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The Jewish Pogroms 
 in Ukraine 
 
 Authoritative Statements on the Question of 
 
 Responsibility for Recent Outbreaks 
 
 Against the Jews in Ukraine 
 
 BY 
 
 JULIAN BATCHINSKY 
 
 DR. ARNOLD MARGOLIN 
 
 DR. MARK VISHNITZER 
 
 ISRAEL ZANGWILL 
 
 Documents, Official Orders, and other Data bearing upon 
 the facts as they exist today 
 
 COMPILED AND ISSUED BY THE FRIENDS OF UKRAINE 
 MUNSEY BUILDING, WASHINGTON. D. C. 
 
 1919 
 

 -^6 
 
 •v/ 
 
 ^^^-^ 
 
 FOEEWORD 
 
 The following data has been compiled and issued by the 
 Friends of Ukraine in the hope and belief that it will serve 
 to set right before the American people any misunderstanding 
 that may exist in this country concerning the true position of 
 the Jewish inhabitants of the territory of the Ukrainian Peo- 
 ple 's Republic ; and to convince them that the Government of 
 that Republic is earnestly working with every means in its 
 power to insure to its Jewish population the same civil and 
 political rights and the same full measure of protection to life, 
 liberty, and property that it guarantees to all law-abiding 
 citizens. 
 
 A dispassionate reading of the facts as herein presented, 
 including the testimony of several among the world's most 
 prominent Jewish leaders, is invited in the belief that it can 
 not fail to convince all fair-minded Americans that the 
 Ukrainian People's Republic is founded upon these principles 
 of Justice and Equality that inevitably shall result in a 
 "Government of the People, by the People, for the People." 
 
 
The Jewish Pogroms in Ukraine and 
 the Ukrainian People's RepubHc 
 
 By 
 
 JULIAN BATCHINSKY 
 
 the Ukrainian Diplomatic Representative to the United States 
 
 (A Letter to the Editors of American Newspapers, published in 
 October and November, 1919, by the New York Globe, the 
 Philadelphia Public Ledger, Brooklyn Eagle, St. Louis 
 Jewish Voice, New Orleans Jewish Ledger, N. Y. Hebrew 
 Standard, Jewish Monitor of Fort Worth, Texas, Jewish 
 Advocate of Boston, Mass., N. Y. Evening Post, and others.) 
 
 Dear Sir: — 
 
 Will you grant me aii opportunity to say what I know and 
 what I feel about the Jewish pogroms in Ukraine? 
 
 While all the distressing particulars of the tragedy and the 
 number of mournful casualties are still to be ascertained, let 
 us still hope that they have been smaller than reported in days 
 of peril and anguish. The facts can not and must not be 
 denied or justified or excused. However, they should be more 
 clearly understood by every Jew and by every Ukrainian, by 
 the American democracy, and by the world at large. In the 
 name of humanity and for the future of Ukraine we should 
 take a common stand, Jews and Ukrainians, that responsi- 
 bility be fixed and punishment be brought to the guilty; that 
 the wrongs committed there be righted, and that Ukraine be 
 made a safe home for all its citizens, Jews and Gentiles alike. 
 
 A Bepiihlic ''By and For People of All Creeds and 
 
 Races/ ^ 
 
 I would be derelict to the duty laid upon me by my govern- 
 ment and to the principles upon which it is acting and fight- 
 
ing if I should express any other opinion. Neither can I keep 
 silent. The Ukrainian People's Kepublic is intended by the 
 people and for the people of all creeds and races of Ukraine. 
 Though guiltless, we owe it to a due regard for our own rights 
 as a nation that we do not hide ourselves behind the excuse 
 that we are not our brother's keeper. 
 
 So sincerely do we believe in these things that I speak the 
 mind and the wish of my government when I say that it is 
 its earnest desire and purpose that full justice be done to the 
 Jewish people in Ukraine in their time of distress and dismay. 
 The government of the Ukrainian People 's Republic is anxious 
 that an international investigation, careful and detailed, with- 
 out any political consideration and without favor or disfavor 
 to any one, should look into every crime committed on the 
 bloodstained soil of Ukraine and establish the responsibility 
 of the criminals. 
 
 Beady to Accept any Inquiry by Am,erica and 
 American Jetvs. 
 
 It is ready to accept any inquiry that may be made by 
 America and by American Jews. It insists that the Ukrain- 
 ian People's Republic, its aims as well as its ways and means, 
 and the Ukrainian national movement in general be included 
 and submitted to a most scrupulous examination. 
 
 I beg only the privilege that the heading of the indictment, 
 "Pogroms in Ukraine," may not by itself and not in advance 
 imply a ready judgment upon the Ukrainian People's Re- 
 public and its government. They are protecting the land and 
 the people of Ukraine against things that they can not control 
 or alter, namely, the action of others. 
 
 Since the very revival of Ukrainian national aspirations 150 
 years ago, Ukraine's struggle for freedom has remained un- 
 infected by any jingoistic greed, nationalistic ambitions or 
 racial prejudices. Until the late decade there was no such 
 thing as a reactionary party in Ukrainian politics, because any 
 form of allegiance to our nationality and even the very name 
 of Ukraine were considered as evidence of disloyalty and trea- 
 son against czarist Russia. When the growing strength of 
 
the Ukrainian national movement had begun to convert some 
 of the reactionary elements, its main aims and objects were 
 already safeguarded under revolutionary control. 
 
 No Quarrel with the Jews for Several Generations. 
 
 I want you to realize that for several generations past we 
 have had no quarrel with the Jewish people. Of course, a 
 handful of Jewish bourgeoisie lent themselves to support the 
 Russian domination in Ukraine and the Polish rule in Ukrain- 
 ian Galicia against the people and the democracy of their 
 countries. For generations no evidence can be traced out, 
 either on Ukrainian nor on Jewish side, of any antagonism 
 between Ukrainian national aspirations and the Jewish peo- 
 ple, Jewish nationality and Jewish life in our country. There 
 has been no reason for any antagonistic tendencies. 
 
 And yet, a sinister spirit of pogroms rules throughout 
 Ukraine. It was the spirit of czarist Russia. The adminis- 
 tration, the bureaucracy, and the police of the empire, school, 
 church, and yellow press were instrumental in setting the 
 population of Ukraine against the Jews. It is a matter of 
 common knowledge that Jews were persecuted and outraged 
 and slain to avert growing dissatisfaction of the workingman, 
 and the pauperized peasant, and to justify further repression 
 of liberal elements. Many a Ukrainian pauper and many a 
 Ukrainian scamp received their murderous weapons and their 
 ignominious orders from the criminals much higher up. 
 Ukrainian democracy, muzzled and strangled, was so deprived 
 of any influence on what was happening, under the czar's rule, 
 as the unfortunate victims themselves. 
 
 Bonds of Common letter est Between Races in 
 Galicia, 
 
 In Eastern Galicia, where, in spite of oppression and perse- 
 cution, the Ukrainian democracy has succeeded in controlling 
 the feelings of the people, no outburst of racial hatred has 
 ever been recorded, the proximit}^ of Russia, Poland and Rou- 
 mania and the anti-Semitic efforts of the Polish administration 
 notwithstanding. Moreover, during the last years the Ukrain- 
 
iaus and the Jews in Galicia have been drawn closely together 
 by bonds of common interest and of mutual understanding. 
 
 After the breakdown of the Russian empire, the Ukrainian 
 People's Republic has been established on the territory of 
 Ukraine, and at the very inception of this republic the first 
 Ukrainian Parliament (Central Rada) has abolished all racial 
 restrictions enforced by the Russian government, and has pro- 
 claimed the principle of self-determination and of full liberty 
 of self -development for all racial groups, carrying out these 
 principles in practice. 
 
 Being one of the principal racial minority, the Jews in 
 Ukraine have had granted by law a full autonomy and have 
 had secured by the Ukrainian government all moral and ma- 
 terial means that are necessary for the development of their 
 nationality and for the advancement of their national culture. 
 Jewish representatives have been invited and admitted to a 
 real participation in government and to leadership in deter- 
 mining the destinies of the country. Our friendship was ac- 
 cepted without reservation, and I can say with a good deal 
 of confidence that there was no Jewish faction in our country 
 which did not admit that the Ukrainian People's Republic 
 meant the realization of the best hopes and rights of the 
 Jewish people in Ukraine. 
 
 Looking Forward in Hope to Bays of Recon- 
 struction. 
 
 I have no disposition to boast of what my government has 
 accomplished — in 1917. It has merely done its duty. We 
 have always believed — and we still hope — that in days of re- 
 construction the Jewish population of Ukraine will be of in- 
 finite service to the country. As a matter of course, they 
 will become conscious of their moral partnership only when 
 they experience the fullest freedom of their independent 
 growth. 
 
 We have waited many months for these days of readjust- 
 ment and recuperation to come, and they have not come. It 
 is very hard to say in quiet phrases what has happened in 
 Ukraine since the revolution. War and disorder, devastation 
 
and confusion, became the lot of the distracted country. The 
 Ukrainian People's Republic has had to defend its very ex- 
 istence against German invasion, against Russian Bolshevist 
 conquest, against Poland's noble legions, against Denikin's 
 Cossack raids, and the dark forces behind them, against in- 
 ternal strife, against marauding bandit gangs, against an eco- 
 nomic ruin, against a complete breakdown and disaster. 
 For the Jew, this disaster resulted in pogroms. 
 
 Fairness in Judgment as to Who are the Guilty 
 
 Who are the guilty ones? Who has to bear the ghastly re- 
 sponsibility ? 
 
 The errand I am bound on to America, comprises no obli- 
 gation to lie either for my country or for my countrymen. 
 Before we condemn anybody we have to sit in judgment upon 
 ourselves. I must admit that information now in my pos- 
 session fully establishes the fact that in one case — a very se- 
 vere one (Proskurow) — soldiers from the Ukrainian People's 
 Army were the perpetrators. It was not upon the impulse of 
 the government, nor upon a military command that they slew 
 helpless people. It was not with knowledge of Simon Pet- 
 lura, but against his strictest orders and against the purpose 
 of the Ukrainian People 's Republic. 
 
 There is some evidence of old-fashioned provocation or of 
 ■criminal mistake or wilful disobedience on the part of the 
 local commander in several other, fortunately less disastrous, 
 cases. Just these cases, wherever the name of Ukrainian 
 People's Republic or of Simon Petlura is involved, we want 
 to be investigated first of all. 
 
 But, allow me to say, these are rather exceptional cases. 
 
 Spirit of Czarist Russia Kept Alive hy Dark 
 Forces. 
 
 The spirit of czarist Russia is being kept very much alive, 
 not only through the efforts of Denikin, his backers, but by 
 the dark forces hidden throughout all the territory of the 
 former Russian Empire, by the rank and file of the old Black 
 
8 
 
 Hundreds, by many others. It is the Russia of infamous 
 memory against which the Ukrainian People's Republic is 
 fighting for deliverance. 
 
 It is also known that pogroms have been carried out in 
 Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian Bolshevist armies. 
 Jews have been robbed and driven from their homes and slain 
 by Bolshevist marauders and by Soviet troops themselves, 
 which are characterized by a great varietj^ of discipline and 
 of purpose. 
 
 In Western Ukraine — Galicia and a part of Volhynia — 
 Jews, as well as Ukrainians themselves, have been persecuted 
 and outraged and starved out by invading Polish legions. 
 
 Finally, large parts of Ukrainian territory seem to be a No 
 Man 's Land, where various bandit gangs are preying upon the 
 people. They comprise adventurers and brigands mostly, of 
 — I am sorry to admit — Ukrainian language and descent, the 
 same as lynching mobs in America consist of Americans. 
 
 Little of Disturbed Area Controlled hy Ukrainian 
 Government 
 
 The bloody tide swept within its wave almost all the ter- 
 ritory of Ukraine. Only a small part of this territory was 
 controlled by the Ukrainian People's Republic. The pogroms 
 in Ukraine took place during the winter and spring months. 
 Even in December the Ukrainian government lost the con- 
 trol of Eastern Ukraine, and the Ukrainian army fought its 
 retreat battles against advancing Bolshevist armies. Since 
 February the territory controlled by the Ukrainian govern- 
 ment has grown still smaller, including only parts of Podolia 
 and Volhynia, and by the end of winter the main body of the 
 Ukrainian army had been forced to pass over the Galician 
 border. Speaking of pogroms, may I not insert that maraud- 
 ing soldier bands who tried to continue their work in Ukrain- 
 ian Galicia have been put down and executed by the Ukrainian 
 peasants themselves. 
 
 The reconquest of Ukraine was begun in the summer, but 
 still the Ukrainian People's Republic is in power only in 
 Podolia, Volhynia, and in the government of Kiev, as far as the 
 
city of Kiev and the district of Uman. In this territory, I 
 think I can say with confidence, the dangers are now passed 
 and overcome. 
 
 The government of the Ukrainian People's Republic is 
 willing to redress all wrongs committed against the Jews 
 in Ukraine, even when these wrongs have been committed by 
 its worst enemies, but it must decline any moral responsibility 
 for innocent blood, to prevent the shedding of which it has 
 done its utmost. 
 
 The Ukrainian Government not Criminally Negli- 
 gent. 
 
 But the question arises: Has not the Ukrainian govern- 
 ment been criminally negligent? It has not. The director- 
 ate — the present Republican government which has overthrown 
 the Hetman regime — immediately after having assumed the 
 power, re-enacted the national autonomy law, and called upon 
 the population of Ukraine to regard the Jews as friends and 
 as allies of Ukrainian democracy. Proclamation after proc- 
 lamation aga^-^st pogroms and order after order against 
 evildoers have been issued. Millions of rubles in damages 
 have been paid and hundreds of murderers and provocators 
 have been executed. There has been no Ukrainian government 
 without Jewish secretaries being in it. Many of them are well 
 known Jewish labor leaders ; all of them are true Jews in whose 
 word the Jewish world can have the utmost confidence. 
 
 I deeply regret to say the government did not succeed even 
 in exterminating all outlaw gangs. Some day it will be shown 
 how they made their narrow escapes. Many a cutthroat found 
 refuge by hissing the flag of Bolshevism or the image of 
 Saint Russia. I instance only the most notorious cases of 
 Machno and Grigoriev. Machno's bands were surrounded 
 by the punitive forces of the Ukrainian government early in 
 winter, after they made their first appearance in and around 
 Katerinoslav, but they were rescued by the rapidly pro- 
 gressing Bolshevist advance. After having supported the 
 Bolshevists, Machno joined Denikin and left Denikin to es- 
 
10 
 
 tablish himself again independently. While changing his 
 allegiance, he never stopped harassing Jews. 
 
 The unspeakable Grigoriev revolted against the Ukrain- 
 ian government which tried to check his pogrom activities 
 and went over to the Bolshevists and was appointed Bolshevist 
 commander in south Ukraine. Then he betrayed the Bolshe- 
 vists and is now traitorously gathering the reactionary forces 
 around him, the very same forces that had driven the Ukrain- 
 ian people to revolution. 
 
 Strongest Possible Government Under the Cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 The government of the Ukrainian People's Republic is not 
 powerful enough. But there is no government anywhere and 
 there has never been a government which would prove 
 stronger in these circumstances. 
 
 The Ukrainian People's Republic was set up thirty months 
 ago. The Directorate — the present government of the Ukrain- 
 ian People's Republic — assumed the control eleven months 
 ago. 
 
 They are expected to organize and to reconstruct a country 
 which has been disorganized and exhausted and corrupted 
 by more than a century of czarist misrule. They are ex- 
 pected to assert the principles of right and humanity and to 
 safeguard peace and security in spite of continuous war, and 
 revolution within and without. They are expected to do this 
 while assaulted by three powers, each of them superior in 
 arms, money, diplomacy, and propaganda. They are ex- 
 pected to do it while they have to bar the invading Bolshe- 
 vist Russia. They are expected to do it while they are facing 
 the eastward march of Polish imperialism to the west and the 
 counter-revolutionary Russia to the east, both of them being 
 supported and supplied with all the resources of western 
 Europe. They are expected to do it without any support from 
 anywhere, with a peasant army in rags, with only a strong 
 will to protect their country for their weapon. 
 
11 
 
 Reliance in Final Victory for the People of 
 Ukraine. 
 
 It will be done. We rely on the people of Ukraine and on 
 the final victory of justice and democracy, no matter how 
 many times and by whom they were betrayed. But it could 
 not be done right away. 
 
 After you read the charges contained in documents which 
 are being issued in Warsaw or in Rostov or in Moscow — use 
 your own judgment. Ukraine is practically isolated from 
 the rest of the world. The governments fighting the Ukrain- 
 ian People's Republic disseminate the most foul charges 
 against those they are trying to destroy. Recently in cor- 
 respondence emanating from Rostov, and from Paris, the 
 war between Denikin's Russian army and the Ukrainian 
 People's army has been represented as "a struggle for and 
 against Israel." Denikin is protecting the Jews and this is 
 why Petlura, who is relentlessly against them, has declared 
 war against Denikin. I ask you to supply your hard business 
 sense: can you think that these are differences between the 
 Czarist generals and the Ukrainian People's Republic, of 
 which government four Jews are a trusted part and a Jew 
 is assistant secretary of war? Is this the issue? 
 
 I know that on this side of the water, we have to face a very 
 great deal of misjudgment with regard to our national aims 
 and principles. 
 
 Jetvisli Inquiry Invited in Name of Government. 
 
 In the name of the Ukrainian government, Simon Pet- 
 lura, president of the Ukrainian People's Republic, issued a 
 special message inviting the representatives of the Jews out- 
 side of Ukraine to investigate the pogroms and the attitude 
 whieli the Ukrainian government has been taking and is 
 taking toward the Jews. This message has been delivered to 
 the Jewish committee in London. 
 
 Acting upon instruction from my government, I extend 
 this invitation to the American Jews. Their representative 
 organizations are requested — through their representative 
 men, men of their choice and confidence — to look into the 
 
14 
 
 sufferings of their brethren and sisters, to ascertain the 
 causes and the consequences, to establish the responsibility 
 and to take any steps it might be necesary to take to prevent 
 future violence. 
 
 American Jews Particularly are Asked to 
 Investigate. 
 
 In particular, the responsible organizations of American 
 Jews are requested to investigate: whether the Ukrainian 
 People's Republic is organized to brigandage and revolt 
 against everybody and everything, or whether it has been 
 founded to obtain independence of a long oppressed country, 
 and whether the Ukrainian People's Republic is spreading 
 racial hatred and intolerance, or whether it stands for equal- 
 it}^, freedom and free development of nationalities and un- 
 dictated autonomous self-development of any race or nation- 
 ality in Ukraine; whether the Ukrainian People's Republic 
 is warring upon the Jews, or whether the Jewish representa- 
 tives are a responsible part of its government and Jewish 
 men are fighting side by side with their Ukrainian fellow- 
 citizens for Ukraine and for the common cause of all her 
 people; whether the Ukrainian People's Republic is guilty 
 of crimes committed against the Jewish population, or whether 
 it has spent every energy to keep the Jews in Ukraine out of 
 danger, to punish the criminals, and to heal the wounds of the 
 sufferers. 
 
 Widespread Unprejudiced Consideration is 
 Sought. 
 
 It is earnestly hoped that the results of this inquiry may 
 receive wide-spread unprejudiced consideration. 
 
 I am speaking for the Ukrainian Government when I say 
 that the investigation will meet with its support and approval, 
 and I think that I can say with as much confidence that the 
 investigators will find that all measures have been taken by 
 the government to safeguard Jewish lives and interests and to 
 secure to Jewish citizens of Ukraine the full enjoyment of 
 their acknowledged rights. The Ukrainian People's Republic 
 will live up to the hopes of so many of the best and truest 
 Jews in Ukraine who put their trust in her. 
 
15 
 
 Soldiers of the Ukrainian People's 
 
 Republic Ordered to Respect 
 
 and Protect the Je\vs 
 
 Daily order hy the Supreme Commander to the 
 troops of the Ukrainian People's Republic 
 
 No. 131. 
 
 August 26, 1919. 
 
 This order will be read in the divisions, the brigades, the 
 regiments, the battalions and the companies of the armies of 
 the Dnieper and of the Dniester and in the detachments of 
 the insurgents : 
 
 * * * The sinister men of the ''Black Hundred" 
 and the "Red Hundred" are but one band. They are 
 assiduously weaving the spider's web, provoking pogroms 
 of the Jewish population, and on many occasions they 
 have incited certain backward elements of our army to 
 commit abominable acts. They thus succeeded in defiling 
 our struggle for liberty in the eyes of the world and 
 compromise our national cause. 
 
 Officers and Cossacks! It is time to know that the 
 Jews have, like the greater part of our Ukrainian popu- 
 lation suffered from the horrors of the Bolshevist-com- 
 munist invasion and follow the way to the truth. The 
 best Jewish groups such as the "Bund", the "Unified", 
 the " Poaky-Zion " and the "Folks Party" have will- 
 ingly placed themselves at the disposal of the sovereign 
 and independent Ukraine and cooperate with us. * 
 
 It is time to learn that the peaceful Jewish population, 
 its women and children have been oppressed in the same 
 way as ours and deprived of national liberty. This 
 population has lived with us for centuries and divides 
 our pleasures and our sorrows. 
 
 The chivalrous troops who bring fraternity, equality, 
 and liberty to all the nationalities of Ukraine, must not 
 listen to the invaders and provocators who hunger for 
 humaii blood. Neither can they remain indifferent in the 
 
16 
 
 face of the tragic fate of the Jews. He who becomes an 
 accomplice to such crimes is a traitor and an enemy of 
 our country, and he must be placed beyond the pale of 
 human society. 
 
 Officers and Cossacks! The entire world is amazed at 
 your heroism. Do not tarnish it, even accidentally by 
 an infamous adventure and do not dishonor our Republic 
 in the eyes of the world. Our enemies have exploited the 
 pogroms against us. They affirm that we are not worthy 
 of an independent and sovereign existence and that we 
 must be enslaved once again. 
 
 Officers and Cossacks ! Ensure the victory by directing 
 your arms against the real enemy, and remember that our 
 pure cause, necessitates clean hands. I expressly order 
 you to drive away with your arms all who incite you to 
 pogroms and bring them before the courts as enemies of 
 the State. And the tribunal will judge them for their 
 acts and the most severe penalties of the law will be in- 
 flicted on all those found guilty. 
 
 The Government of the Ukrainian People's Republic 
 has addressed an appeal to all inhabitants of the country 
 to resist the activities of our enemies who provoke the 
 pogroms of the Jewish population. 
 
 I order all troops to listen well and to retain this appeal 
 and to spread it as much as possible among their com- 
 rades and among the people. 
 
 Petlura. 
 Commander in Chief. 
 
17 
 
 The JeAvs in the Ukraine 
 
 Interview appearing in the ''Jewish Chronicle," 
 of London, England, granted by, 
 
 DR. ARNOLD MARGOLIN, 
 Representative of the Ukraine at the Paris Peace Conference. 
 
 Dr. Arnold Margolin in explaining the position taken by 
 the Jews towards the formation of the new state, said: 
 
 ''At the time of the proclamation of Ukrainian inde- 
 pendence, the Jews were divided into two camps. On 
 the one side were the Jewish assimilators, who had been 
 brought up in an All-Russian political atmosphere, and 
 who adopted a negative attitude towards the formation 
 of the Ukrainian State. This party, which numerically 
 was not important, was supported by a number of Jewish 
 refugees from old Russia. On the other side were ranged 
 the National Jews, the Zionists, Itoists, and Jewish So- 
 cialist parties, who took up a favourable attitude. Those 
 Jews who had national aspirations of their own could not 
 but view with favour similar strivings on the part of a 
 people which had hitherto lived in a position of tutelage. 
 The principles laid down by President Wilson as to the 
 rights of small nations were bound to be applied to the 
 Ukrainian people. So far as the social programme of the 
 State was concerned, the Jews were also divided into two 
 camps. One group, which was not very numerous, went 
 hand in hand with the advanced parties of the Left, which 
 aimed at the exclusion of the bourgeoisie from State af- 
 fairs. To this group belonged the left wing of the Bund 
 and the Poalei-Zion. The other group took up the stand- 
 point of those Ukrainian parties who supported the prin- 
 ciples of a general franchise and who sought to apply to 
 the Ukraine the political system which obtains in West- 
 em Europe. They eschewed Utopian experiments and 
 Maximalist aspirations. Although there were these dif- 
 ferences in regard to the social and economic conditions 
 involved in the creation of the Ukrainian State, nearly all 
 Jewish parties and organizations were united on the ques- 
 tion of the right of the Ukrainian people to determine 
 their ultimate political destiny on popular lines." 
 
18 
 
 Jewish Autonomy 
 
 What was the attitude of the Ukrainian authorities towards 
 the Jews? our representative asked. 
 
 ' ' In the Ukraine, including Galicia, there are three and 
 one-half million Jews, as compared with nearly forty mil- 
 lions of the general population. The Jews thus form 
 nearly eight per cent of the total inhabitants. On the 
 initiation of the new regime, a Central Eepresentative 
 Parliament was formed, composed of all parties in the 
 country, including the Jews. About seventy per cent of 
 the seats on this body were held by Ukrainians proper, 
 the remainder being allocated to representatives of the 
 Jews, the Poles, and Russians. This Parliamentary body 
 showed its willingness to grant more concessions to Jews 
 than had any other constituent assembly in history. It 
 conceded autonomy to all minorities in the State, and 
 three Ministers were appointed for the affairs of these 
 minorities, including the Jews. A noteworthy act of the 
 parliament was to appoint a Court of Cassation, those 
 judges being selected who had had the courage to oppose 
 the Russian Government in the Beilis trial. In April, 
 1918, I was almost unanimously selected as a member of 
 this Court." 
 
 Dr. Margolin further describes the changes which took 
 place when the original Ukrainian Government was over- 
 thrown, and superseded by the Government of Hetman Sko- 
 ropadsky : 
 
 "At the end of April the Hetman Government came 
 into power, and the Central Parliament was abolished. 
 The autonomy of minorities was also withdrawn, but no 
 serious inroads were made on the political rights of the 
 Jews. The Court of Cassation was not disturbed, and 
 the members were given the title of Senator. A Jew, 
 M. Gutnik, of Odessa, was appointed Minister of Com- 
 merce. The Hetman regime lasted eight months, and 
 when it was overthrown by Petlura, the new Government 
 restored the autonomy of minorities and again appointed 
 Jewish Ministers. M. Goldelmann, a member of the 
 Poalei-Zion, received an Under-Secretaryship, and I was 
 appointed Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs. I re- 
 tained my seat on the Court of Cassation, though I did 
 not act in my judicial capacity while I held a portfolio. 
 Jews were also included in the various diplomatic mis- 
 
19 
 
 sions dispatched by the Ukraine Government to foreign 
 countries. Thus, Dr. Vishnitzer, the well known his- 
 torian, and one of the editors of the Jewish encyclopedia 
 published in Russia, is one of the secretaries of the En- 
 glish mission. Jews are included in the press and secre- 
 tarial sections of the French mission, and a Jew is one of 
 the secretaries of the Dutch mission." 
 
 The Pogroms 
 
 How do you reconcile the outbreak of pogroms with this 
 favourable attitude towards the Jews? 
 
 "There is this difference between the pogroms which 
 have unhappily taken place in the Ukraine and those 
 which occurred under the Tsarist regime. Whereas the 
 latter were instigated and connived at by the authorities, 
 the Ukraine Government has steadfastly set its face 
 against the pogroms, and it has had no part in, or respon- 
 sibility for them. At the time of Petlura's coup d'etat 
 at the end of November, 1918, I myself read, in numerous 
 towns and villages in the Ukraine, proclamations issued 
 by the Government strongly condemning pogroms, ex- 
 plaining to the people that the Jews were fellow-citizens 
 and brothers who were helping in the evolution of the 
 Ukrainian State, and to whom the fullest rights were due. 
 The proclamations declared that pogroms must tend to 
 discredit the Ukraine in the eyes of the civilized world, 
 and those who took part in them were no friends of their 
 country. 
 
 "Unfortunately, after the Bolshevists took Kieff, and 
 disintegration set in among the ranks of the Ukrainian 
 forces, the worst element of the army started pogroms. 
 Once more the Government disavowed them, sentenced 
 the perpetrators to death, expressed their deepest sympa- 
 thy with the Jews and promised the fullest compensation 
 to the sufferers. I must unhappily admit that the last 
 pogroms as to which I have information — those of Feb- 
 ruary and March last — were very bad, thousands of Jews 
 being killed. They were instigated by criminals, Black 
 Hundreds, and Bolsheviks, who wished to discredit the 
 Ukrainian Government. These events made a deep im- 
 pression upon me, and at the end of March I tendered my 
 resignation. I stated that I was aware that the Govern- 
 ment were not to blame for the pogroms, but that, as a 
 Jew, I felt that I could not retain an official position in a 
 country where my brethren were being massacred. My 
 
20 
 
 resignation was not accepted, and the Government begged 
 me to continue to give my services at least abroad, and 
 I was appointed as one of a mission of four to represent 
 the Ukraine at the Peace Conference, my colleagues be- 
 ing the former Ministers, M. M. Sidorenko, Paneiko, and 
 Shulgin. The prevalence of pogroms in the Ukraine 
 may be partly attributed to the fact that the Ukrainians, 
 although constituting a distinct political entity, were sub- 
 ject for 250 years to Russia, and have acquired, as an 
 evil inheritance, what I may call the pogrom habit. It is 
 at least a matter for satisfaction that there is no anti- 
 Semitic tendency in the Ukraine Government, which dif- 
 fers in this respect, very notably, from that prevailing in 
 Poland. It is to the progress of democratic ideals in the 
 Ukraine that we must look for the elimination of the evil 
 pogrom element." 
 
21 
 
 Justice and Polity Demand Fair 
 Treatment of the Jews 
 
 by 
 
 DR. MARK VISHNITZER 
 
 Jewish Historian an^ Editor of the "Jewish Encyclopedia" 
 and the "History of the Jewish People." 
 
 After Ukraine had shaken off the centennial chains of for- 
 eign sovereignty and was proclaimed as a free State, it was 
 thought in leading Ukrainian circles that autonomic, national 
 rights should be given to the nationalities that have, since 
 ancient times, been domiciled in Ukraine. Thereby peace 
 would be secured among the different nationalities in the new 
 State, and the co-operation of all the different tribes of peo- 
 ple would be gained for the building up of the Ukrainian 
 republic. 
 
 The scope of this decision can be appreciated when we re- 
 member what the Ukrainian people have suffered in the course 
 of time from national suppression. But it was also wise, 
 farseeing and beneficial to the State to win over the minori- 
 ties to the cause of the new State, for those minorities — Rus- 
 sians, Jews and Poles — have always been, and are still, in 
 numbers, reputation, cultural development and economical 
 consideration, important factors in the country. 
 
 Guarantees of the Ukrainian Parliament 
 
 In order to safeguard the national interests of the afore- 
 said nationalities, special State-Secretary offices were estab- 
 lished. In the first so-called ' ' Universal, ' ' or proclamation to 
 the people, "Central Rada" (the Ukrainian Parliament) 
 promised to protect the national rights of the minoritj^ na- 
 tionalities. In the third "Universal" the "Rada" went still 
 further and granted national personal autonomy to the Rus- 
 sian, Jewish, Polish and other minority nationalities, and held 
 out prospects of a special law in this respect being made. 
 Thus the Jewish question, which has been worrying most 
 European countries, was solved in a clear and natural way. 
 
22 
 
 Proved l)y Experience of Latter Years 
 
 The experiences of latter years have proved to us that it 
 does not pay to have a civil emancipation of the Jewish in- 
 habitants. We realize more and more that the civil emanci- 
 pation can not be the final solution of the Jewish question, 
 and that the recognition of all people as equally entitled mem- 
 bers of a State is the consequence of the recognition of all 
 nations as equally entitled factors in the progress of human- 
 ity. Thus this demand which the Jewish civil and socialistic 
 parties present with more and more force is for the first time 
 recognized as authorized and is fulfilled in Ukraine. 
 
 The law proposed by the government has been elaborated 
 by the Secretary of State for Jewish Affairs, and on January 
 9, 1918, it was unanimously passed by the Central Rada. In 
 this law it was solemnly declared that all people in Ukraine 
 have a right to national-personal autonomy, i. e., a right of 
 independent determination of their national life, especially by 
 means of national leagues composed of members of the re- 
 spective nationality. The right to national-personal autonomy 
 is an inviolable right. This right can not be denied any peo- 
 ple in the Ukrainian republic, and neither can it be restricted 
 for those who enjoy it. The national league has a right to 
 impose taxes on its members and to take all steps that it finds 
 necessary to protect all cultural and other demands. 
 
 Jewish Life Able to Develop Freely 
 
 Owing to the political conditions the law has not yet taken 
 effect, but during the two years the independent Ukrainian 
 State has existed public Jewish life has been able to develop 
 freely. The Jews in Ukraine have the most extended national 
 rights. The Jewish language is officially recognized, a Jewish 
 ministry has been able to develop its activity. Jewish con- 
 gregations have been able to thrive in freedom, and new Jew- 
 ish schools have grown up. In the newly founded university 
 at Kamenetz Podolsk, the government has established a pro- 
 fessor's chair for Jewish history and literature, and hereby 
 the national rights of the Jewish people have been still more 
 emphasized. 
 
23 
 
 Jewish Aspirations PeaceaUy Attained 
 The Government in East Galicia (the West Ukrainian Re 
 public) has, in every case, shown much understanding with 
 respect to the demands of the Jewish inhabitants for autono- 
 my. The Jews have here, as in Great Ukraine, without fight- 
 ing and without any special exertions, attained what they 
 have striven after and are still striving after in other coun- 
 tries, for instances in Poland and Roumania. It was, at least 
 lately, necessary at the peace conference to fight some of the 
 Poles. The arrangement with the Poles contains a whole 
 series of provisions with respect to political and national rights 
 for Jews, but all these together can not anywhere near equal 
 the regulations of the Jewish question which have been estab- 
 lished by the Central Rada in its grand law concerning na- 
 tional-personal autonomy. There is lacking a central Jewish 
 school system ; there is even lacking an organ for Jewish au- 
 tonomic organizations in the country, even the nucleus of 
 national autonomy is lacking. 
 
 The Roumanians even refuse to give the Jews the slight 
 admissions granted them by the Poles, but they will probably 
 submit to the pressure exercised by the Allied Powers. No 
 matter how this turns out, the Polish agreement does not con- 
 tain the provisions that the Jews are striving for. The Jews 
 in Ukraine will lose much if the imperialistic aspirations of 
 the Poles, Russians and Roumanians for Ukrainian land 
 should become a reality. 
 
24 
 
 Israel Zang\vill Commends New Re- 
 public's Attitude Toward the 
 Je^vs in Ukraine 
 
 (A letter from Israel Zangwill, noted writer and President 
 of the Jewish Territorial Organization, in reply to an invita- 
 tion by the Ukrainian Government to participate in the com- 
 mission for the investigation of Jewish pogroms in Ukraine.) 
 
 October 20, 1919. 
 THE PRESIDENT OF THE DELEGATION OF THE 
 
 UKRAINIAN REPUBLIC 
 Dear Sm: — 
 
 I feel highly honored at the invitation of the Ukrainian 
 Government to take part in the proposed Commission for the 
 investigation of anti-Jewish pogroms, but I am away in Wales, 
 resting under medical advice, and do not feel the strength to 
 undertake the journey. Moreover, if Doctor Yoehelman, a 
 member of the Council of the Jewish Territorial Organization, 
 forms one of the members my organization will be sufficiently 
 represented. I take the opportunity of saying, however, that 
 it needed not this step, nor even your honest admission of the 
 deplorable facts as regards the towns, to convince me that 
 your government is working hard, if not perhaps its hardest, 
 to stop massacres for which the unsettled state of Russia is 
 largely responsible. 
 
 The national rights you have given to the Jews are a mani- 
 festation of true statesmanship and in shining contrast with 
 the Jewish policy of Poland, and I can only hope th-at your 
 Republic will be preserved to give the rest of the world an 
 example of the strength and the exalted patriotism that comes 
 from the cordial co-operation and mutual respect of all the 
 varied racial and religious elements that make up a modern 
 State. That these massacres, if they continue, will destroy 
 your State no less surely than its innocent victims, adds to the 
 regret with which I, as a supporter of the principle of self- 
 determination, observe your present failure to suppress them 
 entirely. 
 
 Again thanking you for the honor of your invitation, 
 f^ ' Sincerely yours, 
 
 ^ T^ *• 0« Israel Zangwill. 
 
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