Looking Back
From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History
accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
Ukraine and JN — A Long History
H
istory does not repeat itself, but
at times, it sure does rhyme,
” says
Mark Twain. In this respect, I’ve
been thinking about Ukraine. The nation is
a dominate topic in American and Jewish
media. Ukrainians — Jewish and non-Jew-
ish — are suffering as the Russian army
wages an unprovoked war against them.
As the William Davidson Digital
Archive of Jewish Detroit
History reveals, Ukraine
has often been a topic in
the Detroit Jewish Chronicle
and the JN over the past
100 years. The land that
produced famed Israeli
writer Amos Oz, Israeli
Prime Minister Golda Meir,
famous Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem
and Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
has been mentioned on more than 3,000
pages in the Archive since 1917.
It may be surprising that the decade of
the 1920s has the most stories featuring
Ukraine; there were reports on 778 pages.
Unfortunately, they are largely sad, dismal
reads, full of news about pogroms against
Jews, hunger and suffering. An estimated
50,000-100,000 Jews were killed in the
years following World War I, largely at the
hands of Ukrainian nationalistic forces, as
well as (not surprisingly) the Soviet Union.
For just one example, see the front-page
story for the Jan. 16, 1920, Chronicle. It was
an era of virulent antisemitism.
World War II with its Nazi-promulgated
atrocities was an era of antisemitism at
its absolute worst. During the Holocaust,
more than 6 million Jews were killed;
an estimated 1.5 million of them died in
Ukraine, which had the third largest Jewish
population after Poland and the U.S. The
Babi Yar massacre in Ukraine in 1941
was one of the Shoah’s worst slaughters:
more than 34,000 Jews were killed by the
Germans in two days.
After WWII, Ukraine, one of the USSR’s
“republics” since 1922, reverted to Soviet
rule after nearly three years of German
occupation. In 1991, with the disman-
tling of the Soviet Union, Ukraine finally
became an independent state.
Since then, Jewish Ukrainians have
experienced a positive resurgence. Recent
Pew polls indicate that levels of antisem-
itism in Ukraine are lower than those
of many European countries, including
Russia. Moreover, current president of
Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.
Not all the stories about Ukraine in the
Archives are gloomy (although, at this
time, it is going through another period of
massive suffering and destruction). There
are many stories in the JN about Jewish
Detroiters whose roots are in Ukraine,
and about recent connections between the
Jewish community and Ukraine. A story
in the Oct. 18, 1991, JN — “Once Upon
a Time” — is a primer on the Ukrainian-
American community in Detroit.
Individuals have also had an impact.
Michigan State University professor
Dr. Alexander Tetelbaum grew up in
the Soviet era and established the first
Jewish university in Ukraine (Oct. 15,
1993). Susan Citrin, Beverly Liss and
Sandra Jaffa traveled to Ukraine as part of
United Jewish Appeal Chairman’s Mission
(Sept. 12, 1997). In 2017, Camp “Ramah
Yachad” in Ukraine, generously funded
by the Harriet & Ben Teitel Foundation
and Jerry Cook, among others, marked its
25th anniversary.
And, I haven’t yet mentioned Jewish
Detroiters with Ukrainian ancestors such
as Andi Wolfe, Ricky Stoler or my JN
colleague Associate Editor David Sachs
or recent Ukrainian immigrants like
Vladimir Gendelman and his family.
There are thousands more in Michigan.
Jewish Ukrainians have proven them-
selves resilient in the past. We hope for the
best for them and all Ukrainians in these
dark times.
Want to learn more? Access the DJN Foundation
archives for free at www.djnfoundation.org.
Mike Smith
Alene and
Graham Landau
Archivist Chair
62 | MARCH 17 • 2022