Jewish Ukrainian History

In this video, Jewish Ukraine, Vadim Altskan speaks about the Jewish presence in Ukraine. He is a historian specializing in East European, Balkan, and Jewish history, and serves as Project Director of the International Archival Programs, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

by Jeffrey Veidlinger

In the Midst of Civilized Europe... presents the first full depiction of the wave of pogroms that followed the Russian Revolution and how they laid the groundwork for the Holocaust:

Between 1918 and 1921, over a hundred thousand Jews were murdered in Ukraine and Poland by peasants, townsmen, and soldiers who blamed the Jews for the turmoil of the Russian Revolution.  Largely forgotten today, these pogroms—ethnic riots—dominated headlines and international affairs in their time. Aid workers warned that six million Jews were in danger of complete extermination. Twenty years later, these dire predictions would come true.

by Jeffrey Veidlinger

From the author's website:

The recollections of some 400 returnees in Ukraine provide the basis for this reappraisal of the traditional narrative of 20th-century Jewish history. These elderly Yiddish speakers relate their memories of Jewish life in the prewar shtetl, their stories of survival during the Holocaust, and their experiences living as Jews under Communism. Despite Stalinist repressions, the Holocaust, and official antisemitism, their individual remembrances of family life, religious observance, education, and work testify to the survival of Jewish life in the shadow of the shtetl to this day.