History of the Jews in Ukraine
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| History of Ukraine |
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| Ancient times: |
| Medieval era: |
| Cossack era: |
| Imperial rule: |
| Modern era: |
Jewish communities lived in the territory of today's Ukraine for centuries and developed many of modern Judaism's most distinctive theological and cultural traditions. While at times they flourished, at other times they faced periods of intense antisemitic discriminatory policies and persecutions.
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Kievan Rus'
Jewish settlements in Ukraine can be traced back to the 8th century. Jewish refugees from the Byzantine Empire, Persia, and Mesopotamia, fleeing from persecution by Christians throughout Europe, settled in the Khazar Khaganate.
The 11th century Byzantine Jews of Constantinople had familial, cultural, and theological ties with the Jews of Kiev. For instance, some 11th-century Jews from Kievan Rus participated in an anti-Karaite assembly held in either Thessalonica or Constantinople.
Halych-Volynia
In Halychyna, the westernmost area of Ukraine, the Jews were mentioned for the first time in 1030. From the second part of the 14th century, they were under the patronage of the Polish kings and magnates. The Jewish population of Halychyna and Bukovyna, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was extremely large; it made up 5% of the world Jewish population.
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
From the founding of the Kingdom of Poland in the 10th century through the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569, Poland was one of the most tolerant countries in Europe. It became home to one of the world's largest and most vibrant Jewish communities.
Cossack Uprising and the Deluge
Bohdan Khmelnytsky incited the Cossacks by telling them that the Poles had sold them as slaves "into the hands of the accursed Jews." With this as their battle cry, the Cossacks massacred a huge number of Jews during the years 1648–1649. The precise number of dead may never be known, but estimates range from fifty thousand to several hundred thousand Jews killed: 300 Jewish communities were totally destroyed.
Rise of Hasidism and internal struggles
The Cossack Uprising until after the Swedish war (1648–1658) left a deep and lasting impression on the Jewish social and spiritual life.
In this time of mysticism and overly formal rabbinism came the teachings of Israel ben Eliezer, known as the Baal Shem Tov, or BeShT, (1698–1760), which had a profound effect on the Jews of Eastern Europe. His disciples taught and encouraged the new fervent brand of Orthodox Judaism based on Kabbalah known as Hasidism. The rise of Hasidic Judaism had a great influence on the rise of Haredi Judaism all over the world, with a continuous influence through its many Hasidic dynasties.
Imperial Russian and Austrian rule
The traditional measures of keeping Imperial Russia free of Jews failed when the main territory of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was annexed during the partitions of Poland. During the second (1793) and the third (1795) partitions, large populations of Jews were taken over by Russia, and Catherine II of Russia established the Pale of Settlement that included Congress Poland and Crimea.
During the 1821 anti-Jewish riots in Odessa after the death of the Greek Orthodox patriarch in Constantinople, 14 Jews were killed. Some sources claim this episode as the first pogrom, [2] while according to others (such as the Jewish Encyclopedia, 1911 ed.) say the first pogrom was the 1859 riots in Odessa. The term became common after a large-scale wave of anti-Jewish violence swept southern Imperial Russia, including Ukraine, in 1881-1884, after Jews were wrongly blamed for the assassination of Tsar Alexander II.
In May 1882, Alexander III of Russia introduced temporary regulations called May Laws that stayed in effect for more than thirty years, until 1917. Systematic policies of discrimination, strict quotas on the number of Jews allowed to obtain education and professions caused widespread poverty and mass emigration. In 1886, an Edict of Expulsion was applied to Jews of Kiev. In 1893-1894, some areas of the Crimean peninsula were cut out of the Pale.
When Alexander III died in Crimea on October 20, 1894, according to Simon Dubnow: "as the body of the deceased was carried by railway to St. Petersburg, the same rails were carrying the Jewish exiles from Yalta to the Pale. The reign of Alexander III ended symbolically. It began with pogroms and concluded with expulsions."[3]
 A Melamed (teacher) in 19th century Podolia. Most primary schools taught only religious texts in a one-room schoolhouse. |
 Sholom Aleichem, a Yiddish writer who portrayed life in the Pale |
 The victims of a 1905 pogrom in Yekaterinoslav |
Political activism and emigration
Counterrevolutionary groups, including the Black Hundreds, opposed the Revolution with violent attacks on socialists and pogroms against Jews. The concessions came hand-in-hand with renewed, and brutal, action against the unrest. There was also a backlash from the conservative elements of society, notably in spasmodic anti-Jewish attacks — around five hundred were killed in a single day in Odessa. Nicholas II of Russia himself claimed that 90% of revolutionaries were Jews.
Persons of Jewish origin were over-represented in the Russian revolutionary leadership. However, most of them were hostile to traditional Jewish culture and Jewish political parties, and were eager to prove their loyalty to the Communist Party's atheism and proletarian internationalism, and committed to stamp out any sign of "Jewish cultural particularism".
Ukrainian People's Republic
Many pogroms accompanied the Revolution of 1917 and the ensuing Russian Civil War, an estimated 70,000 to 250,000 civilian Jews were killed in the atrocities throughout the former Russian Empire; the number of Jewish orphans exceeded 300,000. In his book 200 Years Together, Alexander Solzhenitsyn provides the following numbers from Nahum Gergel's 1951 study of the pogroms in the Ukraine: out of estimated 887 mass pogroms, about 40% were perpetrated by the Ukrainian forces led by Symon Petliura, 25% by Ukrainian Green Army and various Ukrainian nationalist gangs, 17% by the White Army, especially forces of Anton Denikin, and 8.5% by the Red Army.
Archives declassified after 1991 provide evidence that in the period from 1918 to 1921, "according to incomplete data, at least 100,000 Jews were killed in Ukraine in the pogroms." [4]
Between two World Wars
World War II
Total civilian losses during the war and German occupation in Ukraine are estimated at seven million, including over a million Jews shot and killed by the Einsatzgruppen and Ukrainian collaborators. Jews were also targeted by Ukrainian nationalists in Nazi-backed pogroms, such as the ones in Lviv that killed over six thousand people.
Post-war
References
- ^ Image is based on reconstruction by Norman Finkelshteyn of image from an 8th century ewer found in Romania. Source: [1]
- ^ Odessa pogroms at the Center of Jewish Self-Education "Moria"
- ^ "The newest history of the Jewish people, 1789-1914" by Simon Dubnow, vol.3, Russian ed., p.153
- ^ Kiev District Commission of the Jewish Public Committee for Relief to Victims of Pogroms. State Archive of the Kiev Oblast. Fond FR-3050 by Vladimir Danilenko, Director of the State Archive of the Kiev Oblast.
See also
| History | Early East Slavs • Kievan Rus' • Mongol invasion • Halych-Volynia • Grand Duchy of Lithuania • Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth • Cossack era • Imperial Russia • Austrian Galicia • Ukrainian People's Republic • Western Ukrainian Republic • Ukrainian SSR • Independent Ukraine ... |
| Politics | Political parties • Elections • Referendums • Central Election Commission • Government • Verkhovna Rada • President • Cabinet of Ministers • Prime Minister • Foreign relations ... ... |
| Religion | History of Christianity • Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) • Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church • Roman Catholicism in Ukraine • Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate • Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church • Islam in Ukraine • Judaism in Ukraine ... |
| Law | Constitution • Judicial system • Constitutional Court • Supreme Court • Prosecutor General |
| Police forces | Chief directorate of intelligence of the Ministry of Defence • Foreign Intelligence Service • Security Service • Ministry of Internal Affairs • Berkut • State Border Guard Service • Ukrainian Army • Ukrainian Air Force • Ukrainian Navy • Sea Guard ... |
| Administrative divisions |
Historical regions • List of Ukrainian territories: by area · by population • List of raions • Lists of cities: by population · by subdivision • List of urban-type settlements • List of villages ... |
| Geography | Rivers • Rock formations • Craters ... |
| Economy | Companies • National Bank • National Currency • Tourism • Transport ... |
| Demographics | Ukrainian language • Ukrainians • Ukrainian Census ... |
| Culture | Education • Cuisine • Wine • Dance • Sport • Music • Name • Famous Ukrainians • Flag • Coat of arms • National anthem • Hero ... |
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1 Has significant territory in Asia. 2 Entirely in West Asia, but considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons. 3 Only recognised by Turkey. 4 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the definition of the border between Europe and Asia.
