happening throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and began not
recently, but even during the Bolshevik regime - but nobody is blaming this on
anti-Semitism. Rather, other motives are responsible: economics, Chornobyl, the
reunification of families. Anti-Semitism plays a far weaker role. Our Council
interviews Jewish emigrants and has definitive information on this question.
Jews, perhaps more than others, should avoid throwing blanket insults and
accusations at other peoples because they themselves - as a people and not as
individuals - have been blamed by the Fascists for all sins. Why do you, then,
proclaim all Ukrainians to be genetic anti-Semites? Why, in addition to talking
about the police did you not also talk about the rescuers of Jews, did not show a
single one of them? And in Lviv, there are many of them. Is it that you couldn't
find any, or that you didn't want to look?
I wish to declare to you officially: in the new Ukraine, there is no state-sponsored
anti-Semitism. Not long ago, a Jew fulfilled the obligations of the prime minister
of Ukraine. The mayors of Odessa and Vynnytsia are Jews. The mayor of Cherkasy was
a Jew. There are six Jews in parliament. Some Deputy Ministers are Jews. It is
such outstanding facts as these that convey the predominant attitude of Ukrainians
to Jewish rebirth, to Jewish culture.
Among the CIS, Ukraine was the first to hold a Jewish Congress. The Days of Jewish
Culture were celebrated this year as a National holiday, dedicated to the 135th
anniversary of Shalom Aleichem. In Ukraine, there are active Jewish organisations
in 89 cities. Eleven Jewish newspapers are published. Ten schools are in
operation. Jewish groups have been formed within Pedagogical and Theatrical
Institutes (composed of 80% Ukrainians who have mastered Hebrew). We have held a
festival of children's vocal and dance ensembles in which 46 groups applied to
participate. Ukrainian television broadcasts two Jewish programs. Jewish
spectacles are performed on the stages of Ukraine.
For the fifth year now we have honored the victims of Babyn Yar, where there has
been erected the Jewish monument "Menorah," and at which have been placed wreaths
both from the President of Ukraine and from the Kyiv City Council. Just this year,
the Days of Babyn Yar commemorations were conducted over the period of an entire
week. In all cities (in all!) in which Jews were shot during the War, annual
remembrance days are observed.
All this you failed to see, and so you did great harm not only to Ukrainians, but to
Jews as well.
In our work of resurrecting Jewish life, we receive help from such prominent
Ukrainian intellectuals and parliamentarians as B. Oliynyk, P. Osadchuk, O. Yemets,
D. Pavlychko, V. Yavorivskyi, I. Drach, P. Movchan, M. Shulha, I. Dziuba, V.
Durdynets, and many others. We do not want to return to former times, and yet that
is the direction in which your broadcast is pushing us. You have done as the
Bolsheviks used to do - you presented information that is one-sided, suppressed
information that does not fit your stereotype, biased the selection of materials,
strengthened and reinforced negativism. It would be as if the Los Angeles riots
were shown to us here as representative American events.
If you want to convince yourselves that everything I have been saying is true,
please come to us and film anything you want. Please regard this as an official
invitation of our Jewish Council.
Certainly there exist many disappointments in our work. A lot remains to be done in
revitalizing Jewish culture. We cannot immediately realize all our goals. But this