Monument to organizer of Jewish pogroms to be erected in Kiev

A monument to Symon Petlyura will be erected in Kiev downtown. As Kommersant-Ukraine newspaper informs, the monument will be unveiled in the framework of events to honor the 80th anniversary of Petlyura’s death. The monument will be erected by December 1, 2006 at the intersection of Volodimerska Street and Taras Shevchenko Avenue in Kiev downtown.

On May 16, 2005, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko signed a decree ‘On Perpetuation of the Memory of Ukrainian People’s Republic and Western-Ukrainian People’s Republic Outstanding Figures’, in which Symon Petlyura was named among outstanding figures. Ukrainian Minister of Culture and Tourism Igor Likhovoy heads organization committee on preparation and conducting of all actions, connected with commemorating Petlyura’s death.

Symon Petlyura was an active figure of the Ukrainian nationalistic movement at the beginning of the 20th century. During the Russian Civil War he was briefly Head of Ukrainian Directory, which established nationalistic dictatorship in part of modern Ukrainian territory. During the rule of Petlyura, mass bloody pogroms were perpetrated against the Jews of Ukraine, which were labeled later by some historians as a “Holocaust rehearsal.” After the Civil War, Petlyura fled abroad. Symon Petlyura was assassinated by Ukrainian-born Jewish anarchist Sholom Schwartzbard in revenge for Jewish pogroms in Ukraine on May 25, 1926

There is considerable dispute over responsibility for the pogroms in Urkraine. A more balanced account is in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Petlyura

If urbanized, non-religious Jews had not been so enthralled with communism, there might have been much less motive for pogroms. That is no excuse, of course, and the motives often involved not only prejudice, but simple robbery. In that part of the world, Jews did not have many friends.

People of Jewish background were disproportionately represented in the communist movement, from high levels, down to the local commissars who organized things like the forced collectivization of agriculture. The intentional famine in Ukraine cost about 7 million lives. It is no wonder that some people saw Jews as the face of communism. Indeed, it is a wonder that so many non-Jews, in the midst of extreme suffering, did not blame Jews in general for their misfortune. Desperate people often are unable to make fine distinctions.

To this day, I would like someone to explain to me why Jews supported communism so enthusiastically. I know that socialism was the overwhelming intellectual fashion of those days, and that secularized Jews of an intellectaul bent were therefore likely to be on the crest of the Red wave. But why have they been so slow to learn? Even in the United States, Jews are still a very solid block to the left: they are the most reliable left-voting block other than Blacks. The predilection of Jews for socialism extends even to wealthy Jews, who would probably be disposessed and killed if communism ever came to power. So why are such people, distinguished in intellectual fields, so dense when it comes to history and politics?

Note that the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, 3 Mar 1918, which ended the war in the East, had the following provision:

"Article VI. Russia obligates herself to conclude peace at once with the Ukrainian People's Republic and to recognize the treaty of peace between that State and the Powers of the Quadruple Alliance. The Ukrainian territory will, without delay, be cleared of Russian troops and the Russian Red Guard. Russia is to put an end to all agitation or propaganda against the Government or the public institutions of the Ukrainian People's Republic."

Of course, the Russians did not honor this part of the treaty. Nor dod they long observe the provisions intded to secure the independence of Finnland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Too many Jews supported the Soviets. That no doubt contributed to their unpopularity, building on traditional, more primitive ethnic hostilities.

Another interesting fact. Petlyura had two surviving sisters. In their 50s, they were arrested by the Soviets in the autumn of 1937. Shortly afterwards they were executed in their home town (19 Nov 1937) as part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the communist "October Revolution."

There had been apparently no trial, but only a brief interrogation of the sisters, asking their social origin. It was brought out that their father had two hired employees (therefore being presumably an "exploiter"). One of the sisters was accused of using the Polish word "zhed" (Jew), which was punishable by death. One of them, it seems, made the mistake of saying nice things about her brother.

The communists, who liked to execute family members and more distant relatives of their opponents, at the same time pretended to have been horrified at "genocide." There is no truth or morality at all in the communist movement, and we should never forget that KGB-man Putin is their heir.

See:http://repres.iatp.org.ua/add/dopr_pet_en.htm

For extreme Russophiles (like x5452) this is the real thing, that turns Petlura into a real monster

At the end of 1919, Petliura withdrew to Poland, which recognized him as the legal government of Ukraine. In March 1920, as head of the Ukrainian People's Republic, he signed an alliance in Lublin with the Polish government, agreeing to a border on the River Zbruch and recognizing Poland's right to Lviv and Galicia in exchange for Polish help in overthrowing the communist regime. In 1920, Polish forces, reinforced by Petliura's remaining troops (some 2 divisions), attacked Kyiv in a turning point of the Polish-Bolshevik war (1919-1921). Following temporary successes, Pilsudski's and Petliura's forces were pushed back to the Vistula River and the Polish capital, Warsaw. The Polish Army managed to defeat the Soviet Russians, but were unable to secure independence for Ukraine, which after the Peace of Riga was divided between Poland and Russia, the latter taking the lion's share. Petliura directed the Ukrainian government-in-exile from Tarnów and, later, Warsaw.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Petlyura

He's just a bloody traitor of Russia - great mother of all the Slavic family (sarcasm).

"There is no truth or morality at all in the communist movement, and we should never forget that KGB-man Putin is their heir."

There is no truth and morality in the Communist movement - this is true. However, like most totalitarian regimes they arrogantly documented their crimes because they didn't believe foreigners or their own people would ever have access to the materials.

Regarding Putin and his service in the KGB. Judge the guy on his record. He's by no means perfect, BUT, he's a far cry from the KGB-types like Dzhersinsky, Mezhinsky, Yezhov, Yagoda, Beria, Shelepin, Sudoplatov, Kalugin, Golytsin, etc. He was lowly Lt. Col. assigned to Dresden, East Germany - a sign that he wasn't well connected in the KGB. His appointment by Yeltsin to head the FSB was met with resistence by the FSB cadres - Putin was foreign intelligence (SVR now) and the "counter-intelligence (read: oppressors)" guys didn't want someone like him in their ranks, let alone leading them. Yeltsin appointed him EXACTLY for this reason.

In fact, the KGB didn't want him initially because he volunteered - they were always suspicious of such types and believed the KGB called you and not the other way around. When denied entrance into the organization Putin inquired as to what skills they were looking for. He was told that a law degree would help him gain entry.

So, Putin went to the Law School at Leningrad State University. While at Leningrad State he met his professor and mentor throughout -Anatoly Sobchak. It was Anatoly Sobchak who played more of an influential role on Putin than the KGB ever did. If you don't know much about Sobchak, read about his life - he was one of the few real reformers in post-Soviet Russia. He hired Putin as his main advisor after Putin quit the Communist Party and KGB in 1991 (during the coup). During the Yeltsin years Sobchak was accused of illegally privatizing his apartment (something they're accusing Mikhail Kasyanov of). Sobchak was able to fly to Paris without going through proper channels - something people said Putin arranged when he was still in St. Pete. Once Putin was named Prime Minister Sobchak came back to the country, but died in Svetlogorsk (used to be called Ruhe, Koenigsberg) after using too much viagra [heart attack]). He was there campaigning for Putin's presidency. Some say Putin's enemies had him poisoned, but his widow refutes those claims. Nonetheless, it's an absolute shame that Sobchak died because I think he would have had a positive influence on Putin and thinks today might look a little different than they are.

The whole point of this is to say that Putin actually did have a mentor who schooled him in democracy and appears to have made an impression on him. However, the past two years have seen Putin's government make decisions that call into question their committment to democracy. To me, that signals Putin has actually lost significant control over the direction he wanted to take the country. Four years ago it looked like he had the old Army generals on the ropes - now it appears they have managed to regroup and gain significant inroads to Russia's strategic direction.

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