ГУЛаг Палестины

published in Polish. The Polish language is similar to Ukrainian, but uses the Roman rather

than the Cyrillic alphabet. The headline read "Strejk generalny Zydow w Palestynie" which means

"General strike of Jews in Palestine." The third word "Zydow" meaning "of Jews" is similar to

the Ukrainian word that would have been used in this context, and again serves to illustrate

that the Jews of this region did not view the word "zhyd" or its derivatives as derogatory.

We find this same conclusion in the recollections of Nikita Khrushchev (in the following

quotation, I have replaced the original translator's "yid" which rendered the passage confusing,

with the more accurate "zhyd"):

I remember that once we invited Ukrainians, Jews, and Poles ... to a meeting at

the Lvov opera house. It struck me as very strange to hear the Jewish speakers

at the meeting refer to themselves as "zhyds." "We zhyds hereby declare

ourselves in favour of such-and-such." Out in the lobby after the meeting I

stopped some of these men and demanded, "How dare you use the word "zhyd"?

Don't you know it's a very offensive term, an insult to the Jewish nation?"

... "Here in the Western Ukraine it's just the opposite," they explained. "We

call ourselves zhyds...." Apparently what they said was true. If you go back

to Ukrainian literature ... you'll see that "zhyd" isn't used derisively or

insultingly. (Nikita Khrushchev, Khrushchev Remembers, 1971, p. 145)

But 60 Minutes' mistranslation went even further than that - upon listening to the broadcast

more carefully, it is possible to hear that where the editor of the Lviv newspaper For a Free

Ukraine was translated as saying in co

"In terms of the Soviet Union which is abbreviated SSSR, that stands for three kikes and a

Russian," - in fact he was using the unarguably neutral term "yevrei" which it is obligatory to

translate not as "kike" but as "Jew" not only in Russian, but in Eastern and Western Ukrainian

as well.

Thus, in at least two instances, and possibly in all, the 60 Minutes' translator was translating

incorrectly, and in such a ma

an unrestrained anti-Semitism, when in fact they were not. On top of that, the translator

gratuitously spit out his words and gave them a venomous intonation which was not present in the

original Ukrainian. And then too, where the speaker spoke in grammatical Ukrainian, the

translator on one occasion at least, offered a translation in ungrammatical English, making the

Ukrainian appear uneducated or unintelligent - specifically, the Ukrainian "We Ukrainians do not

have to rely on..." was rendered into the English "We Ukrainians not have to rely on...."

Since "zhyd" is currently held to be derogatory in much of Ukraine, any speaker of contemporary

Ukrainian who wishes to give no offense may choose to view it as derogatory in all of Ukraine,

and switch to "yevrei" in all contexts and in all parts of the country. The fact that a Western

Ukrainian old enough to have escaped thorough Russification has not as yet made this switch,

however, is not evidence of his anti-Semitism, and his use of "zhyd" ca

be derogatory. In non-Russified Western Ukrainian, there is only one word for Jew, and that is

"zhyd," and there is no word corresponding to the derogatory "kike" or "yid" or "hebe" of

English.

A further discussion of the use of "zhyd" vs "yevrei" can be found within the Ukrainian Archive

in a discussion of the Sion-Osnova Controversy.

CONTENTS:

Preface

The Galicia Division

Quality of Translation

Ukrainian Homogeneity

Were Ukrainians Nazis?

Simon Wiesenthal

What Happened in Lviv?

Nazi Propaganda Film

Collective Guilt

Paralysis of the Comparative

Function

60 Minutes' Cheap Shots

Ukrainian Anti-Semitism

Jewish Ukrainophobia

Mailbag

A Sense of Responsibility

What 60 Minutes Should Do

PostScript

Ukrainian Homogeneity

In his every statement, Mr. Safer reveals that he starts from the assumption that Ukrainians are

homogeneously anti-Semitic and Nazi in their inclinations. In doing so, Mr. Safer does not stop

to wonder how it is that Ukrainians can be so entirely different in this respect from all other

peoples. Take Americans, for instance. Surely we all agree that among Americans, there are

some who would pitch in and help if they saw Nazis killing Jews, and others who would risk their

lives - and give their lives - to stop that very same killing, and of course the great bulk in

the middle who would consider immediate self-interest first, and look the other way and pretend

to see nothing. But Ukrainians, if we are to believe Mr. Safer, are a people apart - exhibiting

no such heterogeneity, clones one of another, genetically programmed to hate Jews.

To suggest such a thing is, of course, preposterous. The obvious reality is that Ukrainians do

exhibit a normal degree of heterogeneity. Had 60 Minutes wanted to, it could have found plenty

of evidence of this: (1) Since the city of Lviv was featured in the 60 Minutes broadcast, 60

Minutes could have mentioned - in fact, it was duty-bound to mention the heroism of

Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky's effort on behalf of Jews. (2) Since 60 Minutes was throwing

blanket condemnations over Ukrainians collectively not only for being the world's greatest

anti-Semites, but for the most extreme war crimes and crimes against humanity, it was incumbent

on 60 Minutes to notice the vast number of instances that can be found of Ukrainian sacrifices

to save Jews. (3) Since the city of Lviv was featured on the 60 Minutes broadcast, as were

Ukrainian auxiliary police units, as was Simon Wiesenthal, 60 Minutes should have mentioned that

in the city of Lviv, just such a Ukrainian police auxiliary by the name of Bodnar risked his

life - possibly sacrificed his life - to save the life of Simon Wiesenthal himself.

Let us consider each of these points in turn.

Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky

There is little doubt as to the almost saintly role of Ukrainian (Greek)

Catholic Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky. Sheptytsky, Archbishop of L'viv and

head of the church, was widely known as being sympathetic to the Jews. ...

The elderly metropolitan wrote directly to SS commander Heinrich Himmler in the

winter of 1942 demanding an end to the final solution and, equally important to

him, an end to the use of Ukrainian militia and police in anti-Jewish action.

His letter elicited a sharp rebuke, but Sheptytsky persisted even though the

death penalty was threatened to those who gave comfort to Jews. In November

1942 he issued a pastoral letter to be read in all churches under his

authority. It condemned murder. Although Jews were not specifically

mentioned, his intent was crystal clear.

We can never know how many Ukrainians were moved by Sheptytsky's appeal.

Certainly the church set an example. With Sheptytsky's tacit approval, his

church hid a number of Jews throughout western Ukraine, 150 Jews alone in and

around his L'viv headquarters. Perhaps some of his parishioners were among

those brave and precious few "righteous gentiles" who risked an automatic death

penalty for themselves and their families by harbouring a Jew under their roof.

The towering humanity of Sheptytsky remains an inspiration today. (Harold