ГУЛаг Палестины - Лев Гунин

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.