, some serious. Russians touted their fans as heroes.

Russia, whose many soccer hooligans were influenced by their English counterparts, has since cracked down on that kind of rioting at soccer matches. Though not officially banned from attending the tournament, known hooligans have been told by Russian police that violence will not be tolerated. All 32 participating countries have sent police officers to help Russia’s interior ministry combat rowdiness.

Coming to their aid is a ban on alcohol on the free trains shepherding fans across Russia’s vast landscape from one city to another during the tournament. Some of those journeys are 30 hours or more. In the stadiums, spectators will be able to buy up to four beers at a time during the match, said Oraz Durdyev, legal and corporate affairs director for AB InBev Efes, the brewer that owns Budweiser, a World Cup sponsor.

Compared with other European countries, Russia is not accustomed to seeing many foreign visitors. Moscow authorities expect 800,000 guests to the Russian capital from outside the former Soviet Union — arguably the most Moscow has ever seen. Fans from around the world have been descending on the city, where they have danced in groups near Red Square, waving their flags and chanting their countries’ names — much to the amusement of local onlookers.

The novelty of the foreign flux has led to dramatic changes in Moscow, a great, hulking metropolis of 13 million not celebrated for its customer service. City authorities have taught their transport workers, including taxi drivers, basic English phrases and have even trained them in a practice not generally seen by strangers in Russia: smiling.

The city has beefed up its “tourist police,” who are meant to be more friendly, and the Moscow metro app is now available in six languages in addition to Russian.

But as far as the local government is concerned, racism is not an issue. “I see no problems here. We didn’t do any special training for this (on transport),” said Deputy Mayor Maksim Liksutov, who is also the head of the department of transportation. The last time Moscow saw so many foreigners was at the 1980 Olympics, when about 200,000 people from over 70 countries arrived.

“People were worried about racism then, and it was fine,” said Zimbabwean musician K. King, who is also a producer for Black Z. Before turning to music, the 34-year-old trained as a medical doctor in Russia, which he lovingly calls home. “It’s in the best interest of a country to be respectful, to not have hate crimes, to not have violence. Russia will succeed.”

Anton Troianovski contributed reporting.

Ukrainian neo-Nazi [group] C14, known for racist and homophobic attacks, gets public funding for ‘patriotic education’ By Halya Coynash KHPG, June 14, 2018 http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1528928862

‘C14’, a neo-Nazi group involved over recent months in anti-Roma, homophobic and other attacks in Ukraine, has become one of the recipients of Ministry of Youth and Sport grants, together with an organization linked to the far-right Svoboda party. The news was first reported by Hromadske Radio a day after the authors of a Freedom House report warned of a sharp increase in political violence from precisely such radical groups in Ukraine and of the danger they pose for Ukrainian democracy.

Three organizations were successful in the competition for ‘national-patriotic education projects’. ‘Educational Assembly’ [«Освітна асамблея»], founded by the head of C14, Yevhen Karas; ‘C14 Sich’, founded by Volodymyr Karas, who shares the same patronymic, surname and address as the head of C14; and Holosiyiv Hideout [«Голосіївська криївка»], whose founders include several members of Svoboda.

Three events by ‘Educational Assembly’, as well as a C14 Sich children’s camp will all get 440 thousand UAH (a little over 14 thousand euros), while Holosiyiv Hideout will receive 760 thousand UAH (nearly 25 thousand euros) for four festivals. The successful projects included ‘National-patriotic education as guarantor of Ukraine’s information security’, a nationwide distance learning centre for such national-patriotic education, and the use of historical simulations as a means of popularizing Ukraine’s historical heritage.

The commission which chose successful applicants for grants is headed by Deputy Minister of Youth and Sport, Mykola Danevych, although he was not present at the final meeting on 8 June. The chair on that occasion was the commission secretary, Mykola Lyakhovych who is the head of the Ministry of Youth and Sport’s Department for National-Patriotic Education. The number of people present at the final meeting seemed rather small, however there are officially four representatives of the Ministry of Youth and Sport, as well as other civil servants on the commission, with 51% of the members from representatives of civic society. There is nothing to indicate how representatives of NGOs are chosen.

Lyakhovych asserts that the competition was held in full accordance with legislation. He claims that the commission cannot analyse the ideology of the organizations which put forward their proposals, and that they merely assess whether the projects meet the priorities outlined for the competition as per the relevant Cabinet of Ministers resolution from 12 October 2011.

Any NGO that has existed for over two years can apply, and while Lyakhovych says that as a citizen, he understands the concern about support for destructive movements, this is not something he, as a civil servant, can influence.

In fact, some scepticism may be justified here, especially given that Lyakhovych himself has a background in the UNA- UNSO [Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People’s Self-Defence], an extremely far-right movement with views similar to those espoused by Svoboda and C14. According to this logic, movements whose members do not conceal their antagonism to members of ethnic, religious or sexual minorities could come up with an educational project which would then be allocated taxpayers’ money. This could lead to camps, etc, being run by activists who both espouse and practise intolerance towards minorities and other groups of Ukrainian society.

C14, Svoboda and several other far-right organizations (National Corps, National Druzhyna vigilante groups, for example) have tried to present themselves over recent years as defending Ukraine against ‘separatists’, as promoting ‘law and order’ and as fighting corruption.

Ukraine has been facing the gravest of threats from Russia over the past four years, which can make it difficult to counter the ‘patriotic rhetoric’ that such movements use. This is especially frustrating given the multiple issues with such claims, and with the methods these far-right movements use against Ukrainian citizens either on racist grounds, or because their views, sexual orientation or style of life are not to their liking.

On January 19, 2018, members of C14 and other far-right groups prevented the traditional remembrance gathering in Kyiv to honour Russian rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova, murdered in Moscow in 2009 by members of a far-right nationalist group. The claim that this had anything to do with ‘fighting separatism’ was simply offensive.

The police on that occasion detained only people who had come for the remembrance gathering, and did nothing to prevent the illegal obstruction of a peaceful gathering.

It seems likely that louts from these far-right groups were responsible for the vicious attack on a young Briton, Liam Anthony Tong that same afternoon. Although the young man had a hood on (concealing his brightly-coloured hair), he had facial piercings which would make him a fairly typical target for such attacks..

Anti-Roma pogroms

There have been four attacks on Roma camps in different parts of Ukraine since April this year.

The first such attack on 20-21 April, 2018 was boasted about (in veiled terms) on Facebook by a prominent C14 activist. The Kyiv police initially claimed to have received no complaints from Roma families driven from a camp on Lysa Hora in Kyiv and to see no reason to take any action. They were forced to change their position and, at least formally, initiate a criminal investigation only after LB.ua posted a video clearly showing families running in terror from the thugs.

It is likely that the 30 young masked thugs who burned down a permanent Roma settlement in Rudne, near Lviv on 9 May were also from far-right groups. While the Human Rights Ombudsman had no difficulty in identifying this (and the earlier Lysa Hora attack) as hate crimes, the police only initiated an investigation into ‘hooliganism’. There have since been two more such pogroms – in the Ternopil oblast on 22 May and in Kyiv on June 7.

The police initiate criminal proceedings, and then nothing more is heard.

C14, National Corpus and the National Druzhyna vigilante units are often present inside the courtroom and outside high- profile court hearings. It has to be said that they do often reflect widespread concern, for example, over the initial suspended sentence passed on Yuri Krysin, a known criminal and titushki (hired thug) leader involved in the killing of Maidan journalist Vyacheslav Veremiy.

Their behaviour is often openly lawless. On May 4, 2018, C14 activists seized Rafael Lusvarghi, a Brazilian who not only fought for the Kremlin-backed militants in Donbas, but also provided propaganda to recruit other militants. A Ukrainian court had sentenced him to 13 years’ imprisonment, however this sentence had later been quashed, and the case sent back for retrial. Lusvarghi had been spotted by an RFERL journalist living at a Moscow Patriarchate Orthodox Monastery outside Kyiv. The C14 activists grabbed him and took him by force to the SBU [Security Service]. Whatever one may think of the authorities’ actions with respect to Lusvarghi’s prosecution, the C14 behaviour was highly questionable, and probably criminal.

The same is true of the C14 blocking of the Kyiv-Pecherska Lavra in Kyiv on 8 January 2018 and damage to a car which tried to get through.

In claiming that the Ministry of Youth and Sport was powerless to prevent far-right racists and homophobes from winning grants for patriotic education programmes, Mykola Lyakhovych mentioned the need for a mechanism to be added to the above-mentioned Cabinet of Ministers resolution. In the absence of such, the only available methods for challenging such competitions is to appeal to the Prosecutor General’s Office or the Justice Ministry, and implement proceedings and an investigation into the organization’s illegal activities.

The SBU were, in fact, forced by the court on 19 May to initiate criminal proceedings against C14 leader Yevhen Karas over the treatment of Lusvarghi. This was on the application of Lusvarghi’s lawyer, and there is nothing to indicate whether a real investigation will follow. It is doubtless the lack of firm police action, identified in Likhachev’s report that explains the recent upsurge in political violence and attacks on certain groups by C14 and other far-right groups.

Criminal proceedings are important, but will not let the Ministry of Youth and Sport off the hook. You need only look to the large number of Ukrainians who feel understandably threatened by C14 and their ilk and recall C14’s offer to provide head-bashing ‘services’ for money, to understand that there were and remain compelling grounds for withdrawing these shockingly misallocated grants.