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The synagogue in Kiev
Sounds Of Kiev
E
verybody who leaves the country
model of economy. Joining the European
where they were born keeps not
Union was the goal.
just a language but smells
The representatives of the
and even sounds.
U.S., Georgia and Lithuania
For me, having left Kiev
were invited to be professional
almost 25 year ago, it is the
political consultants. Michael
sound of falling chestnuts that is
Saakashvilli, former president
a symbol of that city.
of Georgia, became a governor
Kiev has changed. Instead of
of the south region, which
old storehouses, new buildings
holds the seaport of Odessa.
grow in the historical part of
Enemies of the Ukrainian
Boris Karasin establishment emphasize
the city as well as churches and
Special to the the high number of Jews in
monuments in memory of new
Jewish News
heroes. Heroes of the Soviet
Ukrainian politics and busi-
Union and heroes of a new, inde-
ness, even now when the
pendent Ukraine are often on different
Jewish population has decreased tre-
sides of barricades.
mendously.
Today’s leaders of the nationalistic
For example, the speaker of the
parties are trying not to remember the
Ukrainian parliament is V. Groysman,
anti-Semitic slogans of those years. They a Jew. The mayor of the second big-
mostly speak about USSR’s and Russia’s
gest city, Kharkiv, is also a Jew. Many
colonial politic, especially now when
journalists speak about Jewish roots in
Putin has annexed a piece of Ukraine — today’s president and prime minister P.
the Crimean Peninsula — and provoked Poroshenko and A. Yatsenyk. During the
the war in the southeast of the country.
last presidential election, businessman V.
The war hit the Ukrainian economy
Rabinovich received twice as many votes
hard because the biggest part of the met- as nationalist party leader O. Tjagnibok.
allurgical and coal industries is located
Anti-Semitism among Ukrainian citi-
there. The country depends on Russian
zens has decreased.
gas, especially in the cold season.
After the war, Jews started to come
In the 11th century, Kiev experienced
back to Kiev; soon the population rose to
the first pogroms. The Jewish population 200,000. After Jews were allowed to emi-
wasn’t big at that time, mostly Ashkenazi grate, the number decreased to 17,000.
merchants or craftsmen who came from
The word refugee wasn’t popular
Crimea. The worst time for the Jewish
in Ukrainian terminology; but after
community was the 17th century, when
war came to the southeast of Ukraine,
Ukrainian leader Bogdan Kchmelnitsky
this word was heard more and more.
fought against Polish power in Ukraine.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees
Massacres continued in the 19th
appeared in the center of Ukraine and
century. At Babi Yar in September 1941,
Russia. The office of Moshe Asman,
34,000 Jews were killed over two days.
chief rabbi in Kiev, reported that they
The Ukrainian emigration to North
prepared places for 3,000 Jews.
America started at the end of the 16th
Jewish businessmen sponsored con-
century with many waves before and
structions of schools, rehabilitation cen-
after World War II.
ters and houses in small town Anatevka,
If at the end of 1980s, most emigrants like the shtetl in Fidler on the Roof. At
from Soviet Ukraine were Jews, now
least 76 permanent apartments and 20
they are Ukrainian. Russia, England,
hotel-style rooms for transients will
Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Czech
comprise the complex, according to a
Republic, the U.S. and Canada are coun- report in the Jerusalem Post.
tries where 7 million Ukrainians make
All people of Ukraine hope that they
up 25-30 percent of the foreign influx.
never again will become refugees and
Experts believe that this number will
never hear the sounds of missles and
increase to 10 million if the financial
bombs — only the falling chestnuts and
situation in Ukraine does not improve.
the splashing of Dniper river waves.
After pro-Russian president V.
Ukrainian native Boris Karasin of West Bloomfield
Janukovitch was deposed, the new gov-
traveled there last fall before writing this piece.
ernment looked for a new pro-Western
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28 January 7 • 2016