Лев Гунин - ГУЛаг Палестины

problems in the Ukraine. After the Revolution he was a member of the

Central Committee of the Socialist-Federalist Party, and for a time he

was Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. In the spring of 1919 he went

to Paris as a member of the Ukrainian Peace Delegation. Since January

1920 he has been the head of the Ukrainian Diplomatic Mission in London.

What is the attitude of the Jews toward the new Ukrainian State?

On the question of independence of the Ukraine the Jews

were split into two camps. On the one side there were the

assimilated Jews who having been brought up in the

All-Russian political spirit took a stand hostile to the

new Ukrainian State. On the other side there were the

majority of the Jews - the nationalists, Zionists and the

Jewish Socialist Parties - who declared their sympathy for

Ukrainian endeavors. The Jews who were themselves an

oppressed nation welcomed with sympathy the national

struggle of the Ukrainians.

The Jews were also split as to their attitude toward the

socialist program of the new state. The left wing of the

Bund and Poalej-Zion went hand-in-hand with the left

Ukrainian parties that were for the exclusion of the

bourgeoisie from the government. The majority of Jews were

on the side of those Ukrainian parties that interceded for

the West-European political system. But in spite of these

differences, almost all Jewish parties and organizations

recognized the right of the Ukrainian nation to its

independence.

What is the attitude of the Ukrainian government toward the Jews?

In the Ukraine which together with Galicia has a population

of 40 millions there live 3 1/2 million (8%) Jews. After

the Revolution the ruling power in the Ukraine rested in a

parliament in which all parties of the country, including

Jewish, were represented. That parliament ("Tsentralna

Rada") granted the Jews more freedom and rights than they

had anywhere in Europe at any time. All national

minorities, of course Jews too, were granted autonomy. It

must be stressed also that the Central Council (the

Parliament) set up a Supreme Court to which those lawyers

were appointed as judges, who had had courage to take a

stand against the Russian government during the Beilis

trial.

Here Margolin narrated the fate of the Ukraine after the overthrow of the

Tsentralna Rada and during the rule of Hetman Skoropadksy, and then

continued:

Hetman's rule lasted only eight months. [After its

overthrow] the Petlura Government renewed the autonomy of

national minorities and again appointed Jewish ministers,

viz. Mr. Goldelman and myself. Jews belong also to the

diplomatic missions which have been sent abroad by the

Ukrainian government. The noted Jewish historian, Dr.

Wischintzer, one of the editors of the Jewish Encyclopedia,

is the secretary of the Ukrainian legation in England.

How does this government's attitude agree with the fact of anti-Jewish

pogroms?

There is a difference between pogroms which, unfortunately,

have occurred now in the Ukraine, and pogroms in Russia

during the tsarist regime. While the tsarist government

had itself instigated and organized pogroms, the Ukrainian

government is in no way responsible for them. In November

1918 I myself saw the proclamations of the government in

the Ukrainian villages and cities which very vehemently

condemned the pogroms and explained to the Ukrainian people

that the Jews are Ukrainian fellow-citizens and brothers to

whom full rights are due. When, however, demoralization

had set in the units of the Ukrainian army, its worst

elements began to plunder. Again the Ukrainian government

rose vigorously against the pogroms, punishing with death

the perpetrators of the pogroms and expressing its sorrow

for the victims. To my regret, I must state that the

latest pogroms which, as far as I know, took place during

the months of February and March were exceedingly serious.

They have been perpetrated by the people of the Black

Hundred and by provocateurs for the purpose of discrediting

the Ukrainian government.

These occurences made a shocking impression upon me, and at

the end of March I tendered the government my resignation.

I recognized that fact that the government was blameless; I

found it, however, hard to occupy an official post in a

country in which my brothers were slaughtered. My

resignation was not accepted and the government requested

me to continue in my official duties, at least abroad. Now

I am one of the four representatives of the Ukraine at the

Peace Conference. There is no anti-Semitic tendency in the

Ukrainian government.

Margolin denies that Jews are playing an important role in the Bolshevist

movement, as it is generally assumed. To be sure, there are also Jews

among the Bolshevists, but among Jews in general the Bolshevists

constitute merely an insignificant minority. The Jewish Zionist and

other patriotic organizations received 70% of the votes at all

elections. There were no Jews at all among the Russian sailors who

played such an important part in the Bolshevist revolution.

The fact that there are seemingly so many Jews among the Bolshevists,

Margolin attributed to the circumstances that Jews distinguish themselves

in all activity by their great energy, and hence the impression arises

that there are many Jews in each political party.

(The Jewish Chronicle, London, May 16, 1919, in F. Pigido (ed.), Material

Concerning Ukrainian-Jewish Relations during the Years of the Revolution

(1917-1921): Collection of Documents and Testimonies by Prominent Jewish

Political Workers, The Ukrainian Information Bureau, Munich, 1956)

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Symon Petliura Jewish delegation 18Jul1919 Provocation of reactionaries and imperialists

The delegation asked for granting of an opportunity to Jewish intellectuals

to work toward strengthening Ukrainian statehood, and for protection of

the Jewish population against the excesses which have taken place as

the result of provocation on the part of various Russian reactionaries and

Polish imperialists who thus wish to discredit the whole Ukrainian cause in

the eyes of Europe.

Reception of a delegation

of Jewish citizens

by Petlura.

On July 17 of this year the Commander-in-Chief Petlura received a

delegation of Jewish citizens at the Office of the Directorate in

Kamenets-Podolsk. The Delegation included: Dr. Meier Kleiderman, the

representative of the Jewish community; Alterman, the representative of

the Zionist organization; Gutman, the representative of the rabbis;

Kreis, the representative of artisans; Bograd, the representative of the

Poalej-Zion Party.

Petlura addressed the Delegation with a short speech in which he declared

that he himself as well as the government were always standing on the

side of the Jewish people, and were waging war against those elements who

incited the unenlightened masses to various excesses against Jews. The

Commander-in-Chief invited the representatives of the Jewish people to a

closer cooperation of both peoples for the good of the Ukrainian State,

for, only with united forces would it be possible to look after the

interests of both peoples, which had always been identical.

The Jewish delegation assured the Supreme Commander that all strata of

the Jewish people, hand-in-hand with the Ukrainian people, would defend

the independent Ukraine, because only a Ukrainian democratic government

could guarantee full rights to the Jews. The delegation asked for

granting of an opportunity to Jewish intellectuals to work toward

strengthening Ukrainian statehood, and for protection of the Jewish

population against the excesses which have taken place as the result of

provocation on the part of various Russian reactionaries and Polish

imperialists who thus wish to discredit the whole Ukrainian cause in the

eyes of Europe.

Petlura pledged himself to apply the severest measures in suppressing the

crimes of the anti-Jewish agitators, and asked the delegation in

particular to exert their influence also upon the Jewish population

behind the battlefront that they should support the Ukrainian Army in its

struggle against the Bolshevists.

(Trudowa Hromada, July 18, 1919.)

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Symon Petliura Decree of Cabinet 18Aug1919 Enemies organize pogroms

The Ukrainian and Jewish peoples both of whom work at the

reconstruction of the Ukrainian Democratic Republic, find themselves in

the face of the common enemies who are trying to sow discord and

anarchy in order to destroy the Ukrainian Republic which they hate.

Decree of the Cabinet Council

of the

Ukrainian Democratic Republic.

August 18, 1919.

(Record of the Proceedings No. 171)

The Cabinet Council, after hearing the report of the Minister for Jewish

Affairs, Mr. P.A. Krasny, on the situation as it appeared in connection

with the anti-Jewish pogroms in the Ukraine - particularly in Kiev and

in connection with the reaction of public opinion abroad, resolve as

follows:

The Ukrainian and Jewish peoples both of whom work at the reconstruction

of the Ukrainian Democratic Republic, find themselves in the face of the

common enemies who are trying to sow discord and anarchy in order to

destroy the Ukrainian Republic which they hate. For this purpose your

enemies organize pogroms, spin provocative news about pogroms in the

Ukraine so as to exploit them for their people - with the help of the

Polish ruling classes, or of the Denikin reactionaries. In deliberately

lying and provocative reports they are changing arbitrarily the places of

the pogroms which are arranged in the Ukraine by the Bolsheviks and by

the reactionary clique who are in close connection with Denikin's and

Polish reactionary circles' secret plans. In mendacious publications and

in public letters addressed to the leading representatives of European

countries, all these happenings are charged to the account of the

government of the Ukrainian Democratic Republic, although its aim is to

suppress vigorously all pogroms.

In view of the fact that such provocations and aims of the Polish and

Denikin reactionaries endanger the struggle for freedom of the Ukrainian

Republic as well as the peaceful coexistence of the peoples of the

Ukraine, the government of the Ukrainian Democratic Republic have set

themselves the most urgent task of doing away with all possibility of

provocations, pogroms or other excesses, and of calling to account all

persons hostile to the Ukrainian State, who are doing the treacherous

pogrom work in the Ukraine.

The Government has decided:

1. To make at once a proposal to the Commander-in-Chief, Petlura that he

issue an order by which all commanders of the respective bodies of

troops, from the lowest to the highest ones, would be called to account

for negligence and tolerating pogrom excesses, and that they would be

immediately arrested as traitors and handed over to a special

court-martial which would impose upon them the severest penalty,