RE: [Cz-L] now!!

Dear All

The strength of the of Jews as a people are in their collective memory. You are trying to prove that the situation improved. I still believe it  is just different. There are many faces of antisemitism and not all of them are ugly. What you are telling me that it is better than it was.  But remembering the things that happened not even 100 years ago, it is not good enough for me. The Jews in Germany and Austria including some of you and your family learned it the heard way. Don't think for a second that your families did not know their Ukrainian neighbors. They could not predict Hitler, but Hitler knew were he will find willing collaborators and it wasn't Denmark. 
In Stalin's times a colleague of mine, an actor was incarcerated for calling somebody a "Zhid".
Stalin and his party were against Antisemitism (They only fought the Zionists, traitors, Jewish Doctors etc..). In today  Ukraine however it became an official word. Here is a last year post. I believe everybody is familiar with the word "Zhid"
Mila Kunis is the target of an anti-Semitic attack unleashed by a Ukrainian politician.
Ukrainian lawmaker Igor Miroshnichenko targeted Kunis in an anti-Semitic Facebook post saying that the actress is not a true Ukrainian because she is a "zhydovka," according to TMZ. The term "zhydovka," which translates roughly to "dirty Jewess," has been used as a slur against Jewish people since at least the time of the Holocaust..
The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, a global Jewish human rights organization that confronts anti-Semitism, hate and terrorism, has come to Kunis' defense in a letter to the Ukrainian prime minister, according to TMZ. In the letter, Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper express their "outrage and indignation" and say Kunis is owed an apology.
The slur is laced with historic anti-Semitism. “The last time this term was used in any official way was during the Nazi occupation, when the Jews or ‘Zhyds' of Kiev were ordered to convene in preparation for their mass murder at Babi Yar,” Eduard Dolinsky, director of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, told Jewish news entity JTA. “The Justice Ministry and politicians should adjust their definitions and language according to what Ukrainian Jews consider offensive, and we find the word ‘zhyd’ to be just that."
"The temperature around this discussion is rising," he added, saying that the Jewish community in Ukraine is “highly concerned” by how “anti-Semitic speech is becoming more prevalent in Ukraine, especially online.”
Jewish activists have petitioned the ministry to prevent right-wing nationalists from using the slur "zhyd" or its feminine derivative "zhydovka," according to the Times of Israel.
The petition, however, failed. The ministry cited a Ukrainian academic dictionary to state that the term "zhyd" is merely an archaic term for "Jew" and not necessarily a slur, according to the Time of Israel. The ministry did admit that "Jew" should not be used in official government communications.

I hope this will clarify where I came from.
as for the prominence of some of the of the officials who are Jewish, we remember that through centuries in different countries Individual of Jewish origin would rise and than.....
Keeping Ukraine "Ukrainian" is all the evidence I personally need. 
I respectfully suggest we all agree to disagree. We are all entitled to our opinion. History is the best judge. For The few Jewish people left there and for the sake of our beloved place of birth, I do hope you will right. 

Shalom to you all.

Channa

> CC: akofner_at_hotmail.com; Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu
> From: mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu
> Subject: Re: [Cz-L] now!!
> Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 12:58:29 -0400
> To: cornel.fleming_at_virgin.net
>
> I completely agree with Cornel's description of what the situation
> concerning Anti-Semitism currently is in Chernivtsi.
> In my efforts to maintain and restore the Jewish cemetery,
> I have had much help and assistance from local,
> non-Jewish residents of the city.
> None of these people asked for, or expected anything in return.
>
> And to go from the anecdotal to irrefutable facts:
> Chernivtsi has a population of about 200 000
> Of these 1500, or less than 1% are Jewish.
> Two of the members of the city council are Jewish.
> These two members constitute more than 4%
> of the total number of city councilors,
> If follows by rational deduction, that non Jewish residents
> of the city, voted for Jews to be on the city council.
>
> Mimi
>
>
>
> On Oct 22, 2014, at 6:03 AM, cornel fleming wrote:
>
>> Dear Channa....I hear what you say...and I think I understand your
>> feelings
>> too..but there is still a big"BUT"! I left Czernowitz in
>> 1944....and came
>> back for the first time during the Soviet era,with a friend,both of
>> us as
>> "Australian tourists". There were then still elderly German-
>> speaking Jews
>> (and a couple of them told me"Aber wir sind Oesterreicher!!). Both
>> of us
>> talked to people,and there were moments when we felt they were
>> looking over
>> their shoulders while so doing.My friend happened to speak
>> Russian,I spoke
>> German, we met some local girls and were taken to places like Valya
>> Kozmy
>> etc...they were asking questions and so were we.Hopefully it was
>> educational
>> for both parties!! Then..I returned in post-Soviet times,and the
>> difference
>> was utterly amazing.People talked,some had been to the West and
>> Israel and
>> come back,they wore Magen David neckchains, they were emphatically NOT
>> looking over their shoulders!!!! And I do not care ,nor did I ask,who
>> supports the Jewish school. For me the fact that a very successful
>> Jewish
>> school exists..and I saw what they teach..is of far greater
>> importance.When
>> the 2nd Shul was opened there were Jews with a Torah dancing in the
>> street....and surprise,no KGB or NKVD or similar showed up. Yes,you
>> are
>> right,there are still anti-Semites...but to say "the situation is not
>> improving" is simply not true. Best, Cornel
>>
=
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject of
 Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and Genealogy. The opinions expressed
 in these posts are the opinions of the original poster only and not necessarily
 the opinions of the List Owner, the Webmaster or any other members
 or entities connected with this mailing list. The Czernowitz-L list has
 an associated web site at http://czernowitz.ehpes.com that includes a
 searchable archive of all messages posted to this list. As a result,
 Messages sent to the list are available to the general public within days
 of posting.

Please post in "Plain Text" (help available at:
<http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/PlainText.html>).

To remove your address from this e-list follow the directions at:

<http://www.it.cornell.edu/services/elist/howto/user/leave.cfm>

To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to:
<owner-Czernowitz-L_at_list.cornell.edu>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on 2014-10-22 12:52:03