My Meetings and Discussions in Israel
Petro Mirchuk (1982)

The Position of Jewish Nazis Toward Ukrainians

To begin with, I consider it imperative to define the terms 'Nationalist' and 'Nazi', which are purposely confused with each other by the enemies of nationalism, chiefly the Bolshevik agitators. The definition is vital, especially in the question of international relations.

In this aspect; Nationalists consider every nation as having the same God-given right to have its own free government, on territory settled by the given nation. No nation has a right to dominate another, take it under its "protection", or despoil the territory of another nation in whole or in part; all nations should work together on a voluntary basis, always respecting the full sovereignty of every other nation.

"Nazis" divide nations into two very unequal groups: one as their own nation of "Ubermenschen" or "God's children", chosen by God or by Providence. The other group consists of all other nations, created as "Untermenschen" in order to serve the nation of "Ubermenschen". Accordingly, "Nazis" seize the territories of other nations and transform them into their own colonies. Such Nazis were the German-Hitlerites (the name became widespread through them). Such Nazis are also the "Red" and "White" Russians who seize foreign territories in the guise of an "older brother", in order to turn them into Russian colonies. Such Nazis, are also the Jews, who regard the Jewish nation as the only "Children of God", and all others as "Goyem", created to serve the Jews without a word of dissent. A reminder that the Jewish nation is equal with all others and has the same God-given rights and obligations as all others, is considered by the Jewish Nazis to be an affront to the Jews, and is hysterically labeled "anti-Semitism", and an incitation for Jewish pogroms.

The German Nazis chose the Jews as the special object of their hysterical campaign to disgrace them. The Jewish Nazis chose for similar purpose the Ukrainians. Almost all Jews in Israel, as well as outside, are actually either Nationalists or Nazis. This pertains to Jewish Socialists and Jewish Communists as well. Every Jewish Socialist fights for his party program in independent Israel. To every Jewish Socialist, it is absurd to think about a single, indivisible socialistic Palestine in conjunction with the Arabs of Palestine, Jordania and parts of Syria. In their dealings with other nations, Jewish Socialists are either Nationalists or Nazis. The same with Jewish Communists: they understand Communism as a social system which should exist in an independent Israeli state; and in relation to other nations, Communism, for them, is a means of politically disarming non-Jews. Every Jewish Communist regards the notion that Jews melt into one Communistic "Soviet" nation under the leadership of an "older Russian brother" as the hallucination of a political "mischigene", i.e. a lunatic.

In Israel and outside it, I had the opportunity to meet with Jews of both categories and discuss all kinds of political problems. I found that the influence of Jewish Nazism is unusually strong because it is rooted in religion. But the healthy Jewish Nationalism is strengthening, and there are growing numbers of Jewish patriots who renounce Jewish Nazism as being lethally dangerous to the Jewish nation itself. They realize that Israel, can in no way oppose the entire world because it will vanish from the face of the earth exactly as the German Nazis vanished. In order to exist, Israel must maintain friendly relations with other nations, and this is possible only on the basis of healthy Nationalism; that is, acknowledging the parity of Israel's and the Jewish nation's rights and duties with every other nation's. In Ukraine, mainly in Soviet prisons and concentration camps, Jewish Nationalists are collaborating with Ukrainian Nationalists. Jewish Nazis are working together with the Russian occupiers against Ukrainians.

The position of Jewish Nazis as to the question of Ukrainian-Jewish relations is very clearly, accurately and openly ascertained in a "Letter to the Ukrainian Intelligentsia" from an Israeli citizen who left Ukraine, Oleksander Volovyk; therefore, the text of this letter is presented in full. It is a remarkable fact that the author of the letter, a highly-educated person born and bred in Ukraine, is fluent in Russian, but not in Ukrainian.

An Open Letter to the Ukrainian Intelligentsia in the West

Several reasons compelled me to write this letter. First and foremost, the theses and public addresse of Dr. Mirchuk, and several other publications in the Ukrainian press outside boundaries of Ukraine, in which the issue of Jewish-Ukrainian relations is touched upon in one way or another. The second reason carries a more personal character: the pit in Vinnitsya, filled with the remains of those close to me by blood and friendship.

I am not venturing to trace the status of the relations between our two nations in the course of historic events. I will only allow myself to express the thoughts which do not broach on the theme of Jewish-Ukrainian relations at all.

It seems to me that the primary reason, ascertaining the impossibility of establishing new and good relations between the two nations, appears to be fear or reluctance, or a misunderstanding by Ukrainians of the necessity of acknowledging the historical truth: the guilt of the Ukrainian nation before the Jews. The entire history of the relations between the two nations is a history of genocide, pogroms, persecution and hatred of one - the great Ukrainian - nation toward the other, small Jewish one. Personally, I allot a quantitative ratio, since to me the difference between two types of nationalism is presented as being principally weighty: the nationalism of a larger nation in relation to a smaller one, and the nationalism of a small nation in relation to a larger one. In order to be comprehensible to Ukrainians, I will allow myself to examine this position through the example of the relations between two other nations: the larger Russian and smaller Ukrainian. In these relations, Ukrainian nationalism is just and honest, and Russian nationalism is unfair and aggressive. So in the same manner it will be fair if we say that Ukrainian nationalism, as it pertains to Jews, is unjust and aggressive.

This argument is all the more plausible for Ukrainians understand one more argument: the majority of the Jewish nation today is not very familiar with the Ukrainian one, and for the greater portion of Jews today the problem of the relations between the two nations is unknown and incomprehensible. This is just as true in the attitude toward Israeli Jews as toward those in the USA - and these are two great communities of the contemporary world.

Today the proper mutual relations between the two nations is of more significance to the Jews than to the Ukrainians. Jews today can understand the necessity of friendship and cooperation only on the basis of a clear explanation of the Ukrainians' stance toward their own past.

Analogy, like all analogy, is not full proof, but nonetheless still clarifies the truth. I will allow myself to herewith present an analogy with the German nation. Nowadays a young German, having been born after 1945 and by virtue thereof carrying no responsibility for the past, can read an account of this past in his school textbooks, or he can see a photograph of his counselor on his knees before a memorial to murdered Jews. He can read his government's declaration of the German nations' guilt toward the Jews. He can directly visit the historic places of the criminal past: Buchenwald, Ravensbrook, etc. Finally, he can read various fascistic inventions and ideas to the effect that none of this ever occured, that the Jews were themselves to blame in their destruction, that there was no actual decimation... But one thing is clear, however: the flower of Germany, its wisdom, conscience and government, is on the side of historical truth.

Unfortunately, there is an entirely different position in the circles of the Ukrainian intelligentsia in the West. You - the flower and wisdom, the conscience and leadership of a nation - do not stand in an open and honest position. I speak frequently about Dr. Mirchuk, whose declarations are suspiciously reminiscent of those of rampant fascists. And in other publications I see ceaseless exhortations to "even the score", to prove the unprovable: the Jewish nation's guilt toward Ukrainians. Everything is dragged out: Jewish tavern-keepers, Jewish CheKa members or Communists, as if there were no Ukrainian innkeepers, CheKa members of Communists, and as if the Russian nation cannot justify its tyranny over the Ukrainians with a similar argumentation.

And who is in the Polit-bureau, who are they all: the Sczerbytskys, the Chernenkos, the Kirilenkos... And other "friends" who do not enunciate the Russian letter "G". Who is assembling the frame of the party apparatus or army corps, particularly the commissioned officers?

And what about the KGB? Was Tsvihun a Tartar? And Semychasny? Bah, what is there to say, sirs?!

Except that this argument bears no criticism, neither in the case of Jews nor of the Ukrainians because the foundation of it is political and ideological, not national. And not once in history did the Jews ever oppress the Ukrainians, simply because they're Ukrainians. Unfortunately, the reverse cannot be proven.

I am an Israelite, pedagogue, poet, living in Israel. I represent myself as a member of the Association for Jewish-Ukrainian Relations. The Association's membership is as yet not numerous. And, I fear, it will remain thus if the Ukrainian side continues to pretend that "nothing happened".

But the situation, I believe, can change if the Ukrainian nation finally understands that blood is not washed off with blood, but with the tears of mutual suffering and penance.

And then in a free Ukraine, we will search for that pit on the soil of Vinnitsya, and write our Ukrainian-Jewish names above the graves, thereby turning history back to history.

With respect and hope, Oleksander Volovyk

Jerusalem, Israel

Translated from the Russian into Ukrainian by J. Menakir

From the given letter by O. Volovyk it is entirely clear that he regards Jews as the German Nazis regarded Germans: a special superior race created to dominate others throughout the world, with the same rights as the "Sacred Cow" has in India. He even writes it literally: "Not once in history did the Jews ever oppress Ukrainians!" If a Ukrainian ventures to say that the reality, alas, is far from this assertion of Mr. O.Volovyk, then this Ukrainian is an arrant anti-Semite and rampant faschist, and should promptly fall on his knees before the Jews, and beg forgiveness for the terrible crimes committed against the "Sacred Cow", Volovyk stubbornly ignores the basic fact that the point is not about the Ukrainians' conduct toward Jews in Israel, but about the behavior of the Jews as guests in the Ukrainian land, toward Ukrainians, the rightful possessors of that land from time immemorial.

Every unbiased Jewish researcher of this question admits that this behavior of the Jews was always wretched, in the service of Polish and Russian occupiers of Ukraine: the savage economical drain upon the Ukrainian serfs, the taverns, the usury, the mockery of Ukrainian religion through the barter of Ukrainian churches, the taxes seized for the Polish noblemen, with heavy supplements for themselves, the malicious jeering at Ukrainian serfs, eavesdropping in the taverns to overhear what was said by inebriated serfs about the Polish lords and the Jews, and their subsequent denouncement as "rebels", whom the Polish henchmen tortured and impaled, And in more recent times: the unbelievably large numbers of "Ukrainian" Jews in leading and administrative posts in the Communist Party, the CheKa, GPU, NKVD, KGB and the Red militia serving Bolshevik Russia, which at the hands of the aforementioned terrors murdered more Ukrainians than Hitlerite Germany did Jews. Didn't Volovyk, an educated person who was born and reared in Ukraine, ever hear about all this, read it, see it?

Or, on the contrary, does he know all this very well, but as a Jew, considers it was all fair, morally justified and necessary because Jews, with the blessing of their Jehovah, are permitted to do what they will with Ukrainians, and Ukrainians must obediently assent to everything? If they should rebel, they must promptly fall on their knees before the Jews and beg forgiveness, as in the Ukrainian comic song "Forgive me, my meloved, for beating me"?

The public letter of Oleksander Volovyk, with his emphasis that he was writing it as a member of the Society for Judeo-Ukrainian Cooperation, forced Yakov Suslensky, as the head of that society, to take a stance on the issue of whether he condemned the Nazi views of Volovyk, or supported them as representative of the entire membership. The answer arrived quickly. First, Suslensky issued a Communique of The Society in which he condemned my defense of Ukrainians who the American" Jewish Holy Inquisition" accuse of participation in the mass liquidation of Jews. My explanation, which I stated often in my discussions with Suslensky, that a mere accusation does not establish guilt and that I am merely defending innocent people who have been accused without proof, had no effect on Suslensky. He will not be deterred from his opinion that once Jews acuse someone of complicity with Nazis, he must be guilty, and if I defend such a person I am guilty of anti-Semitism. My court testimony on behalf of these accused people, that not Ukrainians, but Jews, as members of the "Judenrat" and the Jewish police, themselves aided the Nazis in liquidating other Jews, he accused of being absurd and of being anti-Semitic provocations. Thus with his Communique, Suslensky affirmed that the Society, or at least it's head, entirely supported the Nazi views of Volovyk regarding Ukrainians.

Theoretically, the membership of this Society consists of both Ukrainians and Jews. Following the democratic process, the board of the Society should have laid its accusation against me before both the Jewish as well as the Ukrainian members. Their Communique should have reflected the opinion of the entire board, or at least the respective opinions of the Jewish and the Ukrainian members. At the very least I, as a member of the Society, should have received a copy of the accusation in advance and then should have been allowed to express my defense in the Communique. Suslensky, however, acted unilatelarily and in totalitarian fashion, and issued the Communique in the name of the Society, and adjudged me an integral Nazi and as such a threat to the entire Jewish nation.

Upon returning from Israel, I published a few of my observations in the Ukrainian daily newspaper "America". In reply Suslensky wrote a shrill and hysterical article and submitted it to the newspaper. The chief editor of the newspaper became apprehensive that if he did not publish this calamitous letter he would become subject to Suslensky's ire and possibly become falsely accused of having also cooperated with the Nazis in their liquidation of Jews. Since defending himself and his newspaper from such an accusation would be financially disastrous, he published Suslensky's article in its entirety. The vulgar diatribe of Suslensky drew an outraged reaction from the newspapers readers. Simultaneously, it painted a clear portrait of a political and moral Jewish Nazi-type.

In about every other line of his letter Suslensky called me an anti-Semite: a born anti-Semite, a pathological anti-Semite, a hysterical anti-Semite, a Nazis' anti-Semite, etc. Therefore I, a person "incapable of logical thought", "unable to objectively evaluate events and facts of history", "have strayed very far from the truth with lies, nonsensical statements, and errors" and my writings contain "no more than 5% truth". Unfortunately, he does not bother to back his accusations with any evidence. He admits that he does not know the history of the Ukrainian nation, nor the history of Ukrainian-Jewish relations in Ukraine through history. He only knows that Ukrainians carried out the first holocaust of Jews in history. He does not give specifics since, as he admits, he is not a historian. He does however, add, that Ukrainians generally aided the Germans in carrying out their holocaust of Jews during World War II. This, he states, is known by all Jews and Ukrainians must admit it. If any, like myself, don't accept this as undeniable truth, it is because they are trying to sway uninformed Ukrainians to another pogrom of innocent Jews. In conclusion, he agrees with Volovyk that Ukrainians should go to their knees and beg forgiveness for all the wrongs they have done to Jews through the ages.

He further states that it is in the interest of Ukrainians to do this since, unless they become friends with the Jewish people, they will never achieve an independent Ukraine. He states that Ukrainians lost their independent status in 1918 because "rural Ukraine" did not cooperate with the "Jewish cities". Meaning, of course, that Ukrainians must earn their independence for a government which must be rurally Ukrainian and urbanly Jewish. Furthermore, power obviously must rest in the urban centers.

This is how Jacob Suslensky finally spelled out his views on Ukrainian-Jewish relations, and how cooperation between the two nationalities must proceed.

In all of his discussions with me, Suslensky constantly brought up financial matters. He consistently mentioned the need to recruit more members to the society, members who would pay the forty dollar membership fee. Now and then he also mentioned his desire that the Ukrainians of the U.S. should invite and subsidize his trip to the U.S., and stage banquets where he could give his speeches. The proceeds would, of course, go to his Society. Conversely, he refused to consider any actions which would aid the cause of Ukrainians among Jews. This bothered me greatly and eventually I said to him, "Allow me to tell you an American joke about people like you".

He agreed to listen.

"There is a public school in the U.S. where a Catholic priest taught history. He once asked his students who they thought was the greatest, most important person in history. Their opinions varied - Washington, Lincoln, Franklin, Roosevelt.

'No', said the priest. 'To help you guess, I'll give ten dollars to the person who guesses correctly.'

A Jewish boy immediately raised his hand. 'Jesus Christ', he said.

'Very good', exclaimed the priest, giving him the ten dollars. 'Now tell us, why do you think so?'

'I don't, said the boy, 'but business is business'".

I asked him if he understood.

You must change your attitude! Ukrainians have heard that you are from Ukraine. They keep waiting to hear you explain what really happened in Ukraine to the Jews through the ages, to the Jewish press. Ukrainians are waiting to hear you explain how Jews acted toward Ukrainians, to hear you state that their constant unfair accusations regarding Ukrainians merely harm themselves.

"Maybe Jews owe Ukrainians something?" he haughtily inquired, "Why?"

"Because cooperation is a two-way street". I said. "Because they should at least thank Metropolitan Sheptytsky for saving scores of rabbis and hundreds of Jewish children from the Nazis. Thanking him not by planting him a tree in his honor, but by donating funds for the building of a church in his honor in Israel. Ukrainians in Jerusalem already have land and plans for the project. They still lack funds. These funds should come from Jews, foremost those directly saved by him and those saved through his efforts and policies. Also, the funds should come from those Jews who understand the concept of gratitude".

"Jews should give money for a church?" He was astonished. "Israel is too poor to do that".

"Israel doesn't need to give out of its own treasury," I explained. "Every year it receives over $2.5 billion in aid from the U.S. This is the taxpayers' money. Since Ukrainians comprise 1 % of the population, about $25 million of this aid comes from their taxes. It is from this money that Israel should donate the funds for the building of the Ukrainian church".

The Association for Jewish-Ukrainian Cooperation

During my stay in Israel, I had many an opportunity to meet with the members of the Association for Jewish-Ukrainian Cooperation individually; while at the end of my sojourn, I met with all the members of the Executive Board at a separate confercnce. Yakov Suslensky is the chief executive officer; he reported on the current condition and work of the Association, while I expressed my views on what the Association should do. Afterwards others who were present also took part in an informal discussion.

In the past, there were several attempts to organize a Jewish-Ukrainian association. But all failed. In the 1970's, the Committee for Jewish Ukrainian Cooperation was created with A. Feldman as president, and R. Palatnik as secretary. But in 1981, the organization split. J. Suslensky was accused of traveling to the U.S. as a representative of the Committee without authorization and refusing to account for the donations collected in the U.S., and subsequently expelled. Suslensky accused the Committee of inertia, and created his Association for Hebrew-Ukrainian Cooperation.

Presently, the membership is small. Assistance from the government or some Israeli establishment is nil. Rather, the opposite is true, and there is open hostility towards it everywhere. The Association is relying on the help of Ukrainians. First of all, Suslensky insists, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America should offer some sort of financial support, and invite members of the Association to the U.S.A. for lectures, as it did in the case of Dr. Stern. Then also, as many Ukrainians in America as possible should join the, Association, paying 40 dollars in annual dues, in order to create a financial base for the Association in Israel. American Ukrainians should, furthermore, organize an ex hibit and sale of the paintings of Jewish artists who live in Israel; Ukrainian periodicals and scientific establishments should order various theses and scientific works from the Israeli members of the Association, etc. These plans were formed on the assumption that Ukrainians in America are a 'rich uncle' who will gladly help the Association financially.

In my remarks, I unfortunately had to shatter all these illusions and dreams. Ukrainians in America would themselves be glad to find some 'rich uncle' with bagfuls of dollars who would strengthen the half-empty coffers of the various Ukrainian organizations and establishments. Interest in Israeli lectures has failed, and there is no one to finance such deficient lectures. It could be possible to organize an exhibit of paintings by Israeli Jews in America, but if it were limited only to Ukrainians, there would be no chance of financial profit. There are already quite a few Ukrainian painters in America, who are looking for patrons, buyers, and their number is augmented by Ukrainian artists from Poland, Yugoslavia and South America who bring or send their paintings to the U.S. Such an exhibit in America could only be shown among Jews; many of them are wealthy, so they can buy all the artistic works sent from Israel even if it's only to support Israel and Israeli artists.

Of the Ukrainian institutions in America, only the Ukrainian Institute at Harvard has any real funds. The UCCA, the super-structure of all organizations and establishments in the U.S.A., collects for its annual budget three times less than the Ukrainian Institute at Harvard receives in interest from its inyested funds. Therefore, ties should be established with this Institute. To find members among Ukrainians who annually would pay forty dollars as membership dues to the Association for Hebrew-Ukrainian Cooperation is likewise not so easy. Even the Ukrainian National and Providence Life Insurance Associations have difficulty finding new members among Ukrainians who would pay a modest sum for their own security.

My view of the Association's duties was entirely different. Most Ukrainians are ready for a sincere dialogue and for cooperation with Jews, but only on terms of equality and against a mutual enemy - imperialist Red Russia. The Ukrainians need no convincing; it is the Jews who must be convinced. This is why the Association should be active among Jews: organize the appearance of Jewish and Ukrainian lecturers for Jews in Israel and America; submit articles to the Jewish press in Israel and America with explanations of the unsubstantiated and harmful (even to the Jews themselves) accusations against Ukrainians of 'traditional anti-Semitism'; enlighten the Jews in America that their abuse of the U.S. Office of Special Investigation of War Criminals for the persecution of innocent Ukrainians - and consequently for besmirching all Ukrainians - is a disservice to the Jews themselves. What is more, articles should be submitted to the Israeli press about Ukraine and Ukrainians, showing them in a positive light. Anything pertaining to Ukraine in the Israeli press and magazines should be noted, and sundry slanderous or simply erroneous information and views should be clarified. In America, the Association should enlist as many members and sympathizers as possible from among the Jews. Jews are numerous in America, they are mostly affluent, and therefore they should give a financial base to the Association, as well as influence the government of Israel to stand in defense of Ukrainians.

Israel is a member of the various international organizations, such as the UN, where Soviet Moscow very frequently attacks Israel's imperialism. Why, in these instances, doesn't Israel reply with an attack on the brutal Russian imperialism, and the savage enslavement and destruction of Ukrainians? Why doesn't the government of Israel make the world consider the tragic position of Ukraine, and indicate that it is not in Africa, but in Eastern Europe that nations must be freed from a colonial yoke - the yoke of Moscow. A Ukrainian proverb says: 'Don't kiss my lips when they're sweet, but kiss them when they're bitter!' The Jews shouldn't wait to cooperate and make friends with Ukrainians until an independent Ukrainian government arises. Rather they, and particularly Israel should assist the Ukrainians now, when they are in need.

Scepticism, disbelief and bewilderment could be seen on the faces of my audience. It was expressed somewhat pointedly later by Mr. Suslensky in his conversation with me.

"These are all fantasies! Impossible dreams! Indeed - to go among the Jews and to tell them that Khmelnytsky, the 'Hajdamaky', Petlura are all Ukrainian national heroes: that they have been maliciously and falsely accused by the Jews of being pogromists? Why, even children in Israel are being taught that those eras were periods of the most brutal destruction of the Jews. To make a frontal attack against all Jews is beyond our capabilities. And the same holds true of influences in the government of Israel to raise the matter of Moscow's brutal enslavement of Ukraine in the UN and elsewhere. Why should it be Israel that does this? Why should Israel irritate Moscow and turn its rage against itself? Such an action would undoubtedly be extremely harmful to Israel's interests. Our work must begin with something simple, noncontroversial".