During the first ten months of 2014 in Ukraine, isolated cases of
antisemitism and racism were observed, including attacking religious Jews and
desecration of Jewish cemeteries and monuments in memory of the victims of the
Nazis. Sporadic cases of intolerance in the media and Internet publications
were also documented.
Most attacks on Jews took place in January – February 2014 in Kiev, during the events of the Revolution in Maidan Square.
The center of the attack incidents was in the Podil neighborhood
of Kiev, in
which religious Jews reside near the main synagogue.
In January 2014,
a Yeshiva teacher for Hebrew and Jewish tradition in Kiev, Hillel Wercheteimer,
26, was beaten near his home. He filed a complaint with the police. A criminal
case was opened based on Chapter 1 Section 125 in the Criminal Law of
Ukraine (willfully causing injury to body).
A week later, following a Sabbath evening service near the
synagogue in Podil , a Yeshiva student, Dov Bar Glickman, 33, was attacked
The attackers, probably skinheads, beat him in his arms and
legs near an apartment building. The tenants of the building responded to
Glickman’s cries. The attackers ceased their actions, went to a waiting car and
fled the scene of the crime.
In February 2014 the chairman of the organization
“Saving Ukraine”, Rabbi Hillel Cohen, was attacked. The attackers
beat him when he was on his way to the hospital to visit a sick person. The
attackers beat the rabbi and shouted “Yid” and
other curses. In this case also, after the attack, the attackers fled in a
vehicle.
In March 2014
a religious couple was attacked near the synagogue in
Podil.
Although the police opened criminal cases, to date it has
not identified the attackers. Case opening, by itself, does not classified it
as manifestations of antisemitism, the definition of section 161 to the
criminal laws of Ukraine does not apply to it, and the case is rather
investigated as a ” Severe Hooliganism”, which is quite typical of
the Kiev police.
In the past year, vandalism cases in Jewish cemeteries and
monuments in memory of fascism victims became more frequent.
The monument in the city of Nikolayev was desecrated twice with swastikas
and antisemitic inscriptions.
In February, a
monument in memory of the Jews who were executed in Alexandria,
Kirovograd
province, was desecrated.
In April 2014,
a monument in memory of Holocaust victims in Odessa was desecrated.
Antisemitic vandals painted swastikas on the monument on Lustdorf road and on
Jewish gravestones in a cemetery in Kievs’ka Odessa. In April, a monument in the Tolbohina square (Kievs’ka
neighborhood in Odessa)
was also desecrated.
Twice during the year, “Remembering for the
Future” monument in the city of Novomoskovsk,
Dnipropetrovsk province, was desecrated.
Mass graves of Holocaust victims in the suburban of Vladimir-Wolinsky,
Wolinsky district, were desecrated many times.
For several months, “black archeologists” were
digging in mass graves of Holocaust victims. Despite many requests from
representatives of the Jewish community, the Interior Ministry forces refused
for a long time to open a criminal case based on those complaints.
Approaching the anniversary of the execution of Jews at Babi
Yar, Kiev,
vandals desecrated the “Menorah” monument that was built on the
execution site. A swastika and a black cross were painted on the memorial
stones.
In the past year, there have been attempts to set fire to
the synagogue building in the central neighborhood of Nikolaev. During the
night, Molotov cocktails were thrown on the facade of the building and damaged
the synagogue’s entrance door and fence.
During the Jewish New Year’s Eve a vandal threw a Molotov
cocktail at the area of the main synagogue of Kiev.
Police of Podil neighborhood in the Ukrainian capital started
to investigate the incident.
In 2014, antisemitic posts on forumspaskiev.org.ua (Editor N. Lalak) and on antisionizm.info continued.
During the past year these sites published extremist materials on Jewish
history and culture, including Holocaust denial and publications against Israel and the Jewish communities of Ukraine.
Also, for the first time in Ukraine, an antisemitic book of
Polish author Yuji Novak “Who is to blame – ask the Yids” was
published, translated to Ukrainian by Charitable Foundation of Rastislav
Novose’nzv.
After many requests from the Ministry of Interior, the
Ministry of internal Security and the prosecution, the leaders of the Jewish
communities were able to prevent the book from being published in Ukraine
for being antisemitic. A copy of the book was sent to national experts
committee for the protection of public morals. Eventually, after a few months,
the committee concluded that this book “is part of publication that harm
Jews according to a national indicator and includes manifestations of
nationalist propaganda. Based on this, publishing and distribution of the book
… are prohibited”. The Experts Committee’s conclusions allow demanding
from law enforcement agencies to prohibit the distribution of the book in the territory of Ukraine.
The report was prepared by the Center for Jewish Research
Jewish Foundation in Ukraine.
