Форма входа
Читем онлайн ГУЛаг Палестины - Лев Гунин
Шрифт:
-
+
Интервал:
-
+
Закладка:
Сделать
and I can document them. Your discussing these events in a future broadcast would
present a wonderful balance which together with your video footage would paint an
accurate picture of Jewish life in Ukraine, and not a deliberately one-sided one.
One cannot indict any nation on the grounds that a few of its members were evil.
Evil individuals exist in every nation. But why didn't you show those Ukrainians
and Poles who rescued Jews? There are many of them. Initially, we ourselves didn't
know about them, as they remained silent, and our former regime forbade them to
speak on such topics. In Lviv, Simon Wiesenthal himself was rescued from death, and
in Boryslav, the head of the Israeli parliament, Shevakh Weiss, with whom in 1992 I
personally visited his own rescuers.
We have a list of almost 2,500 Ukrainians who rescued Jews, and many of these are
precisely from the Western region. We have brought these rescuers to Israel,
presented them with certificates, and are now supporting them with pensions. We are
presently in the process of submitting this list of rescuers to the Holocaust Museum
in Washington. Concerning this I have been making particular arrangements, as I
will be in the United States later this year.
You broadcast that Lviv is being depopulated of Jews. However, this has been
happening throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and began not
recently, but even during the Bolshevik regime - but nobody is blaming this on
anti-Semitism. Rather, other motives are responsible: economics, Chornobyl, the
reunification of families. Anti-Semitism plays a far weaker role. Our Council
interviews Jewish emigrants and has definitive information on this question.
Jews, perhaps more than others, should avoid throwing blanket insults and
accusations at other peoples because they themselves - as a people and not as
individuals - have been blamed by the Fascists for all sins. Why do you, then,
proclaim all Ukrainians to be genetic anti-Semites? Why, in addition to talking
about the police did you not also talk about the rescuers of Jews, did not show a
single one of them? And in Lviv, there are many of them. Is it that you couldn't
find any, or that you didn't want to look?
I wish to declare to you officially: in the new Ukraine, there is no state-sponsored
anti-Semitism. Not long ago, a Jew fulfilled the obligations of the prime minister
of Ukraine. The mayors of Odessa and Vynnytsia are Jews. The mayor of Cherkasy was
a Jew. There are six Jews in parliament. Some Deputy Ministers are Jews. It is
such outstanding facts as these that convey the predominant attitude of Ukrainians
to Jewish rebirth, to Jewish culture.
Among the CIS, Ukraine was the first to hold a Jewish Congress. The Days of Jewish
Culture were celebrated this year as a National holiday, dedicated to the 135th
anniversary of Shalom Aleichem. In Ukraine, there are active Jewish organisations
in 89 cities. Eleven Jewish newspapers are published. Ten schools are in
operation. Jewish groups have been formed within Pedagogical and Theatrical
Institutes (composed of 80% Ukrainians who have mastered Hebrew). We have held a
festival of children's vocal and dance ensembles in which 46 groups applied to
participate. Ukrainian television broadcasts two Jewish programs. Jewish
spectacles are performed on the stages of Ukraine.
For the fifth year now we have honored the victims of Babyn Yar, where there has
been erected the Jewish monument "Menorah," and at which have been placed wreaths
both from the President of Ukraine and from the Kyiv City Council. Just this year,
the Days of Babyn Yar commemorations were conducted over the period of an entire
week. In all cities (in all!) in which Jews were shot during the War, annual
remembrance days are observed.
All this you failed to see, and so you did great harm not only to Ukrainians, but to
Jews as well.
In our work of resurrecting Jewish life, we receive help from such prominent
Ukrainian intellectuals and parliamentarians as B. Oliynyk, P. Osadchuk, O. Yemets,
D. Pavlychko, V. Yavorivskyi, I. Drach, P. Movchan, M. Shulha, I. Dziuba, V.
Durdynets, and many others. We do not want to return to former times, and yet that
is the direction in which your broadcast is pushing us. You have done as the
Bolsheviks used to do - you presented information that is one-sided, suppressed
information that does not fit your stereotype, biased the selection of materials,
strengthened and reinforced negativism. It would be as if the Los Angeles riots
were shown to us here as representative American events.
If you want to convince yourselves that everything I have been saying is true,
please come to us and film anything you want. Please regard this as an official
invitation of our Jewish Council.
Certainly there exist many disappointments in our work. A lot remains to be done in
revitalizing Jewish culture. We cannot immediately realize all our goals. But this
is never merely because we are Jews; it is never attributable to either
state-sponsored or spontaneous anti-Semitism. You must be aware in what a difficult
economic situation Ukraine finds itself - and yet despite this, the government gives
high priority to the support of cultural diversity, included in which is the support
of Jewish culture. For example, the observance of the Days of Jewish Culture in
Ukraine was funded entirely by the Ukrainian government - close to two billion
karbovantsi, and this in our difficult economic times!
It is these many things, then, that are of importance to us, and not the activities
of individual ultra-nationalists who don't receive support from most Ukrainians;
where in fact most Ukrainians condemn their activities.
Oh, democracy! Is there any country, even the United States, which has succeeded in
ridding itself of anti-Semitism? And are the American anti-Semites representative
of official government attitudes toward Jews? Or are isolated events in Los Angeles
reflective of United States government attitudes toward Blacks?
Esteemed gentlemen! You didn't do a good thing insulting the Ukrainian people.
Imagine if someone collected similarly true but unrepresentative facts to paint a
negative picture of the Jewish people. Remember the Biblical injunction: Don't do
anything to another that you would not want done to yourself.
Please revisit us with an open mind, and not with any fixed bias. The United States
is presently awaiting the visit of our President, and we don't want his visit to be
marred by any anti-Ukrainian actions from anybody, especially not from Jews; nor
would we want American assistance to our country to depend on isolated individuals
who are opposed to granting such assistance.
We await you in Ukraine.
Respectfully,
I.M. Levitas
Head of the Jewish Council of Ukraine
Head of the Nationalities Associations of Ukraine
HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE JORDAN 726 hits since 23May98
Jordan Letter 5 Jul 18/96 Genetic anti-Semitism
July 18, 1996
Michael H. Jordan
Chairman, Westinghouse Electric Corporation
11 Stanwix Street
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
USA 15222
Dear Mr. Jordan:
I have some questions for Morley Safer, and I route them to him through you, as I have discovered over the years
that he is not very communicative when addressed directly - perhaps if the request to respond to these questions came
from you, he might be more forthcoming. Specifically, I wonder if you would be so good as to ask Mr. Safer the
questions organized under the following eight points, all of them in connection with his October 23, 1994 statement
that "The Church and Government of Ukraine have tried to ease people's fears, suggesting that ... Ukrainians, despite
the allegations, are not genetically anti-Semitic.":
(1) Through what source did Mr. Safer become aware of the allegation that Ukrainians were genetically
anti-Semitic? And what were the qualifications of this source in the field of human genetics, particularly in the
field of the genetic inheritance of cognitive predispositions?
(2) Before broadcasting this allegation, did Mr. Safer verify its plausibility with any responsible geneticist?
(3) What does Mr. Safer mean by "the church of Ukraine"? This reference is as puzzling as would be a reference
to "the church of the United States."
(4) Could Mr. Safer divulge the name of the church representative who issued this denial of a genetic
predisposition to anti-Semitism on the part of Ukrainians, and indicate as well the time and the place of the denial?
(5) Could Mr. Safer similarly identify the Government of Ukraine representative who issued this same denial of a
genetic predisposition to anti-Semitism on the part of Ukrainians - who was it, when, where?
(6) Is Mr. Safer aware of a genetic predisposition to anti-Semitism on the part of any other group - or is this
in his estimation a uniquely Ukrainian phenomenon?
(7) Has Mr. Safer considered the possibility that his own antipathy toward Ukrainians is genetically based? If
not, then how would he account for it? And if not, would Mr. Safer be willing to issue a public statement to the
effect that his anti-Ukrainianism is not genetic in origin?
(8) Could Mr. Safer comment on the possibility that the refusal of CBS personnel to discuss "The Ugly Face of
Freedom" might similarly be genetically-based? If CBS personnel reject the notion that their corporate decisions are
genetically influenced, then could Mr. Safer persuade them to issue a joint statement to this effect, and in
particular denying that they are genetically anti-Ukrainian?
These few and simple questions, it seems to me, serve the useful purpose of establishing what category Mr.
Safer's statement falls into: that of a responsible journalist who picks his words carefully and later stands by them,
or that of a bigot who gets up in front of the camera and begins to ramble off the top of his head - and later selects
muteness as the optimal defense for his irresponsibility.
Sincerely yours,
Lubomyr Prytulak
cc: Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft, Morley Safer, Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace
HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE JORDAN
HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE JORDAN 1473 hits since 23May98
Jordan Letter 6 Jul 19/96 Allowing a fabulist on 60 Minutes
July 19, 1996
Michael H. Jordan
Chairman, Westinghouse Electric Corporation
11 Stanwix Street
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
USA 15222
Dear Mr. Jordan:
When I began reading Simon Wiesenthal in late 1994, I was naive enough to imagine
that my discovery that he had a credibility problem was an original one. Since that
time, however, I have learned that Mr. Wiesenthal's lack of credibility is widely known
and openly acknowledged. For example, on April 28, 1996, I received a letter from a
Jewish faculty member at an American University, from which I quote the following:
I do not doubt for a moment ... that Simon Wiesenthal is a fabulist
which is the fancy literary word for an unmitigated liar. My father
(an Auschwitz inmate) told me many terrible stories about Wiesenthal's
role after the war in the Austrian DP camps. Wiesenthal is of the same
ilk as Elie Wiesel: a secular saint, he can make the most absurd claims
without fear of exposure.
Now the question that I would like to add to the ones that I have already addressed
to you is the following: How did it come to pass that in 1994 a reputable investigative
journalism show featured as its star witness someone who is widely known to be - shall
we say - a "fabulist"?
And from this question springs a second one: How does it come to pass today that a
reputable investigative journalism show, having learned that it has been victimized by
a "fabulist," refuses to take any corrective action?
Yours truly,
Lubomyr Prytulak
cc: Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft, Morley Safer, Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace, Simon Wiesenthal
HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE JORDAN 1763 hits since 23May98
Bleich Letter 8 23May98 Please substantiate or retract
If your 60 Minutes testimony concerning violent attacks on Jews by Ukrainians and
motivated by anti-Semitism is true, then it behooves you to substantiate it and in so doing
to remove the doubt which surrounds it. If your 60 Minutes testimony is false, then it
behooves you to retract it. Either option will constitute a step toward restoring your
standing in the eyes of the Ukrainian community, and in ameliorating Ukrainian-Jewish
relations.
Silence is an option only if you are prepared to encourage the conclusion that you spoke
impulsively and irresponsibly, and that you subsequently lacked the courage and integrity
to admit your error.
May 23, 1998
Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich
29 Shchekavytska Street
Kiev 254071
Ukraine
Dear Rabbi Bleich:
In your appearance on the 60 Minutes broadcast "The Ugly Face of Freedom" of 23
October 1994, you offered some startling testimony concerning the existence of
anti-Semitism in contemporary Ukraine. In your own words:
There have been a number of physical attacks. In a small town, two
elderly Jews were attacked at knifepoint and stabbed because they are
Jews and because of the myth that all Jews must have money hidden in
their homes. The same thing was in west Ukraine, the Carpathian
region. These are very, very frightening facts, because it's - again
that stereotype that we mentioned before, when that leads someone to
really - to - to stab an older couple and leave them helpless, and
you know? - they left them for dead. That means that we have serious
problems.
In the mind of the typical 60 Minutes viewer, your statement would constitute a
substantial proportion of the Ugly Face of Freedom's evidence for the existence of
anti-Semitism in today's Ukraine, and the only evidence at all for the eruption of this
anti-Semitism into violence.
На этой странице вы можете бесплатно читать книгу ГУЛаг Палестины - Лев Гунин бесплатно.
Похожие на ГУЛаг Палестины - Лев Гунин книги
- Архипелаг ГУЛАГ. Книга 1 - Александр Солженицын - Русская классическая проза
- Оркестр меньшинств - Чигози Обиома - Русская классическая проза
- Вы, доктор - Лев Гунин - Русская классическая проза
- Княжна Тата - Болеслав Маркевич - Русская классическая проза
- Дао жизни: Мастер-класс от убежденного индивидуалиста - Ирина Мицуовна Хакамада - Русская классическая проза
- Яблоки из сада Шлицбутера - Дина Ильинична Рубина - Русская классическая проза
- Камни поют - Александра Шалашова - Альтернативная история / Русская классическая проза
- Детство - Максим Горький - Русская классическая проза
- Антоновские яблоки - Иван Бунин - Русская классическая проза
- О современном состоянии русского символизма - Александр Блок - Русская классическая проза