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
