Introduction
Ukraine is a multinational country of 52.2 million, including 37 million Ukrainians, 11.3 million Russians, 500,000 Jews, and 450,000 Belarusians. The region measures 235,443 square miles, an area larger than Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic combined.
During the last few years, there has been somewhat of a rebirth of Jewish life in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Jewish population has established about 250 organizations in more than 80 cities. There are several umbrella Jewish organizations: the Association of Jewish Communities and Organizations of Ukraine (Vaad), the Jewish Council of Ukraine, the Union of Jewish Religious Communities of Ukraine under the Karlin-Stolin movement, and the Chabad Lubavitch movement, among others. There are also scores of organized religious and cultural events, 14 day schools, 10 Yeshivot, and 70 Hebrew and Sunday Schools. Israel has an embassy in Kiev and several Israeli youth movements sponsor camps and activities. Twenty synagogue buildings have been returned to the Jewish community under government legislation ensuring the return of all confiscated religious property, though hundreds more still need to be reclaimed.
The following citations illustrate the array of antisemitic literature and media in Ukraine:
"There are anti-human monstrous statements in the Talmud.....During the years after the war many specialists came to Lviv. They got the flats, they were provided with jobs, they were accepted for the prestigious posts even without any education.
Georgia--A UCSJ Report on Antisemitism, 1995-7
Introduction
Georgia is located in the southern Caucasus and borders Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Northern Turkey. Its population of 5.4 million comprises many different nationalities and religions, including an estimated 13,000 Jews. Tensions, conflicts and territorial disputes in the region have been frequent. Recent wars in Abkhazia, Chechnya and Nagorno-Karabakh have created a low standard of living, an intensification of criminal activity and a huge number of refugees, including many Jews. It is commonly believed that Georgia does not share the virulent antisemitic history that characterizes Russia and that of the other 13 former Soviet republics.
Jewish Life
Introduction
Kazakhstan is the largest of the five Central Asian republics and comprised about 15% of the Soviet Union's total area. Russia borders it to the north, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to the south, and the Caspian Sea to the west. No one ethnic group constitutes a majority; rather, Kazakhs and Russians each account for 38% of the population. Minority groups include Germans, Ukrainians, Tatars, Uzbeks, and an estimated 32,000 Jews. The Kazakhs' relationship with the Russians can be described as cool at best. Soviet policies generally favored Russians, and both groups are very leery of each other.
Overview: Current Antisemitism
In 1996, a number of antisemitic incidents were reported. Given Russia's vast, ever-changing and contradictory character, the situation for Jews in Russia is complex. While Jewish communal life has experienced an important expansion, extremist groups are on the rise. While Jews have risen to prominent positions in the government and in banking, business, and the arts, the registration of the Jewish Agency for Israel was rejected prior to the July 1996 Presidential election, forced to close and then subsequently forced to reorganize as an indigenous organization. And while Russia has attempted to import Western ideas about civil society and the economy, the government has also engaged in a vicious war in Chechnya and has provoked ethnic hatred of Chechens and other groups from the Caucasus.