FACES AND PLACES: And, oh, by the way... (10/30/05)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

And, oh, by the way...

In an August 31 editorial titled "More Anti-Semitism," the Kyiv Post wrote: "August 28 marked another sad day for Ukraine. That's when latent, often ignored and frequently tolerated anti-Semitism in Ukraine appeared to have shown its repugnant face. A local Jewish student was beaten and left for dead in the center of the city."

In an October 10 news story titled "Ukrainian Jews Honor Victims of Babi [sic] Yar Massacre," the Kyiv Post recounted the horrors of that Nazi-directed carnage which killed 33,700 Jews, and then, in a kind of gratuitous, "oh, by the way" statement, the editorial concluded: "Hundreds of thousands [of Jews] have been killed in pogroms [in Ukraine] over the centuries, and millions died in the Holocaust."

Babyn Yar was a horrendous atrocity during which Nazis killed thousands of Ukrainian Jews. But Ukrainians also were murdered at Babyn Yar. They were not mentioned in the Kyiv Post story. Why not? Like the Holocaust itself, it appears that Babyn Yar has now become an exclusively Jewish calamity.

Questions abound. Why is it that whenever Kyiv Post writers mention anti-Semitism in Ukraine they feel compelled to mention pogroms that occured in Ukraine centuries ago, never mentioning the fact that they were orchestrated by Russian tsarist authorites and the Black Hundreds?

If Ukraine is so anti-Semitic, why are thousands of Jews returning to Ukraine from Israel? Why is there never any mention of the 1,755 people of Ukraine who rescued Jews during World War II, Christians like Tanka Kontsevych, mentioned in Martin Gilbert's book "The Righteous: Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust." Why does the Kyiv Post ignore Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, responsible for the survival of hundreds of Jews?

While thousands of Jews are returning to "anti-Semitic" Ukraine, Jews are fleeing France in droves. Small wonder. According to the French Interior Ministry, there were 510 anti-Jewish acts or threats in the first six months of 2004. More still in 2005. Claiming that France was host to "the wildest anti-Semitism," Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon recently urged more of France's Jews to emigrate to Israel.

Do any of these news stories mention France's complicity in the Holocaust? Of course not. And yet, the Vichy French government, a collaborationist regime headed by Henri Petain, "helped in the deportation of 70,000 Jews." They also "directly assisted the Nazis, in taking Jewish private property, destroying synagogues, and other Jewish monuments, and in shipping Jews to Nazi death camps." Donna F. Ryan confirms these numbers in her 1996 book "The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille."

Is the Vichy government ever mentioned in news stories about anti-Semitism in France today? No. Instead we get a kind of sanitized version of the present depravity, suggesting that France's growing Muslim population is responsible.

If the Kyiv Post was truly balanced in its approach to Ukrainian Jewish relations, it would investigate the administration of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Israel for its continuing refusal to award the title of "Righteous" to Metropolitan Sheptytsky for his role in saving hundreds of Jewish lives in Ukraine and, at great risk to his own life, openly condemning the killing of Jews from the pulpit. Yakov Suslensky, an Israeli citizen, whose life was saved by Ukrainians during Soviet times, has appealed to Israeli courts 18 times to rectify this injustice, all to no avail. He has also appealed to three Ukrainian presidents - Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko - to appeal to Israel directly, also to no avail.

I know Yakov Suslensky; I helped coordinate two of his visits to the United States where he spoke to Ukrainian American audiences but was totally rebuffed by the Jewish American power structure.

Another Jew, Kurt I. Lewin, son of the Chief Rabbi of Lviv, saved from certain death by Metropolitan Sheptytsky, has also taken up the cause, not only among Jews but with the Vatican as well. During the Nazi occupation of Ukraine, Mr. Lewin was hidden by Studite monks headed by Ihumen Clement, Sheptytsky's brother, where he became fluent in Ukrainian and totally at home with the Ukrainian liturgy. He even learned to sing the liturgical responses.

Describing his Ukrainian Studite friends in his 1994 book "A Journey Through IIlusions," Mr. Lewin wrote: "They accepted every task entrusted to them by Metropolitan Andrew [Andrey], including sheltering Jews at the risk of their lives. They did it voluntarily, for the love of Christ, without expecting thanks or a reward. Like most Ukrainians, they were not particularly friendly toward Jews, or interested in them. Neverthless, a large number of Jews (over 200 of them) were saved in extraordinary circumstances, considering the size of the order."

When the war ended, Mr. Lewin emigrated first to Israel, where he served in the military, and later to the United States, where he also tried to get fellow Jews interested in the metropolitan. In his book he writes: "It was only after my arrival in the United States in 1951 that I could again explore the possibilities of interesting Jewish organizations in this extraordinary saga of assistance [the work of Metropolitan Sheptytsky]. I contacted the American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith, and others. I found no response whatsover."

Later, Mr. Lewin, who named his son Andrew in honor of the metropolitan, testified in Rome on behalf of Metropolitan Sheptytsky's beatification on numerous occasions, beginning in 1959. His chapter titled "The Story of a Saint" is the best overview of the political resistance which the Sheptytsky postulation process has faced over the years, even among Ukrainian clergy. In favor of beatification was Cardinal Eugene Tisserant, prefect of the Congregation of Eastern Churches. Opposed was Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski of Poland who argued at the time that Metropolitan Sheptytsky was a controversial figure, much too involved in politics during his lifetime.

It's sad that the Kyiv Post chooses to simplistically beat the pogrom drum every time some deranged cretin beats a Jew in Ukraine. Understanding Ukrainian-Jewish relations requires a far more nuanced approach.

Myron Kuropas's e-mail address is: kuropas@comcast.net.

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