Ukrainians and Jews
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
UKRAINIANS AND JEWS ARTICLES, TESTIMONIES, LETTERS AND OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS DEALING WITH INTERRELATIONS OF UKRAINIANS AND JEWS IN THE PAS T AND PRE SEN T A Symposium Co D tribu,to rs: DR. MICHAEL BROIDA, born in Rostov, into family of a Jewish banker; when his father was liquidated as an "enemy of the people," Mr. Broida was edu- cated in state-run institutions, and subsequently became a lecturer at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism. Served in the Soviet army and was severely wounded. From 1957 to 1963 he was an official of the Ukrainian Ministry of Education in Kiev. In the same year he and his family succeeded in leaving Ukraine for Israel. LEV E. DOBRIANSKY, Professor of Economics at Georgetown University; President of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America for the fifth consecutive time; Chairman of the National Captive Nations Committee in Washington, D.C.; former faculty member of the National War College; author and lecturer; in September 1965 he took part in the annual confer- ence of the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League in Manila, the Philippines. LEO HEIMAN, an Israeli correspondent of several European and American newspapers and magazines, and contributor to such reviews as The National Jewish Monthly, The Reconstructionist, and Maariv Lanoar; he is Editor of the Middle East News and Features. LEW SHANKOWSKY, Ph.D., professor and journalist; former active member of the Ukrainian anti-Nazi and anti-Soviet resistance movement in Ukraine; author of The Ukrainian Insurgent Army, 1942-1952, Ukrainian Underground Art, and others; he is now a freelance author, residing in Philadelphia, Pa. ROMAN SMAL-STOCKI, Ph. D., Former Vice Prime Minister, and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ukrainian National Republic; former professor of Univer- sities of Warsaw, Prague, and King's College in London; author of many articles and books on Slavic philology; former professor and Director of the Slavic Institute at Marquette University; now a Visiting Professor at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. MATTHEW STACHIW, Ph. D., former professor of government of the Ukrain- ian Free University in Lviv; he is now editor of Narodna Volya, organ of the Ukrainian Workingmen's Association in Scranton, Pa.; author of several books on the modern history of Ukraine. Contents: IN'TRODUCTION _. ._. ._.. ...._.______ 7 CHAPTER I: li'EATURE ARTICLES: 1. Why the Jewish Problem Has Been Connected with Ukraine Matthew Stachiw . .____________ 11 2. Ukrainians and Jews Leo lleir.nan 55 3. Russia, the Jews and the Ukrainian Liberation Movement Lew Shankowsky 65 4. The Puppets of Soviet Russian Colonialism Michael Broida (as told to Leo lleiman) 97 5. The Revived Myth of Ukrainian Anti-Semitism Lev E. Dobriansky 107 6. Shevchenko and the Jews Roman Smal-Btoolci . .. 119 CHAPTER IT: TESTIMONIES 1. Testimony by Dr. Volodymyr Bemko ..__. 123 2. Testimony by Ivan Lyuty-Lyutenko . 126 3. Testimony by Stepan Lisovy 131 4. Testimony by Alexander Hladyshovsky 133 5. Testimony by Petro Pyasetsky 134 6. Testimony by Yaroslava Forovych 139 7. Testimony by Moses Diamond 143 8. Testimony by Dr. M. Shkilnyk 143 CHAPTER III: UKRAINIAN STATE DOCUMENTS 1. Decree of the Ukrainian Government on Assigning a Budget to the Ministry for Jewish Affairs 149 2. Decree of the Ukrainian Government Concerning Pogroms in Ukraine (No. 171) . 149 3. Order of the Supreme Command of the Ukrainian Army Con- cerning Pogroms in Ukraine (Order of the Day No. 131) 151 4. Appeal of Petlura to the Ukrainian Army 152 5. The Personal-National Autonomy of the National Minorities in Ukraine 154 CHAPTER IV: UKRAINIAN-JEWISH DISCUSSION IN THE NEW YORK TIMES: 1. Letter to the Editor by Walter Dushnyck 157 2. Letter to the Editor by Judd L. Teller 159 3. Letter to the Editor by Eugene Sanjour 161 CHAPTER V: STATEMENTS REJECTING MOSCOW-SPONSORED ANTI-SEMITISM 1. Statement of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America 163 2. Statement of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee 167 3. Statement of Dr. Lev E. Dobriansky before the House Sub-Committee on Europe 169 CHAPTER VI: EDITORIALS AND COMMENTS: 1. "Moscow's War on Judaism and Religion in General" Editorial. The Ukrainian Quarterly 173 2. "Kichko: Latest Soviet Pawn in Anti-Semitic Game" Editorial. The Ukrainian Bulletin 184 3. "Kizya's Interview on Kichko's Book" The Ukrainian Bulletin 187 4. "'Radio Free Europe,' NCWC News Service Comment on UCCA Statement Denouncing Anti-Semitism" The Ukrainian Bulletin 190 INDEX 193 Introduction Viewed in historical perspective the question of Ukrainian-Jew- ish relations is an extremely important one, not only as regards the Ukrainian and Jewish peoples, but also in the light of world peace and international well-being. First of all, a substantial part of Europe's Jewish population lived in Ukraine for several centuries. There they shared the lot of the Ukrainian people in their misery and the ongoing struggle for freedom and national emancipation. Relations between Jews and U- krainians were clouded at times by mutual accusations that followed upon bitter conflicts affecting both peoples adversely. During both World War I and World War II the interrelations of Ukrainians and Jews reached the highest point of tension. It was at these times that the Ukrainians were making supreme efforts to attain freedom and national independence. They had to wage a long drawn out and desperate struggle, at times against two or even three aggressive neighbors who had designs on the natural resources of Ukraine. With that in view, these neighbors opposed the aspira- tions of the Ukrainian people to freedom and national statehood. As one of the largest and most active minorities in Ukraine, the Jews often found themselves between hammer and anvil. They endeavored to maintain ronunlikely neutrality, or else found them- selves associated with forces that the Ukrainians came to oppose as they reached for independence. This situation, unhappily for both groups, occasioned tension and recriminations. Jews charged that Ukrainians were anti-Semitic, while Ukrainians maintained that the Jews en masse were supporting Russian policies and were pro- viding personnel for the Russian communist police apparatus in Ukraine. Fortunately for both peoples, these charges are greatly exag- gerated. While anti-Semitic excesses occurred in Ukraine during the revolution, and especially during the Nazi occupation of Ukraine in 1941-44, these oannot be charged to the Ukrainian people as such All the historical evidence proves the opposite. The Ukrainian community rejected the anti-Semitic pogroms as inconsistent with the Ukrainian democratic traditions and way of life. During the short-lived Ukrainian independent state (1918- 1920)) the Jews were granted national-personal autonomy in Ukraine. Jewish ministers were appointed to the Ukrainian government. The Hebrew language was on the currency of the Ukrainian government. In the time of Hitler's barbarous rule in Ukraine) hundreds of Ukrainians were executed by the Gestapo for giving help and shelter to persecuted and hunted Jews. The late Metropolitan Andrew Shep- tytsky of the Ukrainian Catholic Church issued two notable pastoral letters in defense of Jews. Subsequently Himmler is said to have ordered his arrest. It was only the Nazi debacle at Stalingrad that dissuaded the Nazi police from arresting Metropolitan Sheptytsky. On the other hand) while some Jews occupied prominent posi- tions in the NKVD and MVD before and during World War II and served in Ukraine in the generally oppressive apparatus of Oommu- nist Russia) the rank and file of Jews in Ukraine suffered just as much from Moscow)s totalitarian rule as did the Ukrainians. Today the situation has changed to an appreciable degree. The Jews have succeeded in establishing their own state of Israel)' there thousands of Jews) including a great number from Ukraine) have found a new life in freedom. But the Ukrainians are still enslaved and persecuted. And some 900POO or 1POOPOO Jews still in Ukraine experience with them the ruthless oppression and persecution di- rected by the Kremlin. Moscow has always played the classic game of divide et impera (divide and rule). It has been using anti-Semitism as a powerful weapon against Jews and Christians alike. The notable example was the publication in 1963 in Kiev of Judaism without Embellishment, by Prof. Trofim K. Kichko, under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. This understandably created world- wide indignation and protests. Some Jewish leaders unthinkingly ascribed the publication of the book to "Ukrainiasi anti-Semitism/) failing to discern that the true culprit was the Soviet government itself. Today Prof. Kiohkds book has been withdrawn from circula- tion and he himself is said to have been assigned some obscure post in the Soviet admistration. But damage to the Ukrainian name was done with tening effect. Such was the intention of Moscow in ordering the publication of Prof. Kichko's book in the first place. The approach to a positive solution of the Ukrainian-Jewish problem should not be obscured by either hatred or emotion. The fact is that the future of Ukrainian-Jewish relations very much depends upon the leaders of these two peoples on this side of the Iron Curtain. They should exercise judicious wisdom in appraising and analyzing the relations which have bound the two peoples for centuries. With such an aim in mind) this Symposium is being published by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. It includes a number of Jewish writers: Leo Heiman and Dr. M. Broida of Israel)' Dr. Judd Teller and Eugene Sanjour of the United States. There also are articles by outstanding Ukrainian American writers: Dr. Matthew Btachiso, Prof. Roman Smal-Stocki, Dr. Lew Shankowsky, Dr. Lev E. Dobriansky and Walter Dushnuck, There are historical testimonies of several Ukrainian and Jewish witnesses about the assistance given to Jews by Ukrainians during the Nazi occupation of Ukraine in 1941-44.