Ukraine’s Jews are responsible for the Euromaidan revolution that ousted their country’s pro-Russian president last year, a senior rebel leader told an audience at a Russian university last week. Ukraine’s Jews are responsible for the Euromaidan revolution that ousted their country’s pro-Russian president last year, a senior rebel leader told an audience at a Russian […]
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Vandals paint swastika on Ukrainian Holocaust monument
(JTA) — A Holocaust monument in Ukraine was vandalized with a red swastika that the perpetrators painted over a Star of David symbol. The vandalism in Nikopol, an eastern Ukrainian city located 60 miles from Dnepropetrovsk, occurred on June 16, according to a report Tuesday by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine. {To see photo, click on http://www.fjc.org.ua/templates/blog/post.asp?aid=1165328&postid=55015&p=1 – […]
Ukrainian Jewish billionaire resigns as governor amid dispute with president
(JTA) — The Ukrainian Jewish billionaire Igor Kolomoisky resigned as governor of the Dnepropetrovsk region amid a dispute with President Petro Poroshenko over control of two state-owned firms. Kolomoisky, who has poured millions of his own wealth into preparing Ukraine’s army to fight against Russia, sent Poroshenko his resignation letter late last week, the news […]
Jewish refugees safe from war, but facing economic crisis in Kiev
KIEV (JTA) — In a crowded room of the Tolkachov family’s tiny apartment here, a couch and twin bed sit kitty-corner from each other, sandwiching a small crib. In another corner, a wooden table is cluttered with a computer and some toys. Since October, three generations of the Tolkachov family — grandmother, parents and 22-month-old […]
Lithuanian fascists march beneath swastikas near execution site of 10,000 Jews
“This march is particularly offensive because it is taking place where locals and Nazis murdered more than 10,000 Jews in one day.” Approximately 500 ultra nationalists, some bearing Nazi swastikas, marched through a Lithuanian city that during the Holocaust saw the region’s most effective massacre of Jews. Monday’s march through Kaunas, Lithuania’s second-largest city 60 […]
Teacher at Chabad Preschool Killed in Donetsk, Ukraine; Rockets Land Near Synagogue Teacher at Chabad Preschool Killed in Donetsk, Ukraine; Rockets Land Near Synagogue
Irina Shelkayeba was cooking supper last night in her apartment in Donetsk when a rocket slammed into her apartment, instantly killing her. She was an active member of the Donetsk Jewish community and a teacher in their OhrAvner Preschool, according to Rabbi Aryeh Schvartz, assistant to the community’s chief rabbi. Shelkayeba—whose 30-year-old son lived with […]
Moldova City To Restore Destroyed Jewish Landmark
The mayor of Chisinau, Moldova, said he would restore a landmark structure, largely destroyed during the Holocaust, as a monument to local Jews who died in the genocide. Dorin Chirtoaca on Monday said he would restore the dome-shaped Tahara room located at one of Europe’s largest Jewish cemeteries to commemorate this year’s 70th anniversary of […]
Eastern Ukraine Jews to get $650,000 in emergency funding
(JTA) — The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews pledged $650,000 in emergency funding for Jews in the battle zones of eastern Ukraine. The emergency funding will provide Jews from cities such as Donetsk and Mariupol, who are caught in the crossfire between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists, with medicine, food, housing and security, Rabbi […]
Lithuanian Jews defend cooperation with institution accused of anti-Semitism
The Jewish Community of Lithuania defended its decision to cooperate during Holocaust commemorations with a state-funded institution that is accused of hosting anti-Semitic exhibitions. The defense came in a statement posted Monday on the community’s website in response to a letter that Efraim Zuroff, the director of the Israel office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, […]
Ukraine rebel leader uses anti-Semitic slur to describe country’s leaders
(JTA) — The leader of Ukraine’s pro-Russian rebels used an anti-Semitic insult to describe the country’s political leaders. Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, during a news conference on Monday called the country’s leaders “miserable representatives of the great Jewish people.” “I can’t remember a time when Cossacks were led by people […]