User:Nicolekosh/sandbox

Article editing: History of the Jews in the Soviet Union

This article about the history of the Jews in the Soviet Union directly relates to the topic of the book I have chosen to read for class. It definitely has a lot of room for improvement. The article is very short and only addresses short time periods of the history of the Jews in a specific country. Also, it only addresses the Jews living in five different countries, which is not nearly all of the ones in the Soviet Union. It leaves out key countries such as Russia and Ukraine, which both have significant populations of Jews. For my wikipedia project, I choose to focus on adding information about the Jews of Ukraine. From reading the first chapter of my book, I can see that there will be a lot of information relating to the Jews of Ukraine, so I will be able to use it as one of my sources. Additionally, I hope to add some sort of introduction/summary to the beginning of the article because the current structure of it just starts off by listing each country.

Very good. Agree with you. Prof. Bitzan Amos26 (talk) 18:13, 28 October 2016 (UTC)

Outline:

Add in section on Ukraine:

• Origin of Jews in Ukraine:
  • Yivo Encylopedia "Ukraine"
    • First Jews with Greek traders along Black Sea before Common Era
    • 13th century waves of migration from Rhineland to Ukraine
    • Most of income from arenda system for Jews --> Jews flourished and their population grew
    • Economic distinction between Jews and Ukrainians
      • End of 19th century Jews concentrated in urban settings
• Key events in Ukraine:
  • Pogroms
    • Book source:
      • Over 1,200 pogroms 1918-1919 with a large amount by Ukrainian nationalist military
        • Said the Jews were disloyal to the Tsar and supported the Bolsheviks (99)
        • 500,000 homeless, 30,000 killed directly, total of 150,000 died when wounds and illnesses taken into account (99)
    • Yivo Encyclopedia "Ukraine":
      • Rumors that Alexander III gave people right to beat Jews to retaliate the assassination of Alexander II --> pogroms
      • Mostly by migrant industrial workers
  • Holocaust
    • Book
      • One of most notorious mass murders in Kiev
        • September 29-30 of 1941
        • Over 30,000 Jews killed  (186)
      • Ukrainian militia assisted the Nazis
      • 1960s-1980s mass emigration from Soviet Union to typically larger countries with many opportunities (282)
    • Yivo Encyclopedia "Ukraine"
      • West Ukrainian Jews put into Ghettos and then to death camps
      • Jews in part annexed by USSR didn't come in contact with Nazis but went through Sovietization
      • 1.5 milliion Ukrainian Jews killed, 60% of the population before the war
  • Post WW2
    • Yivo encyclopedia
      • Antisemetic violence after war
      • Better views of Jews during glasnost
      • Ukraine independence in 1991
      • 2001 census: 380,000 Jews left Ukraine (3/4 of jewish population)
      • Ukrainian Jewry still present with schools, newpapers, communal organizations etc..
• Other
  • Yivo Encyclopedia "Ukraine":
    • 2001: population of 104,300 Jews but controversial number
      • 1989 were 487,300 so shows emigration

Draft:

Ukrainian Jewry has endured both times of discrimination and well as times of development and success. The Jews have been living in Ukraine since before the Common Era, where they worked with Greek traders near the Black Sea. Their population really expanded in the 13th century through migration of Jews from the Rhineland in particular. A large number of Jews during this time period worked as artisans and merchants, but the largest amount of income came from the arenda system. The Jews were put in charge of the arendas and given the power to collects taxes while also the power to make and sell alcohol This system allowed the Jews to become successful and helped their population to increase. By the end of the 19th century the Jews, compared to the Ukrainians, were more concentrated in urban settings.

Lviv pogrom, 1941

The beginning of the 20th century brought with it a series of pogroms that led to the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews. A large number of the pogroms were carried out by the Ukrainian nationalist military and migrant industrial workers. Between 1918 and 1919, there were over 1,200 pogroms in Ukraine which stemmed from the belief that Jews were disloyal to the Tsar and were supporters of the Bolsheviks. There were rumors that Alexander III gave people the right to attack Jews because of the assassination of Alexander II. By the time the pogroms ended, 30,000 Jew were killed, 500,000 Jews were left homeless, and a total of 150,000 died due to diseases and wounds.

Just 30 years later, the Jews were once again targeted and killed during the Holocaust when the Nazis occupied Ukraine. During the war, a total of 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews were killed, leaving only 40% of the Jewish population prior to the war. In 1939, when Western Ukraine was taken over by Germany, the Jews were put into ghettos and later sent to death camps where they were killed. Additionally, the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile killing units,  was responsible for the mass murder of up to a million Ukrainian Jews. On the other hand, Jews living in areas annexed by the USSR didn’t come into contact with the Nazis, but they were forced to undergo Sovietization.

Following the atrocities of the second world war, there was a lot of antisemitic violence in Ukraine. However, after the period known as Glasnost, the view of Jews became more positive as they realized a need for change. The number of Jews in Ukraine has drastically decreased since the late 20th century. The 2001 census showed that 380,000 Jews left Ukraine since 1989, which was ¾ of the entire Jewish population.

Sources: