Statement of officials from Lviv and Odessa (11/06/94)

CONTINUING REACTION TO "60 MINUTES" REPORT

Statement of officials from Lviv and Odessa

The following is a statement issued by the visiting delegation of Ukrainian municipal government officials, which was forwarded to The Ukrainian Weekly by the press office of Ukraine's Embassy in the U.S. on October 27.

We are a delegation of deputies of the city councils of Lviv and Odessa, invited to the U.S. under the auspices of IREX, the International Research and Exchanges Board, in order to share experiences in city governing with our counterparts in the U.S.

Having watched the CBS-TV program "60 Minutes," which included Morley Safer's report about the alleged anti-Semitism of the Ukrainian people, we hereby express our deep outrage at the biased presentation of information, which borders on an attempt to incite inter-ethnic hostilities.

Relations between the Ukrainian and Jewish peoples have a centuries-long history.

During World War II, Ukrainians and Jews fought shoulder-to-shoulder against occupiers, and many Ukrainians risked their own lives and the lives of their relatives to save Jewish families.

In independent Ukraine, every effort has been made to create conditions favorable to the spiritual and cultural development of Jews: synagogues and Jewish schools have been reopened, Jewish organizations have been established, streets have been renamed in honor of outstanding sons of the Jewish people; the memory of Jews who perished during World War II has been preserved for the ages by memorials and plaques; representatives of the Jewish people have risen to leading positions in public institutions and private enterprises; and Jews occupy senior government positions at the national and municipal level - for example, in Odessa, the mayor is Edvard Gurvits, who is Jewish.

We believe that it is not coincidental that the report in question was aired just prior to the visit of Ukraine's President Leonid D. Kuchma to the U.S.A. Certain forces have an interest in ensuring that Ukraine is portrayed as a poorly developed country with nuclear weapons, and Ukrainians as "genetic" anti-Semites.

In the TV program "60 Minutes," the American viewer was presented with tendentiously selected material concerning manifestations of anti-Semitism in Ukraine. A number of us, as members of the Ukrainian delegation of municipal deputies currently in the U.S., and as residents of Lviv, were disturbed both by the selection and the interpretation of facts, and by the decision to air such a program on the eve of President's Kuchma's visit.

"Genetic" anti-Semitism is ascribed to Ukrainians, and particularly to residents of Lviv. The segment's contentions are not substantiated with documentation, but only with opinions of private individuals and the commentary of the reporter.

Historical facts are distorted, and there is a conscious effort to defame famous Ukrainians. If Morley Safer were truly interested in the history of the problem in question, he would know that Jews and Ukrainians lived together peacefully in Galicia for centuries.

In the pre-war years, the majority of both peoples faced economic hardships. During the World War II, Jews faced a situation that was equally tragic in all countries occupied by the Nazis.

Why was it not mentioned that many Ukrainian families risked their lives to hide Jews? Why were the services to the Jewish people rendered by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky not mentioned? Why were doubts raised about the words of [Lviv Greek-Catholic] Chancellor, the Rev. [Ivan] Dacko? Why did the sight of "plastuny" (scouts) walking in procession to church arouse such fears in Mr. Wiesenthal?

Many such questions could be posed to the framers of the broadcast, who tendentiously chose material to illustrate their point. For example: under the Soviet regime, a prison was set up on the site of the Nazi concentration camp. Although the prison continues to operate, the choice of site can hardly blamed on independent Ukraine. In addition, images of large-scale public gatherings were shown, although they bore no connection to anti-Semitism whatsoever.

In independent Ukraine, Jews, as well as all other national minorities, have been granted the right to create their own cultural organizations and educational institutions. In Lviv, synagogues have been reopened, the original name of "Staroyevreiska" (Ancient Jewish) Street has been restored to one of the thoroughfares in the downtown core, streets were named after Solomon Rapoport and Sholom Aleichem, and an imposing memorial to the victims of the Lviv ghetto was ceremoniously unveiled. So what is Mr. Wiesenthal afraid of?

We consider the report aired by "60 Minutes" to be a political provocation and an insult to the Ukrainian people. We expect that CBS-TV will disassociate itself from the tendentious notions of the authors of the program, and will prepare, for the American viewing audience, objective information about the history of the Jewish people in Ukraine and about the actual conditions of the present day.

Ostap Semkiv
Vice-Mayor, Lviv

Oleksander Prokopenko
Vice-Mayor, Odessa

Halyna Kupovych
Deputy head of the Lviv Mayor's Office

Volodymyr Kurennoy, Serhiy Kyvalov, Yuriy Liushnenko, Liubov Remin
Deputies, Odessa City Council

Tetiana Krushelnytska
Deputy, Lviv City Council

Dmytro Ivanov
Deputy, Odessa District Council

Ivan Levytsky
Head of the Lychakiv district administration, Lviv

Zinoviy Kurylo
Head of the Shevchenko district administration, Lviv

Roman Tsiatsiak
Deputy head of the Zaliznychy district administration, Lviv

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