- December 14, 2025
- 9:50 am
- World News
“In fact, insistence on the anti-Semitism of Ukrainians was an important point on the agenda of Moscow propaganda, which then disappeared precisely because it was not successful. However, the slogan of denazification remains and continues to operate.”
“Russian culture, one might even say, for the most part the Russian people, which was formed, of course, and Russian governments from the era of Tsarism to Soviet power and to the present day in a very consistent manner simply cannot accept the fact that Ukrainians are not part of the “Russian world”
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According to Pavlo-Robert Magochia, head of the Department of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto, Russian propaganda highlights rare cases of anti-Semitism in Ukraine to justify the so-called “denazification of the country”.
Ukrainian Jewish Encounter (UJE) publishes (ukr) this material.
“A Discussion of Two Important Books from the University of Toronto” was the title of the event, which took place at the F. Guarini Institute of Public Affairs at John Cabot University. After an introduction by the director of the Institute, historian Federigo Argentieri, one of the most authoritative researchers of the history of Eastern Europe and the leading Italian specialist on the revolution in Hungary, the audience was addressed by Pavlo-Robert Magochy, professor of history and political science and head of the Department of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto.
Professor Magocy, a New Jersey native of Hungarian and Rusyn descent, is the honorary president of the World Congress of Rusyns, a small but distinct ethnic group related to the Ukrainians. Professor Magocy is also an expert on nationality in general, and has edited an important collection of essays on the indigenous peoples of Canada. However, he is primarily a student of Ukrainian history. As a Ukrainian-American himself, he is of two ethnic minorities, his works are a powerful response to the narrative of Ukraine as an ultra-nationalist country that oppresses non-Ukrainians on its territory.
One of the books presented at the event was “Jews and Ukrainians. A Millennium of Coexistence” (2016). Professor Magochy co-authored it with Yohanan Petrovsky-Stern, an American Jewish studies specialist born in Kyiv. In their book, the authors try to explain that in fact, there were significantly more peaceful periods of coexistence between Ukrainians and Jews than periods of conflict.
Another book presented is – “Babi Yar: History and Memory” (2023) – Professor Magochii wrote together with Vladislav Hrynevych, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Political and Ethnonational Studies at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. This work tells of a place that during the German occupation became the scene of a terrible extermination of people – Jews, but also Roma, prisoners of war, communists and Ukrainian nationalists. Professor Magochii also recently wrote a short brochure explaining Ukrainian identity – “Ukraina redux: statehood and national identity”.
One of the two books presented offers panoramic view and thematic presentation of two very important peoples living on the territory of modern Ukraine – Ukrainians and Jews.
The book is structured thematically and looks at various aspects of the interaction between the two peoples over the last millennium: settlement patterns, economic structure, music, theatre, art, sculpture, architecture, history. The authors also show that the periods of conflict that were then particularly emphasized were in fact very limited in comparison to the overall period, which includes many more centuries of common everyday life, interaction and coexistence. In modern Ukraine there are traces of Jewish settlements that date back to the period of Roman and Byzantine rule in Crimea two thousand years ago.In addition, there were separate Jewish colonies, which were usually engaged in trade.
In the era before Kievan Rus, there was the Khazar Khaganate. Some of the rulers of this unique entity adopted Judaism in the 9th century, and it was considered the first Jewish state, although it was not located exclusively in Ukraine, but rather in the lower Volga region. However, a truly significant Jewish presence formed in the 15th and 16th centuries and reached its peak in the first half of the 17th century. Therefore, let us leave aside antiquity and turn only to the medieval period of Kievan Rus – this is 1000 years. If we narrow the review even further and begin the count from the moment of consolidation of the Jewish settlement, then this is 450 years. So withHow many of these 450-1000 years were marked by violence between Jews and Ukrainians? No more than 18-20.
First of all, we are talking about about the uprising of Bohdan Khmelnytsky 1648, for which Jewish chronicles record an extremely large number of Jews killed, namely 300 thousand. Israeli scientists and Jews have reduced this number to no more than 18 thousand.The uprising lasted three years. The next period of extermination of Jews began at the end of the second half of the 18th century during the Haidamakchina, which lasted two years.
If we go to the 19th century, the first pogrom on Ukrainian territory occurred in 1880. And here we are talking primarily about the seizure of property, beatings, etc., while there were relatively few human casualties. Such actions culminated in the pogrom of 1906 in Chisinau, a city that is not even technically in Ukraine, since it is the capital of Moldova. However, it is part of our world, so we add another two years. The first larger pogroms actually occurred after the First World War in 1918 and 1919, mainly in Ukraine. Again, this is a period of two years, and then nothing until the Holocaust. Again, if you add it all up, you get 18-20 years of violence over a period of 450-1000 years.
But what about all the other time periods? For at least four centuries, Jews and Ukrainians lived together, traded together, and occasionally even married each other. They certainly shared a common culture. The history of relations between Jews and Ukrainians in Ukraine is largely a history of coexistence, with brief, fortunately, though serious, periods of terrible violence..
Jews have made a huge contribution to the historical development of Ukraine, both through their teaching and research and through their creative activity. And vice versa, Ukrainians have influenced the Jews who lived among them.
However, Russian propaganda insists on cases of anti-Semitism in order to persistently promote the slogan of denazification of Ukraine.
That's right, it's propaganda. Sociological studies show that today Ukraine has the lowest rates of anti-Semitism in Europe. Ukraine has been an independent state since 1991, and studies show that ethnic and religious differences have had almost no meaning for the vast majority of the population of this Ukraine since 1991. It is precisely those who live outside the country in the diaspora who are more inclined to exacerbate the problem of identity – precisely because they feel surrounded by other people.
Before Zelensky was elected, no one ever talked about the fact that he was Jewish, no one made derogatory comments about it, and he himself never identified himself as a Jew. He was forced to do so later, after he became president, and only because there was an attempt at external intervention – it was thought that it might be successful – by the Russians, who were waging a propaganda war, claiming that Ukrainians were anti-Semites in order to provoke a conflict between them and the Jews. Then Zelensky responded to refute this accusation – and he succeeded. In fact, insisting on the anti-Semitism of Ukrainians was an important item on the Moscow propaganda agenda, which then disappeared precisely because it was not successful. However, the slogan of denazification remains and continues to operate.
In fact, how can one talk about denazification when the country is led by a Jewish president?
These are just words that are an integral part of not only propaganda but also information warfare by a state that simply denies the very existence of Ukraine. I think this is important, so we should not forget it. Whether we are talking about the Tsarist government, the Soviet government or today's Russian Federation, Russia is simply incapable of accepting the idea that Ukraine with its own language and culture can exist separately from it. Taking this position and trying to assert it through violence, Russia will use any means to weaken its enemy.
Up to the genocide itself? This is a contentious issue. Some argue that Russia's intentions to assimilate Ukrainians were nevertheless different from genocide, which would involve physical extermination.
Genocide and pogrom are such colorful terms that sometimes border on sensationalism. However, it was a Ukrainian Jew from Lviv, Raphael Lemkin, who defined the term genocide. Interestingly, although Lemkin was Jewish, he developed this term referring not to the Holocaust, but to the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine. According to him, this is the best example of genocide. I repeat that Russian culture, one can even say, for the most part, the Russian people, which has formed, of course, and Russian governments from the Tsarist era to the Soviet power and to the present day in a very consistent manner simply cannot accept the fact that Ukrainians are not part of the “Russian world”.
Politically, culturally, and, one might say, linguistically. They have traditionally considered the “Ukrainian dialect” to be simply a dialect of the Russian language. In their view, Ukrainians do not exist, the Ukrainian language is a dialect of Russian, and Ukrainians are in fact an offshoot of the great Russian people. And if you do not agree with this, then you must be destroyed. You must be destroyed as an individual, you must be destroyed as a whole society, and now you must be destroyed as a state. This will not change, because the Russian mentality and historical tradition, which has existed for centuries, will not change.
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