HOMEDISINFORMATIONPETLIURA
Symon Petliura
Jewish delegation
18-Jul-1919
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.