Washington Jewish Week - 06.08.2001

 

The Washington Jewish Week

Reports look at FSU Anti-Semitism, renewal seen

by Eric Fingerhut
Staff Writer

Russia and the former Soviet republics are seeing a remarkable renewal and revitalization of Jewish life, but anti-Semitism still has a significant presence in the region and needs to be tracked closely.

Those are some of the important findings of the “2000/2001 Country Reports” recently published by NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia. The booklet takes a republic-by-republic look at the former Soviet states, incorporating information on each state’s political and economic situation and ties to the United States and Israel, as well as analyses of Jewish communal life and anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism in Russia also is discussed in a report recently published by the Union of Councils of Soviet Jews. The document, “Antisemitism, Xenophobia and Religious Persecution in Russia’s Regions 1999-2000,” catalogues specific incidents throughout Russia and makes recommendations to the United States and Russian governments on ways to deal with the situation.

While almost all the former Soviet republics have at least a few thousand Jewish residents, Russia and Ukraine have the largest Jewish populations – 300,000 to 500,000 in Ukraine, 400,000-700,000 in Russia – and are the most important to focus on, said Mark Levin, executive director of NCSJ.

Levin pointed out a “dichotomy” in Russia. While Russian President Vladimir Putin and other government officials have spoken out against anti-Semitism and “said the right things,” they also have been slow to take concrete action against those who take part in anti-Semitic behavior, or, in some cases, have done virtually nothing at all against such perpetrators.

“We would like to see [Putin] do more,” said Levin.

For example, the report notes an incident last September in which a group of young neo-Nazis broke into a Sunday school in Ryazan, smashing windows and furniture and shouting fascist slogans and death threats at the children and teachers present. Local authorities later identified four of the 15 alleged perpetrators but made no arrests, considering the youths only a minor threat to society, according to the report.

The UCSJ report also points out this discrepancy between words and deeds by Putin. Micah Naftalin, UCSJ national director, said that Putin’s rhetoric against racism and anti-Semitism has been “unprecedented,” although some of his actions have been less positive.

Since Putin took over the presidency from Yeltsin, UCSJ notes, there has been a “noticeable decrease” in violent anti-Semitic incidents and “in some regions, local and federal authorities have launched crackdowns against hate groups, with varying degrees of enthusiasm and effectiveness.” In other regions, though, “institutionalized” anti-Semitism continues to be “entrenched,” and it remains to be seen if authorities “are willing to consistently target extremist groups.”

The UCSJ report calls it worrisome that Putin has appointed a number of former KGB officials to government positions because that organization was considered the most anti-Semitic of the Soviet Union’s power structure. The report also points out that the lack of a democratic, law-based system in Russia means that Jews and other minority groups can never be completely safe.

Naftalin said that many of the anti-Semitic incidents in Russia are carried out by a small minority of fringe groups – in some respects similar to anti-Semitic extremist groups in the United States. The important difference, Naftalin said, is that unlike in the United States, many segments of the Russian infrastructure are supportive of such anti-Semitism, from law enforcement officials to the judicial system to legislators – primarily Communist Party members – in the Russian parliament.

The NCSJ report also notes that while Putin has made “several gestures of support toward the Russian-Jewish community,” he and the Russian government seem to be attempting to “manipulate and interfere with the Jewish community for its own purposes.”

Putin has met with prominent Israeli and Jewish politicians and leaders, and he spoke at the September dedication of Moscow’s new Jewish community center – where he emphasized that the revival of Russian Jewish life “is an integral part of the general revival of folk traditions and spiritual values in Russia.”

But during the past few months, the Russian government has become involved in internal Jewish community politics. The NCSJ report talks about the “Kremlin’s widely perceived use of inter-organizational rivalries to undermine [Vladimir] Goussinsky’s leadership of the Russian Jewish Congress.” (The government apparently arrested Goussinsky because of his independent media network; he resigned as president of the Russian Jewish Congress in March.)

The report also mentions that “a Kremlin official urged a leader of the Russian Jewish community to abandon his plans to become president of the United Russian Synagogue,” and that the Russian government substituted Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar for Moscow Chief Rabbi Adolph Shayevich on a state religious council, “stating that Lazar had more religious and communal legitimacy than Shayevich.”

The report focuses on positive aspects of Jewish life as well, highlighting the Jewish renaissance throughout Russia and the former Soviet republics. Synagogues, Jewish community centers, ulpan, libraries, day schools and kindergartens, among other Jewish organizations, are present throughout the various republics.

Last month, Levin attended a celebration of the renovation of the Moscow Choral Synagogue exterior and the laying of the cornerstone for the Jewish community center across the street. The event included a number of international and Russian dignitaries, such as Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, and culminated in a concert and fireworks display attended by thousands of Jews “singing and dancing to Hebrew and Yiddish songs.”

”To see so many young people enjoying themselves, identifying as Jews in a place that holds such bittersweet memories for their elders, is truly remarkable,” he said.

Elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, Levin notes that despite the small numbers of Jews in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (the Jewish population there was decimated in World War II) those Jewish communities are “vibrant” and “active.”

On a less positive note, attempts to regain Jewish communal property seized by the previous communist government have been slow in Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus.

The “Country Reports” also are available on the NCSJ Web site (www.ncsj.org), where they will be updated regularly with new information.