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