Independent Ukraine
In 1989, a Soviet census counted 487,000 Jews living in Ukraine. Although discrimination by the state quickly all but halted after Ukrainian independence in 1991, Jews were still discriminated against in Ukraine during the 1990s. For instance, Jews were not allowed to attend some educational institutions. Anti-semitism has declined since.
During the 1990s, some 266,300 Ukrainian Jews emigrated to Israel. The 2001 Ukrainian Census counted 106,600 Jews living in Ukraine (the number of Jews also dropped due to a negative birthrate).
In November 2007, an estimated 700 Torah scrolls previously confiscated from Jewish communities during the Soviet Union's Communist rule were returned to Jewish communes in Ukraine by the state authorities.
The Ukrainian Jewish Committee was established in 2008 in Kiev with the aim to concentrate the efforts of Jewish leaders in Ukraine on resolving strategic problems of the community and addressing socially significant issues. The Committee declared its intention to become one of the world's most influential organizations protecting the rights of Jews and "the most important and powerful structure protecting human rights in Ukraine".
In Ukraine violence against Jews and anti-semitic graffiti remains as of 2010.
Read more about this topic: Ukrainian Jews
Famous quotes containing the word independent:
“I’d like to come back as an independent woman who has more ambition than I have.”
—Jenny Bird (b. c. 1937)