ГУЛаг Палестины - Лев Гунин

28)

However real the continuing resistance that was carried on in Petliura's name, the

Russian and Soviet authorities - in order to justify Cheka executions

indiscriminately cited Petliura as the author of real and imagined anti-Soviet

actions. For example, summarizing the year 1921 alone, historian Sergey Petrovich

Melgunov relates:

Particularly large was the number of Petlura "conspiracies" then

discovered. In connection with them sixty-three persons (including a

Colonel Evtikhiev) were shot in Odessa, batches of fourteen and

sixty-six in Tiraspol, thirty-nine in Kiev (mostly members of the

intelligentsia), and 215 in Kharkov - the victims in the latter case

being Ukrainian hostages slaughtered in retaliation for the

assassination of certain Soviet workers and others by rebels. And,

similarly, the Izvestia of Zhitomir reported shootings of twenty-nine

co-operative employees, school teachers and agriculturalists who

could not possibly have had anything to do with any Petlura

"conspiracy" in the world.

(Sergey Petrovich Meglunov, The Red Terror in Russia, London, 1925,

pp. 88-89)

Thus, if the impression gleaned from the Shapoval volume is correct (to the effect

that the control of the Cheka-GPU-NKVD lay overwhelmingly in the hands of Jews), then

the situation might be summarized by saying that even while Jews were in reality

pogromizing Ukrainians throughout Ukraine (as we saw in the Melgunov quotation

immediately above), they were simultaneously pogromizing Ukrainian leaders in the

diaspora, as by the assassinations of, among others, Symon Petliura (1926) in Paris

by Cheka agent Schwartzbard employing a handgun, of Colonel Yevhen Konovalets (1938)

in Rotterdam by GPU agent Valyukh employing a package bomb, of Lev Rebet (1957) as

well as Stepan Bandera (1959) both in Munich and both by KGB agent Bohdan Stashynsky

employing a poison pistol loaded with cyanide. This same Bohdan Stashynsky

eventually defected to the West where he confessed to the two above assassinations,

thereby demonstrating the reasonableness of the distrust that the Kremlin might feel

toward its own assassins, as well as the reasonableness of the unease that the

assassins might feel concerning being distrusted.

Cause and effect. As is often the case with respect to historical events, the

thread of cause and effect is difficult to untangle. When Petliura makes the

following statement in his Army Order No. 131, he assumes that pogroms cause an

opposition to Ukrainian independence:

Our many enemies, external as well as internal, are already profiting

by the pogroms; they are pointing their fingers at us and inciting

against us saying that we are not worthy of an independent national

existence and that we deserve to be again forcefully harnessed to the

yoke of slavery.

However, it is also plausible that causality proceeds in the opposite direction

that Jewish opposition to Ukrainian independence causes pogroms. Of course, the

causal link can act in both directions simultaneously, with pogroms and opposition

each fuelling the other in an escalating spiral. Who might start such a spiral and

who might encourage it? Petliura views the pogroms not as spontaneous, but as

incited by "adventurers" and "provocateurs." If he is right, then we may ask who

might have sent these adventurers and provocateurs? Who might have been paying them

to do their work? Perhaps the answer is those who might have preferred to absorb

chunks of a dismembered Ukraine rather than coexisting with an independent Ukraine

most particularly, Russia and Poland. And perhaps those who wanted to increase

emigration of Jews out of Ukraine - the Zionists. Russia, Poland, and Zionism

benefitted from pogroms on Ukrainian territory. All who wanted to live peacefully in

Ukraine - whether they were Ukrainians or Jews - suffered from the pogroms.

To see the links to the documents in the Petliura section, please click on the

PETLIURA link below.

Borys Martos Government Proclamation 12Apr1919 The scum of humanity

Above all the Government will not tolerate any pogroms against the

Jewish population in the Ukraine, and will employ every available means

for the purpose of combating these abject criminals, dangerous to the

State, who are disgracing our nation in the eyes of all the civilized nations

of the world.

Borys Martos (1879-1977) was a Ukrainian political

leader, co-operative organizer, and educator.

From a Government Proclamation

To the People of the Ukraine

Riwne, April 12, 1919

To preserve the peace and to maintain public law and order - as the first

condition of a free life for all citizens of the Ukrainian Democratic

Republic - the Ukrainian Government will fight with all its power against

violations of public order, will strike the brigands and pogrom

instigators with the severest punishment and expose them publicly. Above

all the Government will not tolerate any pogroms against the Jewish

population in the Ukraine, and will employ every available means for the

purpose of combating these abject criminals, dangerous to the State, who

are disgracing our nation in the eyes of all the civilized nations of the

world.

The Government of the Ukrainian Democratic Republic is certain that the

Ukrainian people - who themselves have suffered national slavery through

many years and are conscious of the worth of national freedom and

therefore proclaimed before all things the national-personal autonomy of

the minorities in the Ukraine - will support the Ukrainian Government in

eliminating these evil-doers who are the scum of humanity.

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Arnold Margolin The Jewish Chronicle 16May1919 Interview on Petliura

The pogroms have been perpetrated by the people of the Black Hundred

and by provocateurs for the purpose of discrediting the Ukrainian

government.

An Interview with

Dr. Arnold Margolin in 1919

The Jewish Chronicle

London

May 16, 1919

Dr. Arnold Margolin, Head of the Ukrainian Diplomatic Mission in London,

Chairman of the "Jewish Territorial Society" in the Ukraine, was born in

Kiev (in 1877), attended Kiev University, and established himself in Kiev

as an attorney. Since 1903 he had been noted as a counsel for the

defense of the injured in pogrom excesses. Besides, he participated as a

counsel for the defense in many agrarian and political court trials. For

his revelations in the well-known Beilis case he was prosecuted by the

Minister of Justice of that time, Shcheglovitov, with the result that the

further practice of law was forbidden to him. He has taken part in the

Ukrainian Movement for many years, and has occupied himself with social

problems in the Ukraine. After the Revolution he was a member of the

Central Committee of the Socialist-Federalist Party, and for a time he

was Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. In the spring of 1919 he went

to Paris as a member of the Ukrainian Peace Delegation. Since January

1920 he has been the head of the Ukrainian Diplomatic Mission in London.

What is the attitude of the Jews toward the new Ukrainian State?

On the question of independence of the Ukraine the Jews

were split into two camps. On the one side there were the

assimilated Jews who having been brought up in the

All-Russian political spirit took a stand hostile to the

new Ukrainian State. On the other side there were the

majority of the Jews - the nationalists, Zionists and the

Jewish Socialist Parties - who declared their sympathy for

Ukrainian endeavors. The Jews who were themselves an

oppressed nation welcomed with sympathy the national

struggle of the Ukrainians.

The Jews were also split as to their attitude toward the

socialist program of the new state. The left wing of the

Bund and Poalej-Zion went hand-in-hand with the left

Ukrainian parties that were for the exclusion of the

bourgeoisie from the government. The majority of Jews were

on the side of those Ukrainian parties that interceded for

the West-European political system. But in spite of these

differences, almost all Jewish parties and organizations

recognized the right of the Ukrainian nation to its

independence.

What is the attitude of the Ukrainian government toward the Jews?

In the Ukraine which together with Galicia has a population

of 40 millions there live 3 1/2 million (8%) Jews. After

the Revolution the ruling power in the Ukraine rested in a

parliament in which all parties of the country, including

Jewish, were represented. That parliament ("Tsentralna

Rada") granted the Jews more freedom and rights than they

had anywhere in Europe at any time. All national

minorities, of course Jews too, were granted autonomy. It

must be stressed also that the Central Council (the

Parliament) set up a Supreme Court to which those lawyers

were appointed as judges, who had had courage to take a

stand against the Russian government during the Beilis

trial.

Here Margolin narrated the fate of the Ukraine after the overthrow of the

Tsentralna Rada and during the rule of Hetman Skoropadksy, and then

continued:

Hetman's rule lasted only eight months. [After its

overthrow] the Petlura Government renewed the autonomy of

national minorities and again appointed Jewish ministers,

viz. Mr. Goldelman and myself. Jews belong also to the

diplomatic missions which have been sent abroad by the

Ukrainian government. The noted Jewish historian, Dr.

Wischintzer, one of the editors of the Jewish Encyclopedia,

is the secretary of the Ukrainian legation in England.

How does this government's attitude agree with the fact of anti-Jewish

pogroms?

There is a difference between pogroms which, unfortunately,

have occurred now in the Ukraine, and pogroms in Russia

during the tsarist regime. While the tsarist government

had itself instigated and organized pogroms, the Ukrainian

government is in no way responsible for them. In November

1918 I myself saw the proclamations of the government in

the Ukrainian villages and cities which very vehemently

condemned the pogroms and explained to the Ukrainian people

that the Jews are Ukrainian fellow-citizens and brothers to

whom full rights are due. When, however, demoralization

had set in the units of the Ukrainian army, its worst

elements began to plunder. Again the Ukrainian government

rose vigorously against the pogroms, punishing with death

the perpetrators of the pogroms and expressing its sorrow

for the victims. To my regret, I must state that the

latest pogroms which, as far as I know, took place during

the months of February and March were exceedingly serious.

They have been perpetrated by the people of the Black

Hundred and by provocateurs for the purpose of discrediting

the Ukrainian government.

These occurences made a shocking impression upon me, and at

the end of March I tendered the government my resignation.

I recognized that fact that the government was blameless; I

found it, however, hard to occupy an official post in a

country in which my brothers were slaughtered. My

resignation was not accepted and the government requested

me to continue in my official duties, at least abroad. Now

I am one of the four representatives of the Ukraine at the

Peace Conference. There is no anti-Semitic tendency in the

Ukrainian government.

Margolin denies that Jews are playing an important role in the Bolshevist

movement, as it is generally assumed. To be sure, there are also Jews

among the Bolshevists, but among Jews in general the Bolshevists

constitute merely an insignificant minority. The Jewish Zionist and

other patriotic organizations received 70% of the votes at all

elections. There were no Jews at all among the Russian sailors who

played such an important part in the Bolshevist revolution.

The fact that there are seemingly so many Jews among the Bolshevists,

Margolin attributed to the circumstances that Jews distinguish themselves

in all activity by their great energy, and hence the impression arises

that there are many Jews in each political party.

(The Jewish Chronicle, London, May 16, 1919, in F. Pigido (ed.), Material

Concerning Ukrainian-Jewish Relations during the Years of the Revolution

(1917-1921): Collection of Documents and Testimonies by Prominent Jewish

Political Workers, The Ukrainian Information Bureau, Munich, 1956)

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Symon Petliura Jewish delegation 18Jul1919 Provocation of reactionaries and imperialists

The delegation asked for granting of an opportunity to Jewish intellectuals

to work toward strengthening Ukrainian statehood, and for protection of

the Jewish population against the excesses which have taken place as

the result of provocation on the part of various Russian reactionaries and

Polish imperialists who thus wish to discredit the whole Ukrainian cause in

the eyes of Europe.

Reception of a delegation

of Jewish citizens

by Petlura.

On July 17 of this year the Commander-in-Chief Petlura received a

delegation of Jewish citizens at the Office of the Directorate in

Kamenets-Podolsk. The Delegation included: Dr. Meier Kleiderman, the

representative of the Jewish community; Alterman, the representative of

the Zionist organization; Gutman, the representative of the rabbis;

Kreis, the representative of artisans; Bograd, the representative of the

Poalej-Zion Party.

Petlura addressed the Delegation with a short speech in which he declared

that he himself as well as the government were always standing on the