May 12, 2007
I have begun to be able to recognize some of the areas outside cities which were killing grounds in World War II. The university complex I teach in on Tuesdays and Thursdays is located on one of these. The sites I have seen look unusually flattened, and often, have no trees growing on them. Nearby trees are not more than 50 years old. There is a steep gully near or below these sites – people were shot at the top of the hill, and fell to the bottom. Often, they are on a major road out of the city, or near a rail line. Sometimes, they are near or in a trash heap or dump. But these spots are oddly vacant – in a booming city where real estate is valuable. It is this loneliness, or the “left-alone-ness” that is the first clue about these sites.
There are a few monuments at the university about this site – one in Hebrew, and several in Russian. The flattened area is now a soccer field. Owners of small farms graze their goats on the hillside of the gully.
Wartime crimes are easily blamed on the Nazis here, although the Red Army, the Nazis, and local guerrilla groups all performed executions and mass murders. What is difficult to comprehend is that these persecutions of one group or another, but persistently, of Jews, had been carried out for at least two hundred years before WWI. This displacement, starvation, persecution or murder of groups of individuals (celebrated famously for Americans in “Fiddler on the Roof”) was an early-modern form of social engineering. It was carried out transparently, efficiently and ruthlessly.
I have thought often about “Fiddler on the Roof”. It presents in a jaunty, spirited way, historic decades of immense complexity, not “events” but cultural trends of wide scope, bolstered by deep-seated philosophy.
Ukrainians cannot think of groups of individuals who have been persecuted here. After prompting, they mention the elders, veterans, and perhaps, handicapped children. What about the Jews? “There is no persecution against the Jews. They are wealthy! Wealthier than our families! They do very well! So you see, there is no discrimination.” And if we think back about sixty years ago – what was the life of a Jewish family then? “Then, in Stalin’s time, it was not so good. But it was bad for all religions then. Any religious practice was forbidden. So you see, it was not specifically against the Jews.
Some Jewish Ukrainians have done very well indeed in above-board and not so transparent businesses in Ukraine. The third richest person in Ukraine is a Jewish bazillionaire turned benefactor of the arts, Victor Pinchuk (who, at 45, also rates as 12th richest person in Eastern Europe and the 645th richest person in the world, with $1.2+ billion).
Ukrainian history in the twentieth century is particularly tortured, with neighbor killing neighbor in certain regions. The only political stability in this century has been under the Soviets. Compromise is not a skill politicians have learned. The standoff of the president and prime minister (April 2007) is astonishing for the absence of creative thinking or proposals of compromise.
It is beyond hardball politics – hardball (as we know it) doesn’t even begin to describe the methods used. Extortions, bribes, murder, silencing, payoffs, “baksheesh”, are all considered “fair” play. As a result, politics here looks more like war. The casualties of poisonings and assassinations are considered not extraordinary in this setting.
Viewed in this light, blood in the street is the next logical step. It would be a very dangerous one – not just for the demonstrators, but for the country. One side (the president) could declare martial law and call in the military. The other (the Rada – Parliament -- and prime minister) control the national and local and special police. The scenario could quickly explode. Such violence would distract handily from the war-like tactics of national leaders.
And, most people are quite calm and dismissive about those dire possibilities. In the past few weeks since the initial constitutional crisis, we have become the same. Legally, the country is in a precarious state. Many important things hinge on the outcome. But the apple blossoms came (and went), the peonies are budding, and school is almost over. The weather is fantastic. Everyone has just had a marvelous long holiday. Why worry?
As I update this and get ready to put it on the blog, I have just taught my last history class for this academic year. It was an open question-and-answer session. Students do not know how to ask questions, so I posed a few and asked if they wanted to know about these things. They said yes. So, says I, then you will have to ask me.
Eventually, they asked about what Americans know and think about Ukraine. I went through the normal litany (Yalta, Chernobyl, Ukrainian “girls”, soccer players) and then mentioned the Orange Revolution. They laughed. Undaunted, I told them that most American believe Victor Yushchenko was poisoned in 2004. They snickered and laughed. I explained that Americans believe the doctors’ reports from Switzerland about the poisoning, and, given all the evidence, they believe that someone associated with Yushchenko or with Putin was behind the poisoning, and that the methods used were KGB methods. They could hardly contain their mirth. I mentioned a few journalists who had been found dead, and a critic famously poisoned in London.
Well, just think how gullible these Americans must be!!
We moved on to one other thing Americans know about Ukraine. American Jews know a lot of detailed information about the villages and towns their families came from. More laughter and rolling of eyes. My friends, when they learned I was going to Ukraine, told me that their grandparents came from Ukraine, and told me exactly where, and what their family remembered about Ukraine. Some American synagogues sponsor synagogues in Ukraine. Social services are provided by synagogues here for poor Ukrainian Jews. Yes, Jews can be poor.
So, the idea that Jews are rich (and don’t need help) is a pervasive one. The idea that nothing extraordinary happened here about persecution of minorities, is also pervasive. In this setting, it is hard to “teach” history.
LBG
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