Resolution of the International Conference

“Legacy of World War II and the Holocaust”

Berlin, 15-17 December, 2009

“On the Situation in Ukraine”

 

We, the participants of the conference "Legacy of World War II and the Holocaust," held in Berlin on 15-17 December 2009, are extremely concerned about surge of anti-Semitism in Ukraine, which is tied to the presidential elections. Mr. Sergei Ratushnyak, the Mayor of Uzhgorod. running for president is a man with a pronounced Nazi ideology, which denies the Holocaust, threatening the Jewish community and provoking hatred towards members of ethnic and religious minorities, calling in particular for the severance of relations with Israel.

In the campaign materials of another candidate, accused by competitors of Jewish origin, is given his pedigree as ‘a true Ukrainians in three generations’. Similar data are given for his wife. The authors of the notorious Nuremberg Laws on ‘Citizenship of the Reich’ would probably have appreciated the efforts of Ukrainian politicians to prove the purity of blood. But in the words of Julian Tuwim, «There are two kinds of blood, the blood that flows in the veins and the blood that flows out of them». We have no right to forget the lessons of the Holocaust, we remember that hatred of Jews turned into a tragedy for all the peoples of the world.

Pre-election surge in xenophobia and anti-Semitism - is a natural result of the successive steps of the current Ukrainian leadership on the glorification of Nazism and the revision of the outcome of the Second World War.

Assigning the title of “Hero of Ukraine” to those involved in the destruction of the Jewish people,and ethnic cleansing of the Polish population, namely, to the war criminal R. Shukhevych, and the celebration at the state level, of the 100^th birthday of Stepan Bandera, a hero the division of the SS Galicia, are just the most vivid examples of how consistently the current Ukrainian government is trying to impose a new ideology onto its people, in part by reviewing the decisions of the Nuremberg Tribunal.

All these actions inevitably lead to an increase of anti-Semitic tendencies in Ukrainian society and create conditions for the triumph of the darkest forces – those professing an ideology of xenophobia and racial hatred.

This is particularly unfortunate, because these events occur in a country emerging from war and occupation by Nazi Germany, a country that went through the almost complete destruction of its economic capacity from 1941-44, and lost on the fronts millions of its sons and daughters. This happens in a country where still alive are hundreds of thousands of witnesses and participants of the war, who fought in battle against the Nazis for not only the independence of their homeland, but also the independence of the whole of Europe!
We, representatives of more than 20 countries of different nationalities and faiths, including representatives of many public organizations in Ukraine, call on the eve of presidential elections in this country, to all presidential candidates, all Ukrainian political parties and blocs, to:

 

-         Abandon the anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli rhetoric during the election campaign;

-         Stop the glorification of Nazi criminals and their accomplices;

-         Stop attempts to revise the history of the Second World War and the decisions of            the Nuremberg Tribunal.

 

We appeal to the peoples of Ukraine to prevent the emergence of Nazism, to prevent its development on the path of militant nationalism and confrontation with the international community.