History of The Jews in Ukraine - Ukrainian People's Republic

Ukrainian People's Republic

At the start of 20th century, the Anti-Jewish pogroms continued to occur in cities and towns across the Russian Empire such as Kishinev (1905), Kiev (1911), and many others. Numerous Jewish self-defense groups were organized to prevent the outbreak of pogroms among which the most notorious one was under the leadership of Mishka Yaponchik in Odessa. During the Revolution of 1917 and the ensuing Russian Civil War an estimated 70,000 to 250,000 civilian Jews were killed in the atrocities throughout the former Russian Empire in this period.

During the establishment of the Ukrainian People's Republic (1919–20), pogroms continued to be perpetrated on Ukrainian territory. Only in Ukraine, the number of civilian Jews killed during the period was estimated to be between 35 and 50 thousand. Archives declassified after 1991 provide evidence of a higher number; in the period from 1918 to 1921, "according to incomplete data, at least 100,000 Jews were killed in Ukraine in the pogroms."

Disputes among scholars continue over Symon Petlura's association with these pogroms. He is often considered to be the perpetrator of pogroms due to his lack of action to stop the anti-Semitic events. Eventually Petliura was killed by Sholom Schwartzbard, who was acquitted in the Schwartzbard trial in Paris.

Among prominent Ukrainian statesmen of this period were Moisei Rafes, Pinkhas Krasny, Abram Revutsky, Moishe Zilberfarb, and many others. (see General Secretariat of Ukraine) The autonomy of Ukraine was openly greeted by the Ukrainian Jewish Volodymyr Zhabotinsky.