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Trip of the First Lady to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, and Ukraine, November 9-8, 1997 (David) [Binder][7]
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Trip of the First Lady to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, and Ukraine, November 9-8, 1997 (David) [Binder][7]
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Noa Meyer's Files
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Withdrawal/Redaction Sheet
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
DATE
RESTRICTION
AND TYPE
001. reports
bios (13 pages)
C 10/1997
P1/b(1)
002. report
Government Structure (1 page)
nd
P1/b(1)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
First Lady's Office
Speechwriting (Noa Meyer Subject Files)
OA/Box Number: 13007
FOLDER TITLE:
The Trip of the First Lady to Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Russia, and Ukraine,
November 9-18, 1997 (David) [Binder] [7]
2012-0869-S
kc959
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act [44 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act - 15 U.S.C. 552(b)|
P1 National Security Classified Information [(a)(1) of the PRA
b(1) National security classified information |(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office [(a)(2) of the PRA]
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute [(a)(3) of the PRA]
an agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute |(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information 1(a)(4) of the PRA
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information |(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors [a)(5) of the PRA]
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy [(b)(6) of the FOIA|
personal privacy |(a)(6) of the PRAJ
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells |(b)(9) of the FOIA]
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
UKRAINE: CHILDREN'S ISSUES
Deteriorating conditions. Children in Ukraine, along with the
elderly, are bearing the brunt of the country's economic and
social decline. Many families are no longer able to afford a
balanced diet for a child's physical development. Since 1996,
the production of baby food and juices, vitamins, and vitamin-
fortified milk has decreased significantly. Social stresses
within families caused by un- and underemployment, non-payment of
wages, alcoholism and disease, have led to sharp increases in
spousal and child abuse - this combined with an already high
divorce rate.
Adoption. Public concern over the fate of children adopted by
foreigners triggered a new adoption law providing for thorough
court examination of each case and follow-up monitoring of the
children's well-being. In general, the adoption process appears
to be going smoothly in most of Ukraine. In the last year, 46
Ukrainian children have been adopted by American families.
Children of Chornobyl. Eleven years after Chornobyl reactor
number nine exploded, the effects of this tragedy can be seen in
numerous children who suffer from radiation sickness manifested
by a drastic rise in the occurrence of thyroid cancer.
Congenital birth defects in the Chornobyl area are also
abnormally high. (The radiation levels in Kiev today are
normal.) A major portion of Ukraine's budget is devoted to
dealing with the consequences of Chornobyl through various clean-
up, social and healthcare programs. The U.S. and the G-7 are
sponsoring major programs to stabilize the damaged reactor and
its surrounding "sarcophagus," and to deactivate the Chornobyl
complex by the year 2000.
Children's rights. The Ukrainian government is publicly
committed to the defense of children's rights, but it has
struggled to implement its agenda. Guaranteed public education
and free health care for children, with special benefits for
children affected by Chornobyl, are the stated goals. There is
no societal pattern of abuse of children, but trafficking of
children for sexual exploitation is on the rise.
Pediatric Health. Approximately one-fifth of the Ukrainian
population is under 18 years of age. The Ministry of Health
estimates that forty percent of all children are experiencing
"abnormal physical development" - demonstrating growth patterns
and organ functions that are outside the normal range.
Respiratory disease accounts for more than half of childhood
morbidity, followed by skin disease, and diseases of the nervous
system. Children still suffer from vaccine-preventable diseases.
Government reports indicate that 30 percent of all children need
psychological help.
UKRAINE: HEALTH ISSUES
Overview. As in most of the former Soviet states, health care in
Ukraine is in crisis. Life expectancy is dropping, infant
mortality is rising, and the general health of the population is
declining. Health education is also deteriorating due to low
salaries, supply shortages and inadequate facilities and
equipment. General measures of health (e.g., WHO) rank Ukraine
among third world countries statistically, despite the presence
of a large medical care and medical training system. Ukraine has
one doctor per 222 people and a total of 3,900 hospitals (with
679,000 beds), 7,000 state run out-patient clinics and 50 private
clinics. Respiratory diseases, heart ailments and alcoholism are
the major adult afflictions. Since 1992, incidence of
tuberculosis, diphtheria and cholera has increased sharply.
High cost. Health care services are funded almost entirely by
the government and are delivered very inefficiently. The
government plans to spend three percent of GDP on health care in
1997. The emphasis is on in-patient care, with long hospital
stays the norm. Preventive medicine has been neglected.
Moreover, physicians -- most of whom are women -- are often
assigned tasks that could easily be carried out by less-trained
health professionals. Hospital administrators are almost
uniformly male. There is a clear need to reduce the number of
hospitals and staff.
Pharmaceuticals. Ukraine's dependence on suppliers in other
former Soviet republics for most pharmaceutical raw materials has
resulted in serious shortages since the breakup of the USSR.
Domestic manufacturing meets less than 20 percent of the
country's pharmaceutical needs. Ukraine lacks production
facilities for some essentials, such as oncological drugs,
cardiovascular medicines and vaccines. In 1997, availability of
the simplest antibiotics, hypertension medications, insulin, and
other medications improved somewhat, but prices increased
dramatically. Major multinational pharmaceutical companies have
begun marketing their products, but the prices charged limit
availability to the wealthiest consumers. Patients are required
to supply their own medications for hospital stays.
AIDS. Although few deaths from AIDS have been recorded in
Ukraine, accurate data are not available and the incidence of
sexually-transmitted diseases and AIDS is believed to be
increasing. Ukraine recently saw a sharp increase in newly
infected injecting drug users in cities bordering the Black Sea.
HIV-positive persons in Nikolayev, for example, rose from 1.7% of
injecting drug users to 56.5% during 1995. The potential for the
infection to spread, particularly to women, is worrisome given
low condom usage and sexual trafficking in Ukrainian women.
Trafficking to Western Europe, Turkey and the Middle East is
reputedly common. Resources for prevention, counseling and
availability of prophylactics are extremely limited. Combined
with sexual promiscuity among the young, the potential for a
sharp increase in AIDS cases is large.
Ukraine and Health Care
Epidemics of infectious diseases plague Ukraine - the worst epidemics are AIDS, TB,
STDs and Hepatitis. The Ministry of Health is asking the World Bank for help in all these
areas.
TB already infects one-third of the world's population, 50 million of whom have
drug-resistamt strains of TB. Approximately 3 million people will die from TB this year.
Rates of TB have nearly doubled in the last 5 years in Ukraine-they are now five times the
rate of the US. Odessa oblast has the highest rate of TB in Ukraine with 52.2/100,000
cases in 1996 compared to 25.5/100,000 for Kiev City.
There are 12,000 recorded cases of AIDS out of a population of 52 million This is the
highest number of official cases of any country in the FSU. AIDS, HIV, and STDs are all
on the rise in Ukraine due to unsafe sexual practices, prostitution, and intravenous drug
use. As in Russia, the actual numbers of AIDS cases may be as much as 10 times higher-
these are just official numbers.
Maternal and Child Health. There are striking - and ominous - indicators of the
deteriorating condidtion of maternal and child health Infant and maternal mortality
continue to be a serious indicator of the health crisis. The Health Minister singled this
issue out recently because of its urgency.
The facts and figures singled out in the Bader letter of September 30 remain accurate with
respect to the major crisis as the result of the lack of pharmaceuticals, diagnostic
equipment, and even "off the shelf' items for hospital emergency rooms.
Page 36
LEVEL 2 - 17 OF 311 STORIES
Copyright 1997 Newsday, Inc.
Newsday (New York, NY)
October 26, 1997, Sunday, ALL EDITIONS
SECTION: NEWS; Page A04
LENGTH: 4801 words
SERIES: CRUMBLED EMPIRE, SHATTERED HEALTH. First in a series.
HEADLINE: CRUMBLED EMPIRE, SHATTERED HEALTH / DIAGNOSIS: CRITICAL / IN THE
REMNANTS OF THE USSR, HEALTH CARE IS IN A DEADLY STATE OF SHAMBLES (NS BULLDOG
EDITION) CRUMBLED EMPIRE / SHATTERED HEALTH / THE COLLAPSE OF HEALTH CARE IN
THE FORMER SOVIET UNION. NEWSDAY COVER PHOTO BY VIOREL FLORESCU- (PATIENT IN A
RUSSIAN HOSPITAL)
BYLINE: Laurie Garrett. STAFF WRITER; Others making key contributions to the
series were Newdsay's Moscow Bureau chief, Susan Sachs; former bureau chief Ken
Fireman; research Tami Luhby; and staff writer Delthia Ricks.
DATELINE: TSKHINVALI, GEORGIA
BODY:
IN THE SERIES. Today, Newsday begins a series of stories by Pulitzer
Prize-winning reporter Laurie Garrett and photographer Viorel Florescu on the
collapse of public health in the former Soviet Union at a time of dramatic
social upheaval. The stories will appear in the news section, in special reports
in the Discovery section and online at http://www.newsday.com. Researching the
story led Garrett and Florescu to Moscow, Kiev and St. Petersburg, as well as
locations as far-flung as Tallinn, Estonia, in the Baltics; Ulan-Ude on the
Russo-Mongolian border; Nor'ilsk, 175 miles above the Arctic Circle in Siberia;
war-torn Ossetia, on the Georgian frontier; Chernobyl, Ukraine; and Bohemia in
the Czech Republic. TSKHINVALI, GEORGIA Most of the patients have been sent
home because the vast medical complex has no heat. The nurses are huddled around
a burning log in a makeshift fireplace carved out of a cement floor. But up on
the fourth floor of Republican Hospital, remarkably, medicine is still being
practiced. Two surgeons are performing a hernia operation with uncommon skill -
and uncommon speed.
As a doctor anesthetizes the patient with an ether-soaked handkerchief and a
nurse keeps him breathing with a hand-operated ventilator, the scrub nurse
scoops up a pile of bloodied surgical instruments and carries them to a basin of
pink water that has been standing uncovered for hours.
Working barehanded, she dunks the instruments in the water, swishes them
about and returns them to the operating table with no further effort at
sterilization. A moment later, one of those instruments is inside the patient,
clamping off a section of intestines.
The operation is finished in less than 10 minutes. When the surgeons are
complimented on their speed, one replies: "It's not a matter of choice. We must
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Page 37
Newsday (New York, NY), October 26, 1997
go fast. The generator only supplies 15 minutes of electricity for the lights."
This provincial hospital is far removed from Russia's great cities, and
Georgia has fared far worse than most former Soviet republics since the union
split apart in 1991. But while the problems here may be especially acute, they
are not atypical. Throughout this vast ex-superpower, the health care system
once touted by the Soviet leadership as an exemplar of "the human, caring face
of socialism" is a shambles.
Life expectancy rates have plunged precipitously, driven downward by a deadly
combination of spreading disease, alcohol and drug abuse, poor nutrition,
chronic underfunding of medical facilities and isolation from Western scientific
advances. In one year alone, 1993, the life expectancy at birth for Russian
males dropped from 61 to 58, according to the World Health Organization.
Russia's death rate in 1995 was 1.6 times greater than its birthrate, triggering
a decline in its population unprecedented in post-war times, and the premature
death rate for adults has more than doubled since 1960, according to government
data.
The impact of this crisis is also falling heavily on those most vulnerable:
the region's children. They suffer from high rates of birth defects, disease and
mortality, bear the brunt of their parents' drug and alcohol abuse and are often
denied medicines because of a belief that they are "weakened" and cannot handle
certain antibiotics or vaccines.
As a consequence, they are far less likely to reach adulthood than their
Western European counterparts, according to UNICEF. Children in Russia, the
largest of the former Soviet republics, are 2 1/2 times more likely to die
before age 5 than American children, global health experts say.
Some doctors find this unbearable. At the Leningrad Republican Infectious
Disease Hospital, for instance, Dr. Paul Sergeyev tenderly strokes the blond
head of 9-month-old Natalia, who was abandoned by her HIV-positive,
opium-addicted mother as soon as she was born.
"We can't know for sure whether a child is infected with HIV until 3 years
old, II he says with a frustrated shake of his head as he gently places Natalia
back in her crib. "We have no money for genetic testing. We have no money for
anything. "
Dr. Lev Mogilevsky, co-director of an infectious disease treatment facility
in the Ukrainian city of Odessa, sums up the situation succinctly: "We can no
longer control or manage disease, he said. "It manages us."
An eight-month examination by Newsday that ranged over 4,500 miles, visiting
20 cities in five formerly communist countries, has found that this once-proud
health care system has become a casualty of the region's wrenching historic
transition.
It's not clear how quickly this occurred, because past health care claims by
the communist government were unreliable at best, fabricated at worst. But it is
crystal clear the system today is collapsing, unable to adapt to a
non-authoritarian society where individual choice reigns, power is decentralized
and economic realities constrain choices. And while most experts are focused on
the profound economic and political problems plaguing the region, it is also
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Newsday (New York, NY), October 26, 1997
clear that the collapse of public health is potentially just as destabilizing.
Here's what Newsday found:
- Infectious diseases long thought to be under control or largely extinct in
the developed world have swept through former Soviet republics in a rolling
series of epidemics, producing disease rates far exceeding those in Western
countries. These diseases - which include tuberculosis, hepatitis, cholera,
typhoid and influenza - have been spread by chronically poor medical hygiene and
sanitation, as well as misuse of antibiotics. The tuberculosis rate, for
instance, is 10 times the rate in the United States, and growing.
- The long decades of government-enforced isolation from the rest of the
world have bred a striking ignorance of many modern medical advances among
health care professionals, and a widespread public belief in unscientific folk
remedies. For example, only 60 percent of Russian children under age 5 have been
fully immunized - according to World Health Organization standards - against the
six most common vaccine-preventable diseases, in large part because of
opposition from parents and doctors who believe children with the mildest health
problems should not be vaccinated. The U.S. rate, meanwhile, is above 95
percent.
- The former health-care delivery system - inefficient, expensive and
authoritarian, but widely accessible - has all but collapsed in the wake of a
massive funding crisis, and little has been done to replace it. The Russian
government, for example, currently earmarks less than 2 percent of its annual
budget for health services, compared with nearly 20 percent in the United
States, resulting in chronic shortages of supplies, deteriorating physical
facilities and late payment of wages to personnel. In most hospitals visited by
Newsday, strapped officials had stopped ordering rubber gloves and paper towels
to save money.
- Long-term environmental problems are taking a growing toll on the public's
health. In St. Petersburg, for instance, officials acknowledge they can no
longer supply safe water to the city, a problem that resulted this summer in
more than 500 cases of dysentery. In Russia as a whole, the Environment Ministry
has concluded half the nation's drinking water supply is unsafe.
- Hundreds of thousands of new patients are now entering the health system
due to an unprecedented surge in drug abuse, which has fueled an explosion of
HIV and hepatitis and compromised part of the region's blood supplies. There are
few public education programs on the dangers of sharing needles, for instance,
within a huge region in which two-thirds of AIDS patients are drug users.
"We broke old mechanisms which managed society and health care, and we didn't
create new ones, we didn't know how to," Mogilevsky added. "Now health care is
on the brink of complete ruin.
The crisis threatens to engulf not only the 280 million people who live in
the republics that once composed the Soviet Union but, because of immigration
patterns and political interdependence, large parts of the rest of the world as
well. For as the incidence of infectious disease increases, neighboring nations
in Europe and popular immigration destinations such as the United States and
Canada become increasingly worried.
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Newsday (New York, NY), October 26, 1997
One World Health Organization official called a 1995 diphtheria epidemic in
Russia "the biggest public health threat in Europe since World War II."
Just as ominously, there is concern that the health care crisis will provide
potent new ammunition to ultra-nationalist politicians who argue that
American-style democracy and cooperation with the West have failed and that only
a revival of authoritarianism can solve Russia's problems.
"How can the society, the economy, the military bear such a burden?" asked
Murray Feshbach, a Georgetown University demographer who has studied Russian
trends for years. "Will it lead to social disarray? Can the economy survive?
Will a conservative military-type leader decide to overthrow the government? Why
are these not viable possibilities if one looks at Russia from the demographic
and health prism, and not just the political and economic dimensions?"
There is some evidence that this concern is well-founded. A poll ranking the
concerns of Russian citizens earlier this year found that declining public
health had risen to fifth (from ninth in 1995) and was cited by 29 percent of
those responding as their top concern (up from 16 percent two years ago).
Opponents of the present Russian government are seeking to exploit health
care as a political issue. Communist leaders routinely blame Western-style
capitalism for the surge in infectious diseases, alcoholism and drug abuse. They
argue that the nation's strength and security have been compromised, citing
government statistics that one in three army recruits are now rejected for
health reasons, as opposed to 1 in 20 in 1985. And Russia's most prominent
nationalist leader, Alexander Lebed, apparently has incorporated the issue into
his standard stump speech.
"Tuberculosis has increased - it's a rampant wave, Lebed barked in his
gravelly baritone during a recent talk to a group of supporters in the Siberian
city of Irkutsk. "We have to stop this rampant increase. We need to deal with
AIDS too - we cannot wait
There are skyrocketing infectious diseases. We
must stop that - now. "
But translating such stern rhetoric into reality may prove difficult for any
politician, even one as accustomed to command as Lebed, a former army general.
And if Lebed has any doubts of that, he might have a chat with a fellow Afghan
war veteran named Konstantin.
In 1993, two years after Konstantin was discharged from the military,
communist and ultra-nationalist rebels seized the Russian White House in
defiance of President Boris Yeltsin's order disbanding the old Soviet-era
parliament. Konstantin grabbed his old army rifle and manned the barricades.
The rebellion was crushed, and Konstantin wound up in Butirka Prison, charged
with treason. When his case finally came up for judicial review last January, a
judge dismissed the charges and ordered him freed.
But by that time Konstantin had contracted tuberculosis, a huge and growing
risk in Russia's grossly overcrowded jails and prisons. The treatment he
received was erratic and ineffective, and the disease eventually spread from his
lungs to his liver, kidneys and heart.
Today, Konstantin, 39, who won't allow his last name to be used, lies dying
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Newsday (New York, NY), October 26, 1997
in a bed at the Moscow Tuberculosis Research Center, his disease beyond the
reach of any drug. "It's like a joke, a particularly Russian joke, he says. "In
principle, I was given a death sentence."
The rampant growth of tuberculosis among Russia's huge prison population -
estimated to be as many as one million out of a total population of 140 million
- is one of the engines that have driven the country's overall TB rate to a
level at least 10 times greater than that in the United States. And while
Russian scientists debate how to cope with the epidemic, those who care for TB
victims in provincial facilities across the far-flung nation often work in the
face of heartbreaking shortages.
In one such facility, in the city of Ulan-Ude, capital of Buryatia, a region
of Russia just north of Mongolia, Dr. Galina Dugarova cares for patients housed
in three unheated log cabins. Patients must supply their own pajamas and bed
linens; supplies of antibiotics and other medicines are erratic at best.
"They are all going to die," Dugarova says as she ministers to four patients
in the facility's intensive care ward. "We cannot treat them
We would like
to give them four drugs and some protein, but we have no money and they have no
money. They are sentenced."
As ominous as the TB epidemic is, it is just one of the infectious diseases
that have swept through Russia and other former Soviet republics in recent
years. While statistical comparisons over time are difficult because Soviet-era
data were notoriously unreliable, both domestic and foreign experts agree that
many diseases have registered alarming increases.
Diphtheria, for example, infected 200,000 people in the region and killed
5,000 before it finally slowed down last year, thanks in part to a major
international effort spawned by fears that the contagion would spread to other
parts of the world.
Polio rolled into Azerbaijan in 1991, Uzbekistan in 1993 and war-ravaged
Chechnya in 1995. Hepatitis is now SO common throughout the former Soviet Union
that it is regarded as endemic rather than epidemic. Influenza hit the region so
hard in 1995 that the entire Ukrainian government was forced to shut down for a
week. Typhoid infected 20,000 in the central Asian republic of Tajikistan last
year, much of it surfacing in drug-resistant forms. Russia's second largest
city, St. Petersburg, is currently coping with dual epidemics of cholera and
dysentery for the third time since 1993.
While there are many reasons for these contagions, one source is health care
practitioners and medical facilities themselves, according to Western experts
who have studied the problem.
"I can't tell you how surprised I was by their lack of infection control,
said Howard Cohen, former executive director of Coney Island Hospital in
Brooklyn, which serves as a "sister" institution to a hospital in Odessa. "In
the operating room they had commonly used soap bars, commonly used towels.
Surgeons were going from one patient to another without washing. "
Sometimes, lack of funds is the culprit, as in a children's hospital in St.
Petersburg that suffered several outbreaks of internally generated infections
last year. Investigators discovered that the cash-strapped facility had ceased
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Newsday (New York, NY), October 26, 1997
buying paper towels and rubber gloves.
But in other cases, simple lack of knowledge born of isolation from Western
colleagues is at fault. Cohen and others say most Russian and Ukrainian
doctors believe airborne bacterial spores are the major source of infection
within hospitals, whereas Western practitioners learned years ago that unsterile
hands and instruments were the main culprits.
"For seventy years, public health here was linked to ideology instead of
science,' said Regina Napolitano, chief of infection control for Coney Island
Hospital. "Now they're paying the price."
In some parts of the region, these problems are exacerbated by the misuse of
antibiotics, leading to the emergence of drug-resistant strains of bacteria. Dr.
Ed O'Rourke of Boston's Children's Hospital, an expert in infectious diseases
who has visited Russia and other ex-Soviet republics on many occasions, says
physicians there often "simply add one antibiotic on top of another" without any
particular rationale.
'Rourke has been urging doctors in the region to revamp their system for
controlling infectious diseases, but fears he's made little impact. "It's as if
they have horses and carriages but want diesel trucks,' he said. "And we're
trying to tell them that what they need to do is forget about these diesels and
use the horses and carriages properly."
Another key source of the epidemics is a plummeting rate of vaccination
against infectious diseases that began in the 1980s and has continued unchecked
into the current decade.
Part of the blame for this lies with Soviet-era health officials, who trained
pediatricians to withhold vaccinations from children with minor ailments - or
merely a family history of a disease - on the theory that such "weak" children
would be harmed rather than helped by inoculation.
One scientist, Dr. Galena Chervonskaya, carried this theory to extreme
lengths, arguing that domestically produced diphtheria and pertussis vaccines
were contaminated with poisons. Her views were publicized in a mass-circulation
newspaper, further depressing the vaccination rate - and opening the door to the
likes of Boris Nikitin.
Nikitin, 82, was trained in engineering, not pediatric medicine. But he has
proclaimed himself an expert in child rearing, and his influence in Russia is
often compared to that of Dr. Benjamin Spock in the United States. His "Nikitin
Doctrine" holds that most clothing and medical treatment weaken children.
"Nature has designed a certain stage in child development when natural
immunity is formed, Nikitin says as he plays with his naked 6-month-old
granddaughter outdoors on a chilly afternoon. "This natural mechanism is called
children's infections. So this immunization of society is a great medical
mistake."
A similar attitude toward medical science can be found at an AIDS clinic in
the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, where a patient named Viktor rejects the drug AZT
in favor of another "treatment": a bullet-shaped piece of tin taped to his
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Newsday (New York, NY), October 26, 1997
chest.
The 38-year-old postal worker explains he received the apparatus from a local
healer who invented it "to measure biocurrents from my body. She charges the
currents with a piece of tin, which we call a bullet. And the bullet counters
my negative biocurrents."
Such unscientific credulity can, of course, have tragic consequences. But
given their history, citizens of the former Soviet Union might be forgiven their
willingness to trust street healers over certified scientists. For most of their
lives, the health care system was run entirely by the state - the same state
that was systematically befouling their air, water and soil in its headlong race
to create an industrial and military superpower regardless of human cost.
The grim results of these policies can be found throughout the former union -
from the ruined Reactor No. 4 at the infamous Chernobyl power station, to the 50
secret cities where nuclear weapons production has left a deadly legacy of
contamination, to the toxic shroud that envelops scores of industrial cities
like Angarsk.
Angarsk, a Siberian city of 280,000, is ringed with aging chemical factories,
oil refineries and energy production plants. The forest around the city has been
denuded by acid rain; the landscape is webbed with rusting petroleum ducts. The
sky is perpetually gray. The air smells of sulfur and methane and leaves an
acrid taste in the mouth. "It's my perfume, one woman says sourly as she waits
for a bus.
Some Russian scientists believe that this rampant environmental degradation,
when combined with the political disasters that have stalked their century, has
permanently damaged the raw human material of the nation and damaged the
population's health.
In the industrial regions of Siberia, for example, the incidence of adult
leukemia and Hodgkin's disease is nearly twice that seen in Western Europe.
Overall, Russians are 1.8 times more likely to die of cancer than are Americans.
"The Russian gene pool is destroyed,' asserts Dr. Askold Maiboroda, dean of
the Federal Medical University in the Siberian city of Irkutsk. "First, there
were Stalin's slaughters of millions of people, the most creative and
intelligent people. Then more good people perished in the gulags
And now
we suffer an environmental assault unlike anywhere else. We are weakened. Our
genes are damaged. You cannot expect much from the Russian people; do not ask
much of us. "
This attitude of passive hopelessness helps fuel another scourge: widespread
and growing alcohol and drug abuse.
Alcohol consumption, traditionally high among Russian men, has increased 600
percent in the nine years since the Soviet government called off an effective
but highly unpopular anti-drinking campaign. During that time, deaths from
alcohol poisoning and cirrhosis rose by 300 percent and 250 percent
respectively. And many younger Russians, caught in the pyschic backwash of their
society's unprecedented transition, have turned to hard drugs to relieve their
angst.
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Newsday (New York, NY), October 26, 1997
"Look at that drunken idiot!" a teenager shouts to his laughing buddies as
they watch a sodden man try to enter a Moscow subway through the exit turnstile.
"Only fools drink bad vodka!"
The teenagers, it turns out, are high themselves - but not on vodka, good or
bad. They ve been doing a popular opium-based drug called poppy straw.
Hundreds of miles east of Moscow, in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk,
another group of young people has gathered in a nightspot called the 888 Club to
drink, smoke and contemplate their uncertain futures.
"I'm just a human, rolling through life," says 20-year-old Sevi. "I'm totally
against drugs. My choice is vodka. I'm an alcoholic!"
A bit later, the group is asked, "What is a Russian?" Alex, 18, has a ready
answer: "Drinking. And loneliness. No one is lonelier than a Russian.'
This existential glibness may sound hip and trendy in the mouths of young
people. But when damaged, alienated people grow older and begin families,
continued alcohol abuse can reap a harvest of misery, especially for the
children of such parents.
Vanya's parents were such people - chronic alcohol abusers who battled
ferociously and sometimes violently when they drank. After one such bout, they
separated. Vanya's mother brought him to Moscow's bustling Byelorussky train
terminal when he was 9, let go of his hand, and disappeared into the crowd.
When the police finally picked Vanya up last year, he had survived two
winters by begging and sleeping in phone booths. Now, the 11-year-old boy lives
in a children's shelter, trying to master the involuntary blinking and
bed-wetting that remains with him as a reminder of his life on the streets.
Similar stories can be found throughout the former Soviet Union. At least
700,000 children are homeless in Russia, according to government data, and a
recent UNICEF report predicted the number is likely to mount. Alcoholism, the
report said, "not only directly affects the child's well-being, it also tends to
increase family conflicts, stress-related paternal mortality' and other types of
breakdowns. "
And children caught in the toils of these problems are likely to be the most
vulnerable to infectious diseases. The rate of childhood tuberculosis in former
Soviet republics, for example, is now at its highest level since
antibiotics-based treatment was introduced in the 1950s. In Ukraine, the second
largest republic, the incidence of diagnosed TB in those aged 14 and younger has
doubled during the past six years.
At the Kiev Institute of Pulmonology, where many of these children are
treated, staff members are up against familiar obstacles - chronic shortages of
money, drugs and diagnostic resources.
In a ward in the institute, a woman named Galina lies quietly next to her
5-year-old grandson, Janya, bundling against the sick boy to ward off the chill
of the unheated room. The lights have also been turned off in daylight to save
electricity costs, making it difficult for Galina to read to the child on this
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Newsday (New York, NY), October 26, 1997
overcast afternoon.
"The situation is just dreadful," says Dr. Viktoria Kostromira, the
institute's director of pediatric services. "The government should take drastic
action immediately, or we will have a huge epidemic."
But such relief is unlikely, given the tight fiscal constraints that
governments in Ukraine and every other former Soviet republic now face. And so
the health care crisis deepens, statistical indices worsen - and those
responsible for coping with the problems issue increasingly pointed warnings.
"We want to make it clear to everybody that the national security of the
country is threatened,' said Dr. N.F. Gerasimenko of the Academy of Medical
Sciences in a speech to the Russian parliament earlier this year. "The situation
is catastrophic
It's even worse than it was in Russia one hundred years
ago." TOMORROW: The Tuberculosis Epidemic
Expected Life Span. Comparing
life expectancy at birth, in 1995, in Russia and the former Soviet republics
with the United States and several other western nations
Life expectancy.
Male Female. Russia 58 72. Armenia 68 74. Azerbaijan 66 75. Belarus 64 75.
Estonia 65 76. Georgia 69 78. Kazakhstan 64 74. Kyrgzstan 63 72. Latvia 63 75.
Lithuania 63 75. Moldova 65 73. Tajikistan 66 66. Turkmenistan 62 69. Ukraine 64
74. Uzbekistan 66 72 United States 74 80. Canada 76 82. Germany 73 79. France
74 82. United Kingdom 74 79. Italy 75 81. SOURCE: World Bank 1997 World
Development Indicators
Measuring Health. Comparing Russia with the
United States by several measures of health and health care. All statistics are
from 1994, unless otherwise noted
Health care expenditures (as a percent
of gross domestic product, 1990-95) Russia 4.8%. United States 14.3%
People per physician. (1993) Russia 222. United States 421 Infant mortality.
(deaths per 1,000 live births, 1995)
Russia 18. United States 8
Death
rate (all ages). (deaths per 100,000 population).
M F. Russia 1,765.2 1,369.5. United States 919 839
Malignant neoplasms
(cancer) (deaths per 100,000)
M F. Russia 243.9 167.1. United States 220.7 190.5.
Cerebrovascular disease
(stroke) (deaths per 100,000)
M F. Russia 227.7 350.9. United States 47.4 69.8. Pneumonia and flu.
(deaths per 100,000).
M F. Russia 32.5 9.7. United States 29.4 33.1.
Tuberculosis of the
respiratory system. (deaths per 100,000).
MF. Russia 26.7 2.9. United States 0.5 0.3. Infectious and parasitic
diseases. (deaths per 100,000)
M F. Russia 35.6 8.8. United States (1992) 12.2 12.5. Diabetes mellitus.
(deaths per 100,000).
M F. Russia 6.3 13.1. United States 21.8 19.5. SOURCE: 1995 World Health
Statistics Annual, a publication of the World Health Organization; Statistical
Abstract of the United States, 1996; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
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Newsday (New York, NY), October 26, 1997
National Center for Health Statistics.
Newsday Photos by Viorel Florescu- 1)
Quick Cleanup. A nurse at Republican Hospital in Tskhinvali, Georgia, cleans
instruments between surgeries by swishing them in a basin of water that has sat
uncovered for hours. 2) Heartbreaker. Dr. Paul Sergeyev of Leningrad Republican
Infectious Disease Hospital holds 6-month-old Lisa, who was abandoned by her
HIV-positive mother. 3) Stretched. At Republican Hospital in Tskhinvali,
Georgia, above, doctors perform an emergency surgery using generators and a
manual pump. 4) At left, a piece of cloth that serves as a face mask and a pair
of rubber gloves have been left to dry on a radiator at a tuberculosis hospital
in Ulan Ude, Buryatia, where they will be reused. 5) Compassion. Dr. Igor
Boychenko and nurse Galina Efremova talk to a patient at Ukraine's Odessa Oblast
Hospital, now a sister' to Coney Island Hospital in a deal that is benefiting
both. 6) A mother's warmth. Above, an unidentified woman tends her newborn baby
at a hospital in Kurta, Georgia, in a former schoolroom with just a wood stove
for heat. 7) At left, an unidentified man fills two buckets with water from a
street pump in Irkutsk. Most homes in the Siberian city do not have running
water. 8) TB Tests. Dr. Ludmila Ierbadaeva handles sputum samples in a TB lab in
Siberia. There is no money for gloves, masks or for her salary. 9) Cold Comfort.
A patient at a TB hospital in Tskhinvali has gotten a log to burn on the floor
for warmth.
GRAPHIC: Newsday Charts- 1) Expected Life Span. Comparing life expectancy at
birth, in 1995, in Russia and the former Soviet republics with the United States
and several other western nations. SOURCE: World Bank 1997 World Development
Indicators. 2) Measuring Health. Comparing Russia with the United States by
several measures of health and health care. All statistics are from 1994, unless
otherwise noted. SOURCE: 1995 World Health Statistics Annual, a publication of
the World Health Organization; Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1996;
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health
Statistics. (see end of text) Newsday Photos by Viorel Florescu- 1-9) see end
of text for captions. 10) Newsday Cover Photo by Viorel Florescu- (a patient in
a Russian hospital; NS bulldog edition)
LANGUAGE: English
LOAD-DATE: October 26, 1997
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LEVEL 1 - 18 OF 18 STORIES
Copyright 1997 Newsday, Inc.
Newsday (New York, NY)
October 26, 1997, Sunday, ALL EDITIONS
SECTION: NEWS; Page A42
LENGTH: 752 words
SERIES: CRUMBLED EMPIRE, SHATTERED HEALTH. First in a series
HEADLINE: CRUMBLED EMPIRE, SHATTERED HEALTH / FOR YEARS, A SECRETLY SICK SYSTEM
BYLINE: By Susan Sachs. MOSCOW CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: MOSCOW
BODY:
MOSCOW Demographer Leonid Rybakovsky remembers the day that health statistics
died in the former Soviet Union.
It was 1976 and, in an Orwellian turn of phrase, the Communist Party central
committee had created a "Commission on the Non-Publication of Data."
"I was on this commission," said Rybakovsky, now, as then, the director of
the federal Center of Demographics.
"There were also generals from the Ministry of Defense and people from the
ministries of central planning and economics,' he said.
"A general got up and said to us all: We must not reveal the number of boys
being born in the Soviet Union. Our enemies could use this information. We must
make it a state secret. "
There was no arguing with a general, Rybakovsky recalled.
And so statistics about Soviet births by gender were classified. So was all
information about life expectancy. Scientists in the know, like Rybakovsky, even
had to sign a pledge never to reveal data about the state of the Soviet
citizen's health.
"It reflected the Soviet attitude toward human beings," he said. "We couldn't
talk about public health SO the problems were never dealt with."
The paternalistic mania for secrecy in the Soviet Union produced a generation
of health-care workers who knew that the country's medical system was sick but
could do nothing about it.
Soviet researchers, for example, sometimes studied the ecological disaster
areas dotting the country and their effect on public health. But not until a few
years ago were the studies acknowledged and, in some cases, acted upon.
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"Fifteen years ago we did ecological research, but the studies were stuck in
a cupboard, said Larissa Shcheplyagina, a Moscow pediatrician who has worked
with children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion.
"Leaders changed. Times changed. But the statistics stayed in the drawer."
These days, she believes people are listening. Last year, Shcheplyagina
headed a study of 3,500 children under the age of 14 in the highly polluted city
of Klin, the birthplace of the composer Tchaikovsky, about 50 miles north of
Moscow. The water, soil and air is polluted with sulfur dioxide, mercury, heavy
metals and other contaminants from heavy industry.
The study found alarming rates of asthma, chronic digestive diseases and
endocrine system problems in young residents.
"These children begin to fall ill from the day they are born, " said
Shcheplyagina. "But now the local authorities have instituted a special project
for diagnosis and treatment of ecological diseases. You could say that one of
our achievements is the right to call a spade a spade.'
In the new Russia, there are mountains of health statistics - more than the
average person can digest. And they are, almost universally, bad news -
catastrophic, even - when compared with the rosy propaganda that most Russians
grew up believing.
"In 1964 and 1965, our life expectancy for both men and women was as good as
in the major industrial countries of the West," said Rybakovsky. "It was a
period when we had combatted mass epidemics. Then everywhere else in the
industrialized world, they began to improve the health system. In Russia, we
only increased the number of beds. "
The overall decline in the quality of health services, according to Russian
health officials, really began in the 1970s, dubbed by subsequent historians as
the "period of stagnation."
It was the time of Leonid Brezhnev, the Communist Party general-secretary
whose own health deteriorated over the years to the point that he was barely
aware of what was going on around him.
One tragic legacy of the period is the widespread incidence of iodine
deficiency in Russia, which occurred because of the suspension in the 1980s of
public health measures to counteract a natural shortage. The effect can be seen
in the worsening health of young children - thyroid problems, low birth weights,
mental retardation.
By 1980, the average life expectancy at birth for Soviet males was 61.4
years, down from the 1965 post-war - peak of 65 years. By 1984, the death rate was
11.6 per 1,000 population, up from the low of 7.2 deaths per 1,000 in 1964.
But the conspiracy of silence remained.
While the death rate now is considered astronomically high by global health
experts, it was also "very high in 1980, said Vladimir Shkolnikov, deputy
director of the Russian Center for Demographics. But even then, he said, "I
couldn't talk about it. Nothing was allowed to be published.'
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UKRAINE: U.S. ASSISTANCE PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Objectives. The primary mission of U.S. assistance to Ukraine is
to help Ukraine succeed in the fundamental restructuring of its
economic and political systems. The U.S. supports the economic
and political reforms essential to dismantling the vestiges of a
centralized, planned economy and establishing a stable democracy
with a prosperous market economy, while maintaining social
welfare and stability during and beyond this transition.
Specifically, the U.S. assistance program seeks to catalyze an
improved environment for business, investment, and trade while
simultaneously encouraging environmentally sustainable
development; promoting the democratic transition through
strengthened rule of law and fostering of a civil society; and
creating a more secure social safety net, including humanitarian
assistance to the weaker segments of society.
Funding. From 1991 through 1996 the USG obligated over $1.3
billion to assistance programs in Ukraine. For Fiscal Year 1997,
approximately $225 million was budgeted for Ukraine from the
Freedom Support Act (FSA). Through USAID, technical assistance
is provided to such fields as economic restructuring,
agriculture, environment, health, democratic reform, and private
sector development. Programs such as the Peace Corps and the
transport of humanitarian assistance are also funded from FSA.
In addition, S51 million in Nunn-Lugar funds was provided in FY97
to assist Ukraine with nuclear dismantlement, non-proliferation
programs, and industrial partnerships. The assistance budget for
FY98 will likely be commensurate with FY97 assistance levels.
Transition to a market economy. On the macroeconomic level,
USAID provides technical assistance and training to help Ukraine
formulate sound fiscal policies, fair tax systems and
enforcement, transparent and accurate budgeting, customs
regulations conducive to trade, and regulatory bodies that
encourage savings and investment. USAID is assisting Ukraine to
develop a civil code which would provide a legal foundation for
basic business activities and reshape the banking system.
Privatization and restructuring of existing state-owned and
managed enterprises, development of capital markets, the
encouragement of new business start-ups, and the easing of the
regulatory and fiscal burdens on all enterprises are essential
strategic steps towards a market economy. Linkages to USG-funded
venture capital and lending programs, such as the Western NIS
Enterprise Fund and the Eurasia Foundation, complement the full
range of business services.
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) Special American Business
Internship Training (SABIT) program provides training and
financial services to Ukrainian professionals through placement
in U.S. firms. DOC's Business Information Service (BISNIS)
encourages and facilitates business partnerships between U.S. and
Ukrainian companies. USDA's Cochran Fellowship Program provides
short-term training to public and private sector specialists.
There are currently about 190 Peace Corps volunteers serving in
Ukraine, primarily in the areas of business development and
English language instruction.
The USG is providing expertise to restructure Ukraine's electric
power monopoly and its coal sector. Working with its G-7
partners and the EU, the U.S. is seeking to develop an
engineering solution to the sarcophagus which covers Chornobyl's
destroyed Unit 4 reactor (preventing the release of radioactivity
to the environment) and enhance operational and fire safety at
all nuclear reactors in the country.
Transition to democracy. The U.S. is assisting Ukraine to become
a nation in which government policy and activity reflects the
needs and wishes of an informed citizenry. USIA's exchange
programs support this effort by providing over 8,000 Ukrainians
the opportunity to meet U.S. counterparts. A. new initiative,
Community Connections, will bring Ukrainian entrepreneur, legal,
and government officials from 10 regions to establish linkages
with U.S. counterparts. Through USAID support to civic groups,
NGOs, political parties, and democratic free unions, the U.S.
seeks to strength civil society, local government capacity, long-
term viability of an independent media, and competitive and fair
political processes, including elections.
Support for the social sector. Political support for reform
risks evaporation unless affordable programs can help protect
Ukraine's most vulnerable citizens. USAID is helping to
facilitate the price increases necessary to improve the quality
of social services, laying the foundation for a sustainable
social insurance system. USAID also helped set up a means-tested
housing subsidy program which helps Ukraine's neediest while
reducing Ukraine's fiscal problems. The program is now being
replicated nationally.
USAID and USEPA support pilot projects in developing reliable
supplies of potable water; pest and pesticide management in
agriculture; energy efficiency audits; and waste minimalization
USEPA recently provided Ukraine with a mobile radiation
laboratory to help delineate areas of the country which suffer
excessive radiation levels.
Through mid-1997 the U.S. has directly provided or facilitated
delivery of over $475 million in U.S. humanitarian assistance to
the Ukrainian people, including excess military humanitarian
commodities and food assistance under USDA's Food for Progress
Program.
Refugee and migration assistance. The UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) both provide assistance to Ukraine as part of the follow-up
to the 996 International Conference on Refugees and Migration in
the CIS. The U.S. has contributed $15.6 million to the $90
million UNHCR/IOM Joint Appeal for the CIS. Migration and
refugee assistance to Ukraine included in the Joint Appeal totals
$7.3 million which includes money for humanitarian aid to
refugees, self-help assistance to minorities (such as the Crimean
Tartars) returning to Ukraine, and support for Ukrainian
government efforts to strengthen its own migration management
capacity.
UKRAINE: ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
While the most public environmental issue in Ukraine remains the
nuclear legacy in general, and Chornobyl in particular, Ukraine
has other significant environmental issues.
Nuclear contamination. The long-term health consequences of
nuclear contamination in Ukraine remain undetermined and
controversial, but a large "exclusion zone" near the site of the
Chornobyl reactor remains sufficiently contaminated that human
use of these areas is restricted. Given the long and continuing
use of nuclear power reactors of unsafe design, this issue will
be important well into the future. The U.S. has been active in
assisting Ukraine in nuclear remediation and safety. In
particular, we have been working to improve reactor operations
and to phase-out the oldest and least safe units.
Chornobyl Shelter. Experts believe the temporary, 20-story
concrete shelter enclosing the radioactive ruins of the reactor
which exploded in 1986 could collapse, releasing radiation into
the environment. The G-7, under U.S. chairmanship, and Ukraine
have devised a $750 million plan to make it safe and
environmentally stable. The Vice President and President Kuchma
will chair an International Pledging Conference on the Chornobyl
Shelter November 20 in New York to secure contributions.
Industrial pollution. Ukraine suffers the same industrial
pollution found throughout Central Europe and much of the former
Soviet Union. Abandoned waste and manufacturing sites, as well
as operating ones, are a significant problem. This and a
deterioration of the basic infrastructure has presented an
immediate problem of lack of potable water and basic sanitation
services. These environmental problems are related to general
economic weakness and the slow development of local government,
which normally addresses this type of environmental issue.
Environmental activism. While Ukraine faces many environmental
problems, it seems willing to try to address them, and the public
is engaged in a public debate on the issues. In fact,
environmental activism is helping provide some impetus for reform
of local government, which we wish to encourage.
UKRAINE: U.S. EMBASSY
The American Embassy in Kiev is located on a quiet street two
kilometers north of the city center. The Chancery building was
constructed in the 1950s to house Communist Party and Komsomol
(Communist Youth League) headquarters of one of Kiev's
neighborhoods. The U.S. Embassy opened in 1991 and occupied the
present building on January 23, 1992. In December 1992, the
"America House" cultural center, with a reference library and
computer facilities, was opened.
America's diplomatic mission to Ukraine consists of 125 U.S.
government employees representing the State Department, Agency
for International Development (USAID), United States Information
Agency (USIS), Department of Defense, Peace Corps, Foreign
Commercial Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the
Treasury Department. Ukraine is host to one of the largest Peace
Corps programs in the world. The program began in 1992, and
currently has six full-time American employees and 160
volunteers. USAID, USIS, the Peace Corps, and the Foreign
Commercial Service are housed in separate office buildings.
Ambassador
William Green Miller
Deputy Chief of Mission
James Schumaker
USAID Director
Gregory Huger
Public Affairs Officer
Mary Kruger
Defense Attache
Colonel Bruce Berry
Peace Corps Director
Joroslav Dutkewych
Senior Commercial Officer
Andrew Bihun
Legal Attache
Michael Pystozymuka
Senior Treasury Advisor
David Darby
UKRAINE: JEWISH CEMETERIES
History of intolerance. Ukrainian history includes an
unfortunate legacy of intolerance toward minorities. The Jews of
western Ukraine were regularly subjected to forced migrations -
"pogroms Millions of Ukrainians were exterminated in Stalin's
forced labor camps. Ukraine was singled out for a disruptive
campaign that ruined its once-rich agriculture and led to a
massive famine in the 1930s that killed millions of Ukrainians of
all origins. Post-Soviet Ukraine has begun to take steps to
address previous wrongs. While the human rights record has
recently improved, historic anti-Semitism remains a serious
concern.
Bilateral agreement. In 1994, Ukraine signed an agreement with
the United States to preserve cultural sites important to both
countries. While this agreement was not specifically aimed at
any particular ethnic or religious group, early on, the
rehabilitation of Jewish cemeteries became the first focus of
efforts.
Jewish cemeteries. Under Jewish religious law, a cemetery
forever a sacred site. In L'viv, decades before the Nazi
occupation, the historic central cemetery was full and closed to
new burials. A new cemetery on the city outskirts served the
Jewish community. The Nazis used gravestones from the central
cemetery as paving blocks for roads. The visible elements of the
cemetery were destroyed, but most of the graves remained
undisturbed. After the Nazis were defeated, the Soviets took
control of L'viv and turned the site into a large marketplace.
Thus, the current use of the L'viv marketplace is considered an
ongoing desecration and an affront to the Jewish community. This
pattern was repeated in numerous communities throughout Ukraine
(and eastern Europe generally).
Competing priorities. The issue of restoration of cemeteries --
in L'viv and elsewhere -- must take place in the context of
present-day realities. Many U.S. Jewish organizations prefer to
focus on the needs of the small communities of Jews still living
in Ukraine, giving restoration of cemeteries a lower priority.
Orthodox Jewish leaders tend to give precedence to the cemetery
issue both on religious grounds, and because some of the greatest
rabbinical scholars of the 17th and 18th century are buried in
what are now unmarked graves. Resident Jews tend to fear an
anti-Semitic backlash if too much emphasis is put on Jewish
religious needs and requirements - they urge restraint in dealing
with the Ukrainian government.
Dealing with the problem. The Ukrainian government has ordered
an absolute freeze, or moratorium, on any construction or
privatization of sites that have been identified as Jewish
cemeteries, either presently or in the past. A Joint Cultural
Heritage Commission has been established to oversee
identification of Jewish cemeteries and non-Jewish cultural
heritage sites throughout Ukraine, and to seek a mutually-agreed
means of addressing the cemetery problem.
Future steps. International Jewish groups have already indicated
a willingness to provide resources to repair, restore, preserve,
and protect Jewish cemetery sites in Ukraine. We estimate that
there are over 2000 such sites in Ukraine, many in places where
there are few or no Jews left. This issue is on the agenda of
the Joint Commission on Cultural Heritage, envisioned by the 1994
bilateral agreement, which next meets in Washington this fall.
THE CENTRAL JEWISH CEMETERY IN L'VIV
Setting. Following the Nazi invasion in 1941, the occupying
German forces flattened and paved over the central Jewish
cemetery in the heart of L'viv. (This cemetery space had long
been filled to capacity with graves, and several greatly revered
Jewish sages were buried there.) After the war, the central city
market was built, mostly involving kiosks and metal sheds, on the
cemetery site. Over the intervening decades, at least one
several-story building was built on the grounds - now used as the
meat and dairy market - as well as several smaller permanent
structures.
Adjacent to these grounds is a hospital complex of several
buildings which are embellished with Jewish symbols and
inscriptions. This was the Jewish hospital, and now serves as a
maternity hospital. We know that no graves lie under the
hospital complex, as the Jewish residents of the last century
would never have constructed anything atop graves. The whole
area is immense, with the aggregate dimension of several football
fields.
Construction issues. In the summer of 1996, construction started
on the land just between the market and an adjoining hospital
complex. International protest stopped this construction,
whereupon the Kuchma government articulated its intention for a
national freeze on any construction or privatization on Jewish
cemetery sites. In September and October, 1996, a mixed
commission of local and GOU officials met in L'viv and determined
that the market should be moved and the cemetery in some way
memorialized. An AID study completed on August 8, 1997 estimated
the project cost between $4 and $12 million. The mayor of L'viv
is believed to be committed to this project, which is viewed, if
done well and sensitively, as a boon to the city on several
levels.
The site. Apart from the actual movement of the market from the
cemetery grounds, still blocked by lack of funds, the major issue
remaining is the form the preserved cemetery would take. Care
must be taken to insure that, while Jewish law and sensitivities
are abided with, a forbidding, impenetrable wall not be erected
around the perimeter of what was for decades the busiest place in
town, thereby risking fomenting discord among L'viv's Jewish and
Ukrainian communities. The form, function, and accessibility of
this space are very much at issue. The cemetery itself cannot be
recreated as it was, as the headstones are all gone. If the term
"memorial park" is to be the operative one, it must be designed,
constructed, and utilized with great care, mixing legitimate
religious requirements with real-world considerations of access
by Jews and non-Jews alike. For this, we will look to the
leadership provided by the U.S. Commission for the Preservation
of America's Heritage Abroad; to Michael Lewan, Rabbis Morris
Sherer (Agudath Israel) and Chaskel Besser, and others. Meetings
that State Department officers have attended lead us to believe
that Rabbis Sherer and Besser understand the art of the possible,
that they will impose by their own moral authority the proper
amount of restraint, and that the most Orthodox and Hasidic
rabbis will defer to their judgment (within reason).
Restoration costs. We have long discussed with the Jewish
Orthodox leadership the eventual need for significant financial
contributions by the Jewish community in L'viv and elsewhere.
Recognizing the cardinal principle that Ukraine's Jews should not
be asked to buy back their own cemeteries, the costs of
restoration are a different matter. If the cash-strapped GOU and
local governments act to protect the estimated 2,000 Jewish
cemeteries across Ukraine, much of the cost of subsequent
preservation must fall to the Jewish community, particularly that
part of the world Jewish community in the United States and
Israel that has been leading this effort. We believe this point
to be inherent to this discussion, and to be a matter of at least
implicit agreement.
UKRAINE: ARRIVAL STATEMENT
I am delighted to be in Ukraine again and am looking forward
to spending time with my friend Ludmila Kuchma. L'Viv has
always been a link between east and West and it is fitting
that I have the opportunity to visit here following several
days in Central Asia and Russia. In the United States we
are proud that our society is a "melting point" in that
blends diverse communities together into a strong society
that has stood for the same ideals and I want to see how you
are making it work.
I am looking forward to spending time with some of these
communities and to visiting the landmarks that speak of
L'Viv history. I am also eager to meet with Ukrainians and
Americans working together at the L'Viv oblast hospital.
UKRAINE: DEPARTURE STATEMENT
I am grateful to have had the opportunity to spend time with
the people of Ukraine. I am especially touched by the
hospitality shown by Ukraine's First Lady, Ludmila Kuchma.
I decided to come to L'Viv because it has been a multi-
cultural, multi-ethnic city for centuries. The ability to
create a society that tolerates - even celebrates -
differences is one of the great strengths the United States
and Ukraine have in common. Our shared values were evident
as I visited the L'Viv Oblast Hospital and saw the work that
our healthcare professionals are doing together.
I want to again thank the people of Ukraine for their
hospitality and to reaffirm the admiration of the American
people for the great strides independent Ukraine has made in
developing a democratic society which fully honors human
rights.
PUBLIC THEMES - PRESS THEMES (UKRAINE)
"FAMILY FEMINISM" IN UKRAINE:
"FAMILY FEMINISM" IS A TERM THAT CERTAINLY APPLIES IN
UKRAINE.
THE STRONG FAMILY VALUES FOUND IN UKRAINE AND FEMINIST
GOALS ARE COMPLETELY COMPATIBLE.
THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNIST INSTITUTIONS PUT AN EVEN
GREATER BURDEN ON WOMEN IN THIS SOCIETY.
REDUCED FAMILY INCOMES, ABSENCE OF AN ETHICAL CODE TO
BE TAUGHT IN THE SCHOOLS, STRESSES BROUGHT ON BY
ECONOMIC DECLINE - THESE ARE ALL BURDENS THAT UKRAINIAN
WOMEN HAVE SHOULDERED FOR THEIR FAMILIES.
THESE PROBLEMS MADE IT NECESSARY FOR PARENTS,
ESPECIALLY MOTHERS, TO PROVIDE EVER MORE GUIDANCE TO
CHILDREN.
AS THROUGHOUT MUCH OF THE WORLD, THE WOMEN OF UKRAINE
BEAR THE BRUNT OF CHANGES IN SOCIETY.
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT SOLUTIONS TO UKRAINE'S SOCIAL AND
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS INCLUDE WOMEN'S INPUT. WOMEN
UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEMS, AND THEY CAN HELP FIND SILUTIONS
THAT WORK.
THAT IS THE ESSENCE OF "FAMILY FEMINISM:
EMPOWERMENT IN POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SPHERES
BASED ON STRONG FAMILIES AND A STRONG ETHICAL AND
MORAL FOUNDATION
DIFFICULT Q'S AND A'S (L'VIV)
Q. What has the U.S. done to persuade L'Viv authorities to
restore the ancient Jewish cemetery?
(The cemetery was desecrated by the Nazis, then converted by
the Soviets to a marketplace - now, one of L'Viv's largest.)
A.
IN 1994, THE UNITED STATES AND UKRAINE ENTERED INTO A
FORMAL, BILATERAL AGREEMENT ON PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL
HERITAGE.
THAT AGREEMENT SERVES AS THE BASIS FOR REACHING
SOLUTIONS ON DIFFICULT ISSUES LIKE THE FATE OF JEWISH
CEMETERIES, AND THE RECOVERY OF UKRAINIAN CULTURAL
SYMBOLS THAT HAVE MADE THEIR WAY TO THE UNITED STATES.
UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF VICE PRESIDENT GORE AND
PRESIDENT KUCHMA, THE U.S. -UKRAINE BINATIONAL
COMMISSION IS ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF THE L'VIV
CEMETERY, AND THE OTHER QUESTIONS I MENTIONED.
WE NEED TO FIND SOLUTIONS THAT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE
GREAT HISTORICAL AND RELIGIOUS IMPORTANCE OF THE SITES
AND ARTIFICATS IN QUESTION, AND ALSO THE NEEDS OF THE
PEOPLE OF L'VIV.
FIRST LADY'S TALK WITH FIRST LADY LIUDMYLA KUCHMA (UKRAINE)
THANK YOU FOR YOUR WARM GREETINGS ON MY BIRTHDAY
YOUR OBSERVATION ABOUT THE CLOSE LINKAGE BETWEEN THE
EQUALITY OF WOMEN AND DENMOCRACY WAS SOMETHING I FEEL
VERY DEEPLY AS WELL.
I'M DELIGHTED THAT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT DEMOCRACY AND
WOMEN'S RIGHTS, WE CAN TALK ABOUT THE CLEAR UNDERSTANDING
IN UKRAINE OF THEIR INTER-RELATIONSHIP. MUCH OF WHAT
UKRAINE HAS ACHIEVED IN THIS REGARD RESULTS FROM YOUR
EFFORTS AND THOSE OF PRESIDENT KUCHMA.
AS YOU MENTIONED IN YOUR LETTER, I HAVE SPOKEN OUT ABOUT
OPENING DOORS FOR WOMEN - ABOUT HOW THIS IS ACHIEVED
THROUGH THE CREATION OF A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY.
IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN CLEAR TO ME THAT THE FULL POTENTIAL OF
ANY SOCIETY CAN ONLY BE REALIZED WHEN OPPORTUNITIES FOR
WOMEN AND MEN ARE EQUAL.
YOU KNOW, ONE OF MY CLOSEST ADVISERS IS OF UKRAINIAN
HERITAGE, SO I FEEL I HAVE SOME SENSE OF HOW OUR TWO
GREAT NATIONS COMPARE.
THROUGHOUT THE LONG YEARS OF COMMUNIST OPPRESSION,
UKRAINIAN-AMERICANS REMAINED LOYAL TO THEIR LANGUAGE,
CHURCHES AND VALUES. THEY HELD ONTO THEIR CULTURAL
IDENTITY.
THE IDEA OF UKRAINE'S INDEPENDENCE REMAINED STRONG IN MY
COUNTRY, PARTICULARLY IN THE CITIES WHERE UKRAINIANS
GATHERED - CLEVELAND, PHILADELPHIA, NEW YORK, CHICAGO.
THESE UKRAINIAN AMERICANS WERE ABLE TO KEEP U.S. FOREIGN
POLICY ORIENTED TOWARD UKRAINE'S EVENTUAL INDEPENDENCE
THROUGH SOME VERY HARD TIMES.
I'M PROUD THAT THE PRESIDENT AND I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO
PRESIDE OVER THE PERIOD OF UKRAINE'S EMERGENCE AS A FREE
AND DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY.
FIRST LADY'S MEETING WITH UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT LEONID KUCHMA
THE PRESIDENT ASKED ME TO CONVEY HIS GREETINGS. HE
APPRECIATED THE MEETING YOU AND HE HAD IN NEW YORK IN
SEPTEMBER, AND HE'S LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING FROM THE
VICE PRESIDENT AFTER YOU SEE HIM IN JUST A FEW DAYS.
UKRAINE'S EMERGENCE AS A FREE, INDEPENDENT STATE, SECURE
IN ITS BORDERS, HAS BEEN A TOP PRIORITY FOR THE UNITED
STATES SINCE UKRAINE GAINED INDEPENDENCE SIX YEARS AGO.
THE COMMITMENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE, TO THESE PRINCIPLES REFLECTS THE DEEP RESPECT WE
HAVE FOR THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE.
YOUR HISTORY OF STRUGGLE AGAINST OPPRESSION AND TRAGEDY
HAS MADE YOU STRONG, EVEN IF NOW, CONDITIONS ARE
DIFFICULT.
MY COUNTRY HAS TRIED TO HELP IN MANY WAYS - BY PROVIDING
POLITICAL SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE INTERNATIONALLY, BY
BRINGING UKRAINIAN STUDENTS TO THE U.S., BY PROVIDING
FINANCIAL AID, AND BY SENDING OUR BEST TECHNICAL EXPERTS
AND OUR PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS TO HELP YOU REBUILD.
OUR HOPE IS THAT UKRAINE'S TRANSFORMATION TO A MARKET-
ORIENTED ECONOMY WILL ACCELERATE, TO BRING THE BENEFITS
OF THE TRANSFORMATION TO THE GREATEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE AS
QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.
ONE OF THE ISSUES I WILL BE EMPHASIZING DURING MY VISIT
IS ONE ON WHICH YOU AND MRS. KUCHMA (LIUDMYLA) HAVE SHOWN
REAL LEADERSHIP. THAT IS, THE NECESSITY FOR A COUNTRY
IN TRANSITION LIKE UKRAINE TO MAKE FULL USE OF ITS HUMAN
RESOURCES BY OPENING OPPORTUNITIES TO WOMEN.
CLEARLY, THERE ARE VAST DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE SITUATION
FOR WOMEN IN THE MAJOR CITIES AND THE COUNTRYSIDE, so THE
DEGREE OF PROGRESS WILL VARY.
BUT I'M PLEASED TO LEARN OF YOUR COMMITMENT IN THIS AREA.
ANOTHER ISSUE I WILL BE DISCUSSING IS ONE THAT'S BEEN
RAISED IN THE EUROPEAN UNION CONTEXT - THAT IS THE
PROBLEM OF SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN.
AS YOU KNOW, MANY YOUNG GIRLS FROM UKRAINE, RUSSIA AND
POLAND HAVE BEEN ENTRAPPED IN SITUATIONS WHERE THEY FIND
THEMSELVES IN THE MIDDLE EAST OR THE WEST AND ARE FORCED
INTO PROSTITUTION OR INTO SEX-ORIENTED ROLES THAT THEY
NEVER SOUGHT.
ORGANIZED CRIME ORGANIZATIONS ARE BEHIND MANY OF THESE
OPERATIONS.
WE HOPE TO HELP UKRAINIAN ORGANIZATIONS TO BEGIN TO
EDUCATE YOUNG WOMEN ABOUT THIS DANGER AND TO EQUIP THEM
TO DEAL WITH THE SITUATION IF THEY ARE CONFRONTED WITH
IT.
I DECIDED TO COME TO L'VIV BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN A MULTI-
CULTURAL, MULTI-ETHNIC CITY FOR CENTURIES.
THE ABILITY TO CREATE A SOCIETY THAT TOLERATES - EVEN
CELEBRATES - DIFFERENCES IS ONE OF THE GREAT STRENGTHS
THE UNITED STATES AND UKRAINE HAVE IN COMMON.
WE BOTH HAVE LARGE COMMUNITIES OF CITIZENS WHO SPEAK A
DIFFERENT LANGUAGE OR COME FROM DIFFERENT ETHNIC OR
RELIGIOUS BACKGROUNDS.
WE HAVE CREATED A "MELTING POT" IN THE UNITED STATES THAT
BLENDS THE COMMUNITIES TOGETHER INTO WHAT WE CALL THE
TYPICAL AMERICAN. YOUR GOVERNMENT HAS STOOD FOR THE SAME
IDEALS AND I WANT TO SEE HOW YOU ARE MAKING IT WORK.
BIOS
Ukraine
"hornobyll
KIEV
Eviv
Kharkiv
President
Dnipropetrovs"
Odesa
Leonid Kuchma
(elected July 1994)
Date of Independence: 1 December 1991
Population:
approx. 51 million
Cabinet of Ministers
Key Ukrainian Officials
Prime Minister
Valeriy Pustovoytenko
First Deputy Prime Minister
Anatoliy Holubchenko
Ambassador to the US
Yuriy Shcherbak
Deputy Prime Minister/ Labor Minister (social policy)
Mykola Biloblotskyy
Chief of Staff
Yevhen Kushnaryov
Deputy Prime Minister (economic reform)
Serhiy Tyhypko
General Affairs
Oleksander Volkov
Deputy Prime Minister (humanitarian affairs)
Valeriy Smoliy
National Bank Chairman
Viktor Yushchenko
Agriculture Minister
Yuriy Karasyk
National Security Secretary
Volodymyr Horbulin
Cabinet of Ministers
Anatoliy Tolstoukhov
State Commission for Enterprise
Yuriy Yekhanurov
Coal Industry Minister
Stanislav Yanko
National Bureau of Investigation
Vasyl Durdynets
Culture Minister
Dmytro Ostapenko
Procurator General
Oleh Lytvak
Defense Minister
Oleksandr Kuzmuk
Security Service Chairman
Volodymyr Radchenko
Economics Minister
Viktor Suslov
State Property Fund (Acting)
Volodymyr Lanovyy
Education Minister
Mykhaylo Zgurovskyy
Nat'l Agency for Reconst. & Devel
Roman Shpek
Energy Minister
Oleksiy Sheberstov
UN Perm Rep
Anatoliy Zlenko
Emergency Situations/Chornobyl Aftermath
Valeriy Kalchenko
Environmental Protection/Nuclear Safety
Yuriy Kostenko
Rada (parliament)
Family and Youth Affairs
Valentina Dovzhenko
Chairman
Oleksandr Moroz
Finance Minister
Ihor Mityukov
Deputy Chairman
Viktor Musiyaka
Foreign Affairs Minister
Hennady Udovenko
First Deputy Chairman
Oleksandr Tkachenko
Foreign Economic Relations/Trade
Serhiy Osyka
Health Minister
Andriy Serdyuk
Selected Rada Commissions and Chairmen
Industry Minister
Vasyl Hureyev
Information Minister
Zinoviy Kulyk
Organized Crime and Corruption
Hryhoriy Omelchenko
Interior Minister
Yuriy Kravchenko
Defense and State Security
Volodymyr Mukhin
Justice Minister
Susanna Stanyk
Nuclear Policy and Safety
Mykhaylo Pavlovskyy
Science and Technology
Volodymyr Semynozhenko
Finance and Banking
Viktor Suslov
Transportation Minister
Valeriy Cherep
Basic Indies & Social Devel. of Regions
Valeriy Cherep
Foreign Affairs/CIS Relations
Borys Oliynyk
Budget Issues
Mykola Azarov
Econ. Pol. & Admin. of Nat'l Economy
Oleh Taranov
September 1997
Withdrawal/Redaction Marker
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
DATE
RESTRICTION
AND TYPE
001. reports
bios (13 pages)
c 10/1997
P1/b(1)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
First Lady's Office
Speechwriting (Noa Meyer Subject Files)
OA/Box Number: 13007
FOLDER TITLE:
The Trip of the First Lady to Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Russia, and Ukraine,
November 9-18, 1997 (David) [Binder] [7]
2012-0869-S
kc959
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - (44 U.S.C. 2204(a)|
Freedom of Information Act 15 U.S.C. 552(b)|
PI National Security Classified Information |(a)(1) of the PRA]
b(1) National security classified information [(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office |(a)(2) of the PRA]
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute |(a)(3) of the PRA]
an agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute |(b)(3) of the FOIA|
financial information [(a)(4) of the PRA
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information [(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors |a)(5) of the PRA]
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy [(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy [(a)(6) of the PRA
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes |(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells |(b)(9) of the FOIA]
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
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Government Structure (1 page)
nd
P1/b(1)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
First Lady's Office
Speechwriting (Noa Meyer Subject Files)
OA/Box Number: 13007
FOLDER TITLE:
The Trip of the First Lady to Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Russia, and Ukraine,
November 9-18, 1997 (David) [Binder] [7]
2012-0869-S
kc959
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - [44 U.S.C. 2204(a)|
Freedom of Information Act - 15 U.S.C. 552(b)|
P1 National Security Classified Information [(a)(1) of the PRA]
b(1) National security classified information [(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office |(a)(2) of the PRAJ
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute |(a)(3) of the PRAJ
an agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute [(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information |(a)(4) of the PRA]
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information [(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors. or between such advisors [a)(5) of the PRA
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy [(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy [(a)(6) of the PRA]
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells [(b)(9) of the FOIA|
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
MAPS
Ukraine
Russian population"
Oblast boundary"
(percent)
D Boundaries snown are rhose that existed
a: the time of the 1989 census.
40 and above
20 to 40
0
200 Kilometers
Less than 20
Belarus
0
200 Miles
a Based on 1989 census
Russia
Poland
KIEV
*
Kharkiv
Slov.
Luhans'k
Kirovohrad
Hung.
Dnipropetrovs'k
Donets'
Zaporizhzhya
sujejuno
Moldova
Mykolayiv
Odesa
Romania
Crimea
Russia
Sevastopol
Ukraine. the second-largest country in Europe, is slightly smaller than Texas and consists of fertile
plains and plateaus with mountains in the west (the Carpathians) as well as in the Crimean
Peninsula in the south. Ethnic Ukrainians constitute approximately 70 percent of the population with
the majority being located in western Ukraine. Ethnic Russians comprise approximately 20 percent
of the population and are generally found in eastern Ukraine and the Crimea. Although Ukrainian
is the official language of the state. Russian is also widely spoken. especially in eastern Ukraine.
Even though Ukraine's agricultural and industrial sectors have declined substantially over the
last several years. the country's resources continue to support exports of some agricultural products.
ferrous metals. chemicals. and machinery. The country's major economic vulnerability continues
to be its heavy dependence on imported energy. primarily from Russia.
744282 (R00173) 10-97
Ukraine's Current Administrative Structure
Russia
Lithuania
Oblast boundary
0
100
200 kilometers
0
100
200 Milles
Belarus
Poland
Russia
Volyns'ka
Rivnens'ka
Chernihivs'ka
KIEV
Sums'ka
Zhytomyrs'ka
L'viv
Kyvivs'ka
Kharkiv
L'vivs'ka
Poltavs'ka
Kharkivs'ka
Ternopil's'ka
Luhans'ka
Slovakia
Khinel'nvis'ka
Ivano-
Cherkas'ka
Luhans'k
Frankivs'ka
Uzhhorod
Vinnyts'ka
Kirovohrads'ka
Hung.
Dnipropetrovs'ka
Donets'ka
Donets'k
Zakarpats'ka
Chernivets'ka
Mykolayivs'ka
Moldova
Zaporiz'ka
Odes'ka
Odesa
Khersons'ka
Romania
Russia
Respublika
/
Krym
Sevastopol
Serbia
Bulgaria
Unclassified
733223 (ROM/3) 994
EVENTS IN L'VIV
UKRAINE
002
authentic document from this part of the
Ukrainian state. attempts at organizing lew-
world is written in Hebrew, the so-called
ish National Autonomy under Ukrainian na-
51,465,000 II 400.000
"Kievan letter" (930 CE). Later this Russian-
tionalist auspices were stifled.
speaking community was absorbed by the
During the early Soviet period, Ukraine
Yiddish-speaking immigrants who came to
(together with Belacus) became a center of
DEMOGRAPHY
claimed Viddish as their mother tongue). The
Ukraine from Central and Europe. Large num-
Viddish culture, albeit devoid of any religious
The Jews of Ukraine constitute the third larg-
average age is close to 45.
bers of Jews came from Poland after it colo-
content. Yiddish schools, theaters, newspa-
est Jewish community in Europe and the fifth
HISTORY
nized much of the area in the 16th and 17th
pers and publishing houses were established.
in the world. Jews are mainly concentrated in
The idea of = distinct Viluainian jewry has
centuries. AC that time lews played an impor-
:
as was the "Institute of Jewish Proletarian
Kiev (110,000), Dnepropetrovsk (65,000),
been revived. In former times Jews living in
tant role in the economic life of the country.
Culture in the L'kraine", attached to the Ukrai-
Kharkov (47,000) and Odessa (45,000). Jews
various parts of the territory of present-day
especially as managers, agents, and in the ex-
nian Academy of Sciences. Toward the end of
also live in many of the smaller towns. West-
Ukraine had identified themselves as Russian,
port-import trade. Later, in 1648-9, the Jews
the 1930's, during the Stalinist purges, near-
em Ukraine. however, has only a small rem-
Polish, Galician, Romanian, Bessarabian,
of Ukraine bore the brunt of the Chmielnicki
1). all of these institutions were liquidated.
nant of its former population, with Lvov and
Hungarian or even Austrian lews- and more
rising against the Pol-
Throughout this
Chernovtsy each having only about 6,000
recently. as Soviet Jews.
ish gentry. in which
time. religious and Zi-
Jews. The majority of Jews in present-day
Jewish-Khazarian settlement in Kiev can
tens of thousands of
onist activity was
Ukraine are native Russian-Ukrainian speak-
be traced to the 10th century- preceding the
Jews lost their lives.
forced underground.
ers, and only some of the elderly speak Yid-
unification of the region and the crystalliza-
In the 19th centu-
By the late 1930's. al-
dish as their mother tongue (in 1926, 76.1%
tion of Ukrainian national identity. The first
ry. Ukraine, as a part
Ter a thorough crack-
W.J.C.NY
of the Pale of Settle-
down, most of those
Gathering at the monument to the victims of Babi Yar. 1992
ment. was densely
involved in propagat-
populated by Jews.
ing religious obser-
Despite restrictions,
vance or Zionism had
Jews played a promi-
been arrested.
nent role in the devel-
The Soviet author-
opment of commerce
ities established four
and industry in the
Jewish autonomous
region, and especially
districts in the south-
11/07/97 FRI 17:14 FAX 1212 755 5883
in the growth of its
em part of the repub-
major cities such as
lic and in the Crimea.
Kiev, Odessa and
These settlements
Kharkov. Many of the
lasted until World
most important Jew-
War II, when they
ish thinkers of the
Torah Crowns. Lver, 1764/65 and 1773
were overrun by the
modern age were
(inscription dates)
Germans and their
Silver. cast. repousse, engraved. parcel-gilt.
born there.
inhabitants mur-
semi-precious stones. glass states
Ukraine was the
dered. More than half
venue of some of the worst of the pogroms
the lews living in Ukraine were wiped out. The
pe
d under Tsarist Russian rule. Later.
Jews of Ukraine account for a great pro
in
Il
War and during the struggle for
tion of the Soviet victims of the Holoca
an independent Ukraine about 100 nnn leve
with the work slaughter taking also st..
003
ing Jews were often met with hostility. and the
ing of antisemitic graffiti, and sporadic at-
ISRAEL
Bratslav Chassidim converge on Uman to
repression of Jewish cultural and spiritual life
tacks on Jewish property. On a state visit to
Ukraine and Israel have enjoyed full diplo-
daven at the Rebbe's tomb and the town reac-
was especially severe in Soviet Ukraine. More-
Israel, the then President Leonid Kravchuk
matic relations since 1991.
quires some of its former ambience. Other
over, Kiev became a center for antisemitic
publicly apologized for his compatriots' role
Aliya - Since 1989, 168,263 Ukrainian fews
places of interest include synagogues and
publicistic activity.
in the bestial murder of Jews during the Ger-
have immigrated to Israel.
burial grounds scattered throughout the
The collapse of Communism and the re-
man occupation.
SITES'
country (most in a poor state of repair). and
creation of an independent Ukraine set the
RELIGIOUS LIFE.
Among the sites which attract large numbers
the site of the massacre at Babi-Yar, on which
stage for the revitalization of Jewish life. The
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, reli-
of Jewish visitors is Uman, the burial place of
an imposing monument has been erected.
Ukrainian government has been sensitive to
grous lite has undergone a revival, and Jewish
Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav, and Gadyach,
the needs of Ukrainian Jewry. Still, the pre-
communities in many cities and towns were
the tomb of Rabbi Shneur Zalman, the Alter
Association of Jewish Organizations
carious economic situation has been a deci-
reconstituted. Synagogues and mikvao/ are
Rebbe - the founder of the Lubavitch
and Communities of Ukroine
Korskaya Str. b. 252049 Kier
sive factor in the aliya of Ukrainian Jews.
now functioning in all cities and towns with a
Chassidic movement. Every year thousands of
Td. 7 USA 276 3431. Fin 7 044 271 7144
COMMUNITY
significant Jewish population. Religious lead-
The leading umbrella organizations are the
ership is provided by a number of foreign rab-
Embassy
Association of Jewish Organizations and
G.P.E.- S. Lest Ukrainki 34
/cwish Coancil of Ukraine
bis. The Ukrainian government recognizes
Kier 252195
Nimosukaya St. 7. 252103 Kicr 103
Communities of Ukraine and the Jewish
the authority of the Ukrainian Chief Rabbin-
Tel. 7 044 295 6216. Fax 7 048 294 9748
Trl. 296 3961. Fax. 295 9604
Council of Ukraine. The community is made
ate, which is located in Kiev. A network of Jew-
up of many different Jewish religious and cul-
ish religious schools has been opened and few-
W.J.C.NY
tural groups, including various Zionist orga-
ish education is available to all who seek it.
nizations. Leading international Jewish orga-
Kosher meat is produced locally and other
nizations have established branches in
items are imported. The JDC and other lew-
Ukraine.
ish and Israeli organizations have been active
The Jewish population is in decline, largely
in sponsoring Jewish activities. Generally
due to emigration and the ageing process. The
The horrible slaughter at Babi Yar inspired the great Russian
speaking, Jewish religious life is stronger in
writer, Yergeny Yevtushenko. to pen a powerful ude In the
community, together with international Jew-
Ukraine than in Russia.
victims. It later became the theme of composer Dimitri
ish welfare groups, is striving to alleviate the
CULTURE AND EDUCATION
Shostakovitch's 13th Symphony. In 1963 both the poet and the
poverty of the many destitute Jews in the
There are 78 Jewish schools in the country in
composer were denounced by the Saviel authorities.
45 cities, among them 13 day schools (in
"No gravestone stands on Babi Yar:
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country, a large portion of whom are elderly.
Among the community's priorities is secur-
Chernovtsy. Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Kiev,
Only coarse earth heaped roughly on the gash.
Such dread comes over me; I feel so old,
ing the return of nationalized Jewish property.
Lvov, Odessa, Vinnitsa and Zapozoshye) and
Old as the Jews. Today / am a Jew...
Antisemitism has been manifested by sec-
65 Sunday schools. Courses in Hebrew are
Now / 80 wandering, as an Egyptian slave;
tions of both the Ukrainian and Russian popu-
offered in many places, and there are many
And now / perish, splayed upon the cross
lations. The problem is especially acute in the
outlets for those who wish to express their
I am that little boy in Bialystok
Western part of the country, including the city
artistic creativity. Much of the Israel-oriented
Whose blood flows, spreading darkly on the floor.
of Lvov, which has been a traditional center
The rowdy lords of the saloon make sport,
activity is directed by the JAFI offices. The
of nationalist extremism. There, glorification
Reeking alike of vodka and of leek...
International Solomon University in Kiev has
On Babi Yar weeds rustle; the tall trees
of the deeds of Germany's Ukrainian collabo-
an enrollment of some 800 students. Among
Like judges loom and threaten...
rators is proceeding apace. Several number of
its departments are those of Jewish culture
All scream in silence; I take off my cap
illegal extremist organiza
exist, yet their
and history.
And I feel that I am slowly turning grey.
activities are tolerated.
publications
Several newspapers and journals are pub-
And I too have become a soundless cry
Over the thousands that lie huried here
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LUZZATTO, SAMUEL DAVID
608
acquaintance with and line feeling for the Hebrew language.
hand. unlike foreign merchants. they were completely under
the result of intensive hiblical studies. helped Luzzatto with
the control of the gover ment and would not transfer their
his linguistic and grammatical researches (see Prolegomenti
profits outside the state. This was the first apologetic work
ad 111/11 grammarica ragionata della lingua chraten (1836:
of its type and the first in which economic arguments were
Prolegomena 11) il Grammar of the Hebrew Language
brought forward systematically in order in advocate the
1896): Grammatica della lingua chraica (1853-69: Hc.
toleration of the lews. A reply to the work was published by
brew 1901): Elementi grantmaticali del caldeo hiblico
the Christian priest Malchior Patontritti under the title
(1865: Grammar of the Biblical Chaldaie Language
Breve Risposia " Sincine / (16.12). A Hebrew
18760. or bibliographical importance are his Opere del
translation Was published in Jerusalem in 1950: and an
De Rossi (1868) and You Yose] (1864). a catalog of
English translation 11:15 prepared early in the 18th century
the Almanzi collection. Luzzatto also published Avnei
by the English deist John *Toland (though not published).
Zikkaron. on the Hebrew tombstone inscriptions of
who used Luzzatto's arguments lavishly in has book of 1714
Toledo (1841). being the first to treat epitaphs as an
advocating the naturalization of the Jews. 11 is now known
important primary source for lewish historical research. An
that the book was written III great speed when : dangerous
autobiography of Luzzatto appeared in 1882 (Hebrew in
crisis developed for the Venetian Jews owing 10 the
Ha-Moggid 1858 62: German 1882). and memorial
discovery of large-seate commercial frauds in which some
volumes in Italian (Commemorazione. 19011 and in
leading families were im offected.
German 1900g, There are J number
Luzzatto also wrote an Italian treatise 111 which he
of collections of his articles such as Beit hu-Ozar (3 vols.,
vindicated the authority of tradition and of the Oral Law
1847. 1888. 1889) and Peninei Shadal (1888): but much of
(now lost. hut referred 1.) by Samuel Aboab in his responsa,
his scholarly work remains scattered over various periodi-
Devar Shamel (1702) n. 152). He is said 10 have also written
cals. pamphiets. works of other authors. and much has
Trattato delle opinioni " dogmi degli chrei e' dei riti lora
never been published. An edition of all his Hebrew writings
principali (Fuerst, Bibliotheca. 2841 and, together with
was begun in 1913 (Ketavim but was not
Leone we Modena. a work on the Karaites (Woll.
completed.
Bibliotheca. vol. 3. 347). He is also reputed to have had
Biblingraphy: 1. Luzzatto, Catalogo ragionato can riferimenti agli
considerable competence as a mathematician. Luzzatto's
altri vilui writti " inediti (1881): S. Baron. in: Seler and (1953).
punil. the apostate Giulin Morosini. reports in his della
40-63: N. Rosenbloom, Luzzaria's Ethic " Psychological Interpre-
Fede several instances of his liberal mind and outspoken-
tation of Judaism (1965): S. Werses. in: Melasse) 10. Dierei Bikkorer
ness in matters of religion, shown for example when in 1049
re-Hagut. 5 6 (1965). 703 15: D. Rudavsky, in: Tradition. (1965).
he arbitrated in a dispute between 1111 former Marrinos
no. 3. 21-44: Samuel David Luscatto 1800- 1865. Exhibition IIII the
Occasion of the 100th Anniversary of his Death arranged by B.
about the "seventy week of Daniel. He is also said 10 have
Yaron. Catalog (Hcb. and Eng.. Jerusalem. 1966): RMI. 32
spoken contemptonusly of the Kabbalah and to have
(1966). no. 9 10 (all articles dedicated in studies of Luzzatio): S.
disbelieved in the preservation of the Lost Ten Tribes.
Morais. Italian Hebrew Literature (1926). 78 152.
(A.T./Ep.]
Christian contemporaries. misunderstanding his Freedom of
spirit, reported that 10 was prevented h! force from
LUZZATTO, SIMONE BEN ISAAC SIMHAH (1583
embracing Christianity an his deathhed.
1663). Italian rabbi and author. He was born. probably in
Bibliography: S. D. Luzzatto, Autobiogratia (1882). 12 17.
Venice. of a well-to-do family of German origin already
33 36: Y. F. Baer. Galu, (1947). 83 92: 1., Blau. Leo Maderias
established in the region for many generations. Luzzatto
Briele und Schriftstucke (19117). index: S. Luzzatto. Ma'amar all
was ordained in 1606 and served as rabbi in Venice for 57
Vehudei Fenezeah (1951). prefaces by Bachi and S/ulwas: III
Memoria di A Saverdati (1936). 99 113: C. Rath. Fenice (1930).
years. The attluent dircumstances of his family made it
227 31: F. Secret. Kahbanistes Chrétiens de 1.1 Renaissance (1964).
unnecessary for him 10 waste his energies in miscellaneous
328: Szulwas, in: HUCA. 27 (1949). 18 20 (11eh. DI.1: Steinschnei-
work in supplement his livelihood. as was the case with his
der. in: MGWJ. 43(1899). 1181.
[C.R.]
contemporary and associate Leone *Modena. after whose
death in 1648 he became senior rabbi of the community.
LVOV (Pol. Lwow: Ger. Lemberg). man city of Lum
Unlike Modena he objected to the presence of gentiles at his
oblast. Ukrainian S.S. R.
sermons in the synagogue. though he had some non-Jewish
The Early Settlements. II is thought that the first Jews in
pupils. including. for a month in 1646. the French mystic
Lvov arrived from Byzantium and the southeast. After the
Charles de Valliquerville. Shortly after this. he became
conquest of the lown by Casimir III of Poland (1340). they
involved in a drawn-out dispute with the lay leaders of the
were joined by Jews from Germany and Bohemia who gave
community over the question of rabbinical ordination. on
the settlement its Asheenazi character. A1 the end of the
which he insisted in having a deciding voice. Among his
14th century. there were two communities in Lvov. the
responsa was one (no longer preserved) which permitted
older and larger. the "Holy Congregation Outside of the
travel by gondola in Venice on the Sabbath. His work
Walls," founded in 1352: and the second. the "Holy
Socrate myero dell'humano sapere dedicated to the Doge
Congregation Within the Walls." situated in the Jews'
(1651). written in dialogue form with Socrates as the
Street and first mentioned in 1387. Large lires occasionally
principle interlocutor. is an attempt to demonstrate that
swept both communities and they were only able to repair
human reason is impotent unless assisted by revelution.
their quarters after cor troversies with the townspeople (this
There is nothing specifically Jewish about this work. which
occurred in 1494, 1527. 1571. 1616. cle.). In 1550. 352 Jews
shows a considerable degree of competence in philosophy
lived inside the city wells in 29 houses. while 559 lived in 52
and in the classical literature (though not in Greek). and is a
houses outside the town. in the vicinity of this suburban
remarkable exemplification of the degree of culture prevail-
quarter. a Karaite alement existed until 1457.
ing at this time in the Italian ghettos. His most important
The Jews of Lvov played an important role in trade
publication. however, was his work. Discorso circa it stato
between the Orient and the West. for which the town was an
de gl hebrei el in particular dimoranti nell'inclita virià di
important transit center. They were equally well represent-
enetra (1638) in which he put forward reasoned arguments
ed in the wholesale trade with the interior of the country.
for the toleration of the Jews especially on economic
They also leased estates, operated brandy distilleries and
grounds. He argued that they performed functions that
breweries. acted as customs and tax agents. and loaned
could be achieved by no other element. while on the other
money 111 the nobility and the king. During the second hall
005
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"Red Russia" (Gaficia, i.e., Western Ukraine) and Podolia-
Bratslav region. and its community leaders represented
the whole region at the *Councils of the Lands, By the
electoral system of the community. a limited number of the
wealthy descendants of noble families were assured of long
periods in office.
From 1684 to 1772. In the *Chmielnicki massacres of
1648 14 and the successive wars of the second half of the
17th and early 18th century. the Jews of Lvov. especially
those who lived outside the town. suffered great losses in life
and property. Their houses were at the mercy of the enemy
and they were compelled to seck refuge within the town.
Generally the Jews played an active part in the defense of
the town. During Chmielnicki's siege in 1648 and the
Russian siege of 1655. the attackers demanded that the Jews
be delivered into their hands. Meeting with the refusal of
the townsmen. they settled for a large ransom. During the
whole of this period. the townsmen's struggle against the
control of trades and crafts by the Jews CO1 tinued. The
latter's efforts in expand their quarter came under special
attack. The Jewish quarter consisted of only 49 building lots
and the houses built on them were 100 small 1) accommo-
date the established inhabitants and the refugee. from many
wars. All the efforts of the townsmen to contine the Jews 10
Figure I. Drawing of the Tax Synagogue of Lvov. built in 1582
their quarter and to restrict their trade were in vain. for the
by Isuue h. Nuhman after the plan of an Italian architect. From
nobles usually supported the lews. At this time the Jens
1. Halperin (ed.). Beil Yisrael e-Polin. Jerusalem, 1954.
also opened shops in the center of town. During this period.
of the 16th century, the commercial agents of Don Joseph
war damages, ransom payments, the costs of court cases,
"Nasi were netive in Lvov. However, the number of Jews
the necessity to rebuild damaged houses. and the decline of
who.engaged in international trade and in large concerns
Lvov in favor of other commercial centers brought about
was very limited and the majority earned their livelihood as
severe economic crises In 1727 the community owed the
shopkeepers, peddlers, and crafismen. The rights of the
municipality 438.410 zlotys. while in 1765 their debts (1) the
Jews of Leon were based on letters patent granted by the
noblemen. the elergy. and the religious orders amounted to
kings of Poland. They were in constant contlict with the
381.999 doiys. and those to the municipality (1) 820.409
townsmen over their rights to trade. especially in the retail
zlotys. Although direct and indirect communal taxes were
branch. and (1) engage in crafts. Fortunately the royal
raised the community was unable to become solvent.
decrees issued as a result of pressure from the townsmen
According in the census of 1704/65. 6.142 Jews lived in
were rarely absolute and the nobility often succeeded in
Evox over two-thirds of them outside the town walls
having them amended. In 1493 King John Albert restricted
and only 57 of the 3.060 men were self-supporting.
the Jews 10 two branches of the wholesale trade: *textiles
When Shabbateanism began 10 spread in Russia. David
*livestock In 1503 and 1506 King Mexander Jagellon
Halevi at. 1607). are her din of the congregation outside the
ed the Jews freedom to trade at the markets and fairs
walls. sent his son and stepson to "Shabbetai Zevi: they
11 as the right to benefit from the reductions accorded
returned his enthusiastic supporters. After Shab betai Zevi's
111 other citizens. King Sigismund I restricted Jewish trude
apostasy. his adherents in Lvov were excommunicated
(1521). then accorded unlimited trading rights (1527). and
(1722). In 1754 Leib Krisse (Kriss), right-hand nan of the
finally revoked the permit (in the same year). This uncertain
pseudo-messiah Jacob "Frank, came to Lvov to propagate
state of affairs continued throughout the whole period.
the Frankist message. Frank himself arrived in The lown in
Temporary compromise agreements on the question of
December of 1755. but he was compelled In leave, ^
trading rights were concluded between the municipality and
disputation with the Frankists was held in 1759. The
the Jews in 1581. 1592. and 1602. The renewal of these
spokesman for the lews was R. Hayyim Kohen Rapoport.
agreements and the determination of their exact contents
her din of the town and region.
were usually accompanied by protests from the townsmen.
During the 18th century. the importance of the Lvov
The Jewish crafismen were also under constant pressure
community declined and its authority was recueed. The
from Christian artisans.
limits of the provincial council's authority were also
The Community and its Institutions. The two congrega-
restricted after the annexation of Podolia (i) Tur ccy (1772).
tions of Lvov maintained separate synagogues.
In Galicia itself. the expansion of the surrounding commu-
and charitable institutions. They shared the cemetery (first
nities (Zholkva. Brody) further limned the authority of the
mentioned in 1411). and the Karaites were also buried
Lvov community. At the meeting of the provincial council
there. From 1600 (1) 1606 there was a violent conflict
in 1720. it was declared that Two. the men of the province.
between the Jews and the Jesuits over the synagogue which
have no further portion or inheritance in the holy
had been constructed (in late Gothic style. after the plan of
congregation of Lvov and the rabbi who will be nominated
an Italian architeet) by the philanthropist Isaue h. Nahman
by it." At the meeting of the council in Berezhany in 174)
(founder of the famous "Nachmanovich family) in 1582.
the rubbinate of the province was divided into two regions
The Jesuits claimed that the land on which the synagogue
and the (11' 1151 din of Lvov held office in only one of them.
Was constructed was their property. The Jews were
Conflicts within the community over the distr bution of
victorious and the synagogue. which was named the Caz
taxes, the election of rubbis, and other affairs rest in the
(or "Di Cildene Roiz" after one of the daughters of the
intervention of the secular authorities to a greater degree
Nachmanovich family who died mysteriously). remained
than in the past. Menahem Simhah Emir anuel de
standing until the Holocaust. Lvov was the center of
Jongh (d. 17021. a member of a Large family of physicians
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611
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612
Orenstein. During the 1830s a violent dispute broke nut
over the question of a change in the traditional Jewish
dress. In 1844 a Reform Temple wills opened and Abraham
Kohen of Hohenems, Austria. was appointed as preacher.
He was also made director of the German-Jewish school
opened during the same ye: Γ. The Orthodox were vigorous-
ly opposed to him and their opposition gained momentum
after the authorities confirmed him as rubbi of the province
in 1847. ^ year later he and his family were poisoned and
Orthodox fanaties were accused of having committed the
crime.
The assimilationst intelligentsia circles of Lvov identi-
Ged themselves with German culture. and in 1868 the
"Shomer Isruel organizatio was formed. with its ideologi-
call organ. Israelin The invement was opposed by the
Doresh Shalom society. feunded in 1878 and disbanded 0
Figure 2. The Great Synagogue outside (he walls of Lvov. following
short while later. and after is by the *Aguddat Ahim (1883).
the pogroms of 1918. Isract Photo Archives. Jerusalem.
which called for assimilati in into Polish culture. is organ
was the Ojezyzun ("Fatherland"). Toward the end of the
and himself court physician in King John III Sobieski, was
century. the move toward Polish assimilation gained in
highly influential during the seennd half of the 17th century.
strength and the Jewish representatives from Lvov in the
He was the Thesi Ere: Israel" (the chief treasurer of the
Austrian parliament joined the Polish camp. During the
funds for Ere Isruel collected in Poland). a parnas of the
1870s Orthodox circles organized themselves within the
Councils of the Lands. and the holder of many public
framework of the Mahrike Hadas. in which the Hasidim
offices.
were predominant. Lvov was the home of Hertz Homberg.
From 1772 to 1914. The Jewish population of Lvov rose
Within the framework of his educational activities. four
from 18.302 in 1800 to 26,694 in 1869. and 57.000 (28% of
schools for boys. three for girls, and a teachers' seminary
the total population in 1910. According to the 1820
headed by Aaron Friedenthal were founded there. All were
census. 55% of the Jews engaged in commerce (the majority
closed down with the liquidation of Homberg's educational
as shopkeepers and retail traders) and 24% in crafts. The
network in Galicia in 1806. Jewish children. however. began
745 Jewish craftsmen included 249 tailors. 133 furriers. 51
to attend general schools. Legal restrictions against the
bakers. and 34 goldsmiths. The Jews of Lyov controlled the
attendance of Jews in secondary schools and universities
wholesale trade between Russia and Vienna. Some were
were removed in 1846. There were then many lews in the
army purveyors, or wholesale dealers in tobacco. cereals.
liberal professions. including distinguished lawyers and
and sult: others owned flour mills: and Jews pioncered
physicians, From the emancipation period. there were
industry and banking in the town. Lvov Jewry suffered us a
numerous cases of apostasy in Lvov. Between 1868 and
result of the economic crisis in Galicia during the 19th
1907. 713 Jews abundoned their faith. while 86 Christians
century. After 1772 the townsmen's struggle (1) restrict
were converted to Judaism. In 1874 there were 69 registered
Jewish rights of residence and trade were supported by the
hadurim in the city and the first "reformed heder" theder
Austrian authorities. From the beginning of the 19th
metakkan) in which 381 pupils studied. was founded in
century only the wealthy and educated merchants who had
1885. An institute for religious studies opened in 1910.
adopted the German way of life were authorized to live
During the Austrian period the lwo congregations in
outside the Jewish quarter. In 1848 the Jews were allowed 10
Lvov merged into a single community. which from the
participate in the elections 111 the municipal council. but
1830s was led by moderate assimilationists. These included
their representation was limited to 15% and later to 20% In
Immanuel Blumenfeld. Meir Jerahmeel Mieses. and Emil
spile of the religious equality granted in the Austrian
"Byk. Rabbis who helc office in this community were
Empire in 1849. the municipality continued (0 eviel the
Joseph Soul Nathansor. Zevi Hirsch Orenstein. Isane
Jows from the retail trade. and the Christian artisans' guilds
Auron Ettinger (see E inger Family). Isane "Schmelkes.
struggled against Jewish artisans. The prohibition on
and Aryeh Leib Braude. The preachers at the temple were
acquiring real estate was abolished in 1860. and after the
Dr. S. A. Schwabacher. Dr. Y. B Lewinstein. Dr. Ezekiel
*Sejm of Galicia had revoked all discrimination against
Caro (who in 1909 was confirmed as rabbi of the
Jews the municipality of Lvov was compelled to annul chose
community together with R. Isane Schmelkes), and Dr. S
restrictions opposed to the Austrian constitution of 1867.
Gutmann. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries. the
Intensified anti-Semitie tendencies then prevalent among
power of the assimilationists declined and nationalist-
the Poles and Ukrainians of Lvov and the vicinity were
Zionist influence began to be felt. The first Zionist societies.
partly caused by the assimilation of the upper strata of the
Mikra Kodesh and Zion. were Formed in 1883 and 1888.
Jews to the ruling German culture.
They formed the nuc-cus of the all-Galician Zionist
TRENDS WITHIN THE COMMUNITY. Hasidism made
organization. Periodicals and newpapers were published:
headway in Lvov at the end of the 18th century. and
Przyszlose. Wichód. Ha-Kurmet. Der Feker. and Toghtar
although no zaddikim settled there they occasionally visited
Activists in the Zionist societies included Reuben Birer.
the town. In 1792 and in 1798 there were open clashes
Joseph Kobak, David Schreiber. Abraham and Jacob
between Hasidim and their opponents. During the 1820s. a
Kokas. and Adolph *Stand. The first moves were made
busidic shill was founded and in 1838 (here were seven
toward a Jewish workers' movement and artisans' unions,
such prayer rooms. As the
Haskalah movement penetrated
while some joined the P.P.S., the Polish workers' move-
Lvov. an anonymous herem was proclaimed in 1816 against
ment: the representat ve of this group was Herman
a group of maskilim and especially against Solomon Judah
Diamand.
*Rapoport. Benjamin Zevi Nutkis, and Judah Leib Pastor:
From 1914 to 1939. \Vith the outbreak of World War I.
it was only as a result of pressure from the authorities that it
thousands of refugees arrived in Lvov from the regions
was rescinded by the (11 her din. Jacob Meshullam
bordering on Russia. The entry of the Russian army into
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614
the city in August 1914 was accompanied by robbery and
hatred of the Jews and in murdering them. An insited mob
looting. the closure of Jewish institutions. and the taking of
attacked the Jews for three days. Thousands of lews were
hostages. With the return of the Austrians in June 1915.
put in jail. where they were cortured and murdered. During
Jewish life was resumed. assistance to the refugees was
July several hundred Jewish public figures and outh were
organized. and the public institutions functioned once
put to death: over 2,000 Jews were shot in "Akrion
more. In November 1918. when the Poles and the
Petliura" (July 25..27). On July 15, the Jews were ordered to
Ukrainians fought for control of eastern Galicia, pogroms
wear the yellow badge, and at the beginning of August il
broke out in Lvov: 70 Jews lost their lives and many were
fine of 20,000,000 rubles ($4,000,000) was imposed upon
wounded. It was then, when the German. Polish. and
them. Jewish property was confiscated and looted and in
Jan nationalistic cultures were in conflict, that the
August the desecration and destruction of synagogues and
risks of assimilation were made manifest to the
Jewish cemetries was curried out.
^ Judenral was appointed by the authorities, headed by
During the period of independent Poland (1918 39). the
Joseph Parnes, who was killed shortly afterware when he
community of Lvov was the third largest in Poland and one
refused to supply the Nazis with a quota of men or forced
of its most important centers. From 99,595 in 1910 the
labor, A similar fate was in store for two of his three
number of Jews increased to 109.500 (33% of the total
successors: the last chairman of the Judenrat. Ebersohn.
population) in 1939. In the struggle between the Poles and
was executed together with the other members of the
the Ukrainians. each side accused the Jews of supporting
council in February 1943. Under German supervision. the
the other, The rise of anti-Semitism and the severe
Judenrat handled taxes. social welfare. and food and
economic situation were rellected in every sphere of Jewish
housing control. A Jewish police force came into being as a
life. The economic crisis was also illustrated by the
special department of the Judenrat: in the course of time it
reduction in community taxes: from 497.429 zlotys in 1929
was manipulated by the Nazis to serve their own aims. On
in 310.481 dotys in 1933. During this period. LVOV had
Aug. 1. 1941. Eastern Galicia was incorporated into the
three Jewish secondary schools with instruction in Polish: a
General Government. Poland, and all anti-Jewish restric-
Hebrew college for advanced studies in Judaism (Tounded
tions that had been in forcein western Poland for th: past two
in 1920). first directed by Moses *Schorr: il nationalist-reli-
years were now also applied 10 the Jews of Lvov (see "Holo-
glous school. MaTaT (Mi-Ziyyon Tele Torah): a vocation-
caust. General Survey). Labor camps were set up in the city
al school: many hadarim. and a valumed wrah. There were
and vicinity, where many Jews were either murdered outright
many Ashkenazi synagogues and basidie prayer rooms. The
(especially young people) or died as a result of the inhuman
newspapers Chwila "The Moment"). Lemberger Toghlat.
conditions prevailing in the camps. In November 1941 the
and Opinia were published. The community was governed
Jews of Lvov were all concentrated in 0 special cuarter of
by assimitationists in confition with the Orthodox, while for
the and subjected to starvation.
the greater part of this period the Zionists formed the
In March 1942 about 15.000 Jews from Lvov were
opposition. In national polities, the Lvov members of the
deported 10 Belzec extermination camp. The big Aktion.
Polish parliament adopted al moderate line. They opposed
however, took place from August 10 to 23. in which 40,000
the minorities bloc and were among the initiators of the
Jews perished. Following the Aktion the S.S.-Grup penfueh-
Ugoda (see also O. "Thon and H. Rosmaryn), the agree-
rer Fritz Katzmann ordered the establishment of :1 ghetto,
ment with the Polish government (1925). The Orthodox.
completely sealed oil and surrounded by a barbed-wire
especially the Hasidim of Belz. 38 well as the rich Jews.
Tence. The overcrowding caused a series of epidemics which
supported the government majority list.
[A.RU]
killed thousands of ghetto inmates. In further Aktionen
(November 1942 and January 1943), another 15,000 Jews
Printing. After the hest partition of Poland (1772). which
were murdered, some in Belzec and others in the Janowska
Galicia under Austro-Hungarian rule. the government
Road camp. The rest of the ghetto inmates. some 20,000
Jewish printers to transfer their presses from *Zolkicw
people. were restricted to a portion of the ghetto Designated
(Zholkva) to the Galician capital of Lvov in order to facilitate
as the Jewish camp and the Judenrat was liquidated. In the
their *censorship. The first 10 move were W. Letteris and H.
last thrown (June 1943). which resulted in the deat of most
D. Mudpis, the latter producing Elijah Levita's Pirker Eliyahu
of the surviving Jews. the Jows offered armed resistance. In
in 1783. The house of Madpis brought out a new edition of
the Talmud (1859-68) and a seven-volume Shulhan Arukh
places where the Nazis encountered guntire and hand
with standard commentaries (1858-61). still one of the best
grenades, they poured gasoline on the Jewish houses and set
editions (a similar one was printed by J. L. Buluban and his son,
them in llames. The 7,000 Jews who survived the massacre
who began printing in 1839). In 1785 J.S. Herz set up his press.
were dispatched to the Janowska Road camp. Apart from a
which produced a good edition of Maimonides' Mishneh Turah
few Jews in labor camps. Lvov and the environs were made
(1805 11). Madpis' granddaughter. Judith Mann-Rozanes, also
*juleprein. ^ lew hid in the "Aryan" part of the city.
moved from Zolkiew, while her son, M. H. Grossmann, con-
tinued printing until 1858. About 20 other printers were active
in I.vov in the century and :1 half before the outbreak of World War
11. making the city one of the main centers for the production of
Hebrew books. not only for Lastern Europe but for the Balkans
as well.
(En.)
Holocaust Period. In September 1939. at the beginning of
World War 11. Poland was partitioned between Germany
and the U.S.S.R.. and Lvov became part of Sovier Ukraine,
But after the outbreak of the German-Soviet War. the
Germans captured the city (July 1941): it then had :1 Jewish
population of about 150.000. including thousands of
refugees from the Nazi-occupied western part of Poland.
The Incal Ukrainian population welcomed the German
troups. while Stefun Bandera's units joined up with the
Figure 3. Farm in the Lvov region. C. 1925. Courtely Jewish
invading forces and played a major role in stirring up
Colonization Association. Tel Aviv.
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615
LVOV
616
CENARTEX,
"Zionist activities." Organized maggah baking was prohib-
ited in 1959. and in the same year pressure was brought to
CHWILA
WYDANIE PORANNE
hear on the local mohalin. to induce them to sign a
agremplarza 15
declaration promising to abandon circumcision In the
Jewish cemetery only a small section was kept intact and
used for burials. In 1962 several hundred Jews were arrested
for "economic crimes." In hill year several articles were
BIALA KSIEGA
published in the local Ukrainian newspaper. Lrieska
Pravda. demanding the closure of the only remaining
Strejk generalny Zydów W Palestynie
synagogue on the pretext that it served as a meeting place
for "speculators" and other criminals. It was in fact elosed
Tel Awiwie strelk potrwa 10 dnil
toward the end of that year. and all synagogue officials were
arrested and charged with "economic crimes." The com-
munity slaughterhouse was handed over In a local munici-
pal organization. In 1965 In Jews addressed a petition in
Figure 4. Masthead and headlines of the Lvov Jewish newspaper.
Prime Minister Kosygin asking (i) he given a place for
Chwile ("The Moment"), May 18, 1939. with news of il Jewish
worship. They were allotted a building site, hut the financial
general strike in Palestine protesting the British White Paper.
burden of crecting a new synagogue was too great. In 1969
Courtesy Central Zionist Archives. Jerusalem.
the militia broke into private minyanim and dispersed them
by force.
E.BR.]
JANOWSKA ROAD CAMP. The camp. a place of torture
Bibliography: J. Carn. Gesch.chte iler Juden in Lemberg (1894): S.
and murder. was set up on Janowska Road in October
Buber, Aushei Shem (1895. repr. 1968): Dubnow. Hist Russ. index
1941. One part of the camp contained quarters for the S.S.
S.V. Lembers: S. An-ski. Hurt an Yahadur be-Polin 11. Bukavina
men and camp police. and .1 prison barracks whe latter also
(1929). 119-28. 183. 203. and passim: Lwow. Zydowska garina
served as a transit camp for departees to Belzee extermina-
wyznamowa (1928): M. Balaba 1. Zydzi beawsey na pezelomie in 17
tion camp). The other part contained workshops which in
wickow (19(kg): idem, in: Studja twowskie (1932). 41 65: idem.
the course of time developed into a special unit. the Ger-
Geshikhie fim Lemberger Progresion Templ (1937): Neiwelt. in:
man Armament Works (DAW: see *S.S. Enterprises in the
Pinkes Galitsve 1925 45 (1945). 117 26 and passim: Yaari. in: KS.
East). Designed as a forced labor camp for Jens from Lvov
17 (1939/40). 95 108: 21 (1915). 299 300: L.. Chasannvich (ed.).
Les Pagrames anti-juifs 8" Fologue "I in Galice (1919). 47 73:
and the area. Janowska in fact became an extermination
Kart. in: 1. L. Fishman (ed.). Arint ve-timmahar he- Fisrael. : (1946).
camp. Tens of thousands of Jews from Eastern Galicia were
290 344 (incl. bibl.): 3. Tenenhaum. Galitsve Mayn Alle Heyor
brought there. some of whom were murdered on the spot
(1952). index: Thon. in: Pirkei Galizyah (1457). 343 85: N. M.
and others sent on to Beizee Prisoners were killed in many
Gelber (cd.). EG. 1 (1956). incl. hibl.: idem. Totedor ha-Tenrah
instances for the "entertainment" of the murderers. Yes in
ha-Ziyyonit be-Galizyoh. 1873 1918 (1958). index: H. N. Dembit-
spite of the conditions. the Jews created cultural activities in
zer. Netion Yoli (1960). 156. PRINTING: Balahan, in:
the camp and prepared for armed resistance. The Germans.
Sancina-Bluetter. 3 (1929/30). 17-21: A. Youri, in: KS. 17
under the threat of possible resistance. liquidated the camp
(1939/40). 95A: (1945). 2991.: H. D. Friedberg. in: EG (1956).
539M. HOLOCAUST: S. Sien The Promise Hiller Kept (1945).
in at surprise Aktion on Nov. 20. 1943. Only a lew
9.179: L. Weliczker-Wells, Canowska Road (1963): I. Lewin, Alin
individuals escaped. The special conditions prevailing in
mi-Specia (1947): P. Schnec) in: Davar (Nov. 5. 1946): t. Brand.
Lvov - 21 hostile Ukrainian population. the lack of forests in
in: Yedi'or Yad Vashem. ::5 26 (1961). 17.18: HG. 4 (1956).
the area in provide shelter. and the absence of it Incal
539-766: Eduyyor, 1 (1963). 195-216: Forfuits hilériens-
partisan movement precluded the rise of organized Jewish
Documents officiels (1945). 201 32: M. M. Borwiez. Universeter
resistance. However, a few sporadic and isolated attempts
chird (1946): idem. Literatura " abozie (1946): J. Hescheles.
to resist were made. Some Jews ned to the remote forests.
Oczyma dziewezyme (1946): S. Gogolwska. Sckolu
but in most instances the local peasants handed them over
okracienstivea (1964).
to the Nazis. Some instances of resistance have been
recorded. e.g., during the liquidation of the ghetto and one
LVOVICH, DAVID nwn as Davidovich: 1882 1950).
in the Janowska road camp. In one instance, a group of
leader or the territorialist-Socialist movement and of
cump prisoners charged with the disposal and cremation of
*ORT. Born in southern Russia and brought up in an
corpses attacked and killed several of the German guards.
assimilationist environment, Lvavich first became uc-
^ few dozen prisoners then escaped. hut most of them were
quainted with Jewish alfairs and the Jewish workers'
caught and murdered.
movement when he visited Minsk in 1903 and came into
When the Soviet forces entered in July 1944. a Jewish
contact with the *Polalei Zion. After he left Russia he
committee was established to help the survivors. or the
maintained relations with the Herot group founded by N.
3.400 Jewish survivors who registered with the committee
*Syrkin. In 1905 he visited Ere% (stacl and on his return he
by the end of 1944. only 820 were from l.vov ghetto itself.
abandoned general Zionism in lavor of territorialism.
Most of the survivors settled in Israel. after wandering
After joining the Zion.st-Socialist Workers' Party (S.S. or
through Europe. while the rest emigrated 10 other countries
Z.S.). he founded the S. S. League abroad and established
overseas. Some of the ashes of the Lvov martyrs were taken
student groups in Germany. ^ member of the party's
to Isruel and interred at the Nabalat Yizhak cemelery near
committee in Odessa I'r im late 1905. he was the lender of its
Tel Aviv,
*self-defense group during the October pogrom. At the S.S
Contemporary Period. ^ monument in the memory of
convention in Leipzig (1906). he represented that trem
Jewish victims of the Nazis. with inscriptions in Hebrew,
which connected the future realization of territoriatism will
Yiddish. and Russian. was crected shortly after World War
the unavoidable turn of the course of Jewish emigratio
11. In the 1959 census 29.701 Jews were registered in the
from the towns toward agriculture and concentrate
Lvov oblast. 5.011 of whom declared Yiddish to be their
colonization. He later worked for un active policy in it
mother tongue. In the city, a center of Ukrainian national-
organization and regulation of emigration. As the repr
ism. an anti-Jewish atmosphere prevailed in most spheres of
sentative of the S.S. at the conventions of the Jewi:
life. In 1957 several Jewish students were arrested for
Territorialist Organization (see "Territorialism) he "
009
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weekly Ha-Shomer ha-Za'ir. and was editorial secretary of
their numbers had increased 10 at least 150,000: in the
.11 ha-Mishmar (1943-47). From 1953 he was the literary
census of 1764. 258,000 Jews were cnumerated. though in
editor of Sifriat Poutim publishing house.
fact their number was over 300,000. In 1847. according to
Ukhmani published many articles and essays on literary topics,
official sources. there were almost 600,000 Jews in the
and wrote J number of books. which are collections of essays,
Ukrainian regions belonging 10 Russia (the provinces of
among them Le-Ever ha-Adam (1953). Tekhanim ve-Zuroi (1957).
southwestern
Russia
Volhyniu,
Podolia, and
Kiev: of
Kolor Adam (1967). and dial Laylah Laylah Ani (1968). a book ol
"Little Russia" Chernigov and Poltava: and of "New
poetry. He was one of the editors or the literary anthology Dur
ha-tre: (1958). and together with S. Y. Penueli edited the English
Russia" Yekaterinoslav Dnepropetrovsk), Kherson,
retion Hebrew Short Stories (1965).
and Taurida), though they actually numbered up to
[G.K.]
900.000. According to the population census of 1897 (the
first general census in Russia). there were Jews in
MERGE (Pol. Wilkomierz: Rus. Vilkomir). city in
these regions, 9.2% of the total population of the Ukraine,
Lithuaman S.S.R. The Jewish community of Ukmerge is
The census of 1926 enumerated 1,574,391 Jews in the
first mentioned in I document of 1685. In the census of
Ukraine, subsequent to the detachment of half of the
1766. 716 Jews were counted there. and by 1847 their
province of Volhynia (the second half was then within the
number had risen 10 3.758. the majority of whom were
horders of Poland). hall of the province of Tourida, and a
engaged in commerce and crafts, including turning. The
small section of the province of Chernigov, while several
community of Uknicrge was renowned for its conservatism,
districts of the Don region had been incorporated into it.
M. 1... "Lilienblum Inved there during the 1860s and it was
The Jews then constituted 5.43% of the total population of
there that he began his public career and Interary activity.
the Ukraine. The consus of 1939 enumerated 1.532,827 Jews
The community continued 11) develop and by the 1880s the
in the Ukraine (4.9% of the total). According 10 the census
number of Jews reached 10.000. ^ period of decline
of 1959. which also included the Jews of the regions which
followed. however. when the town was bypassed by the
had passed 10 Russia after World War 11 (easter Galicia.
milrouds which were built at that time. In 1897 there were
northern Bukovina, Subcarpathian Ruthenia). there
7.287 Jews (54% of the total population) and 6,390 (49%) in
were 840,319 Jews in the Ukraine (2% of the total).
According 10 this census. which was generally regarded as
underestimating their numbers, Jews were concentrated in
the towns of Kiev (153.500). "Odessa (106.700 Kharkov
(84,000). Dnepropetrovsk (52,800). "Chernovts, (Czernow.
itz: 36,500), Lvov (24,700). and Donetsk (21,000). About
80% of the Jews of the Ukraine declared their mother longue
as Russian. about 17% (142.240) as Yiddish. and only about
3% as Ukrainian.
Development and Distribution of the Jewish Settlement.
The Jewish settlement in the Ukraine preceded the
unification of the area and the formation of th: Ukrainian
nation, Jewish settlements already existed on the banks of
the River Dnieper and in the east and south of .he Ukraine
and the *Crimea in the periods of the Khuzar kingdom,
while ancient Jewish communities were only es ablished in
School for Jewish shoemakers in Ukmerge. photograph 1937-38.
the west. in Volhynia and "Red Russia" (eastern Galicia).
csy Yad Vushem Archives, Y. Kamson Collection. Jerusalem.
in the 12th century. or these the most ancient was
apparently Vladimir-Volynski, II seems that the Russia"
At the beginning of May 1915 the Jews were expelled
mentioned in 13th-century rabbinical literato refers 10
from Ukmerge. together with those of the province of
"Red Russia." These communities absorbed the Jewish
Kovno. Some returned after the war and in 1923 there were
migration from Germany and Bohemia caused by the
3,885 Jews (37% of the population). During the period of
persecutions and massacres of the 14th (the Black Death)
independent I ithuania (1918 -40). Jowish life-in Ukmerge
and 15th centuries: later. Jews were drawn to the Ukraine
prospered. A yeshivah ketannah (preparatory yeshivah) which
by the colonizing activities of the Polish nobility that
prepared pupils for the larger Lithuanian yeshivot was
intensified in the 16th 10 17th centuries with the con-
established and there were also TWO secondary schools,
solidation of the rule of Poland-Lithuunik over the
Hebrew and Yiddish. The last rubbi of Ukmerge. R. Joseph
region. The important role taken by the Jows in the
Zussmanowitz (ol' Palestinian birth). ranked among the
economic sphere in this colonization made the Ukraine one
most promient Lithuanian rabbis, With the annexation of
of the Jewish centers in Poland-Lithuania. The number of
Lithuania to the Soviet Union in June 1940, religious and
the communities there increased from 25 during the 14th
nationalist Jewish life was systematically destroyed. ^ year
century to 80 in 1764. Even the Chinielnicki assucres in
later. Ukmerge Tell into the hands of the Germans. On Sept.
1648 49 did not halt Jewish migration to the Ukraine and
18. 1941. the Jews remaining in Ukmerge. together with
they played a prominent role in its economic recovery
those of the neighboring towns. were assembled in the
during the second half of the 17th and the 18th centuries.
nearby forest and massacred.
After the Ukraine was annexed by Russia, according 10 the
Biblingraphy: Stawnik generaticzay kritestwa pulskiege. 13
census of 1764. about 15% of the Jewish population lived in
(1893). 535 41: Yuhadul Lita. 3 (1967). 303-6.
[Y.S.]
provinces having communities over 1,000 Jews, while in
other provinces-Volhynia, Podolia, Kiev, and Brats-
UKRAINE (Rus. Ukraina). Union Republic in the
lav -their proportion Was only 11%. The census of 1897.
southwestern U.S.S.R. At the close of the 16th century
however. shows that 72% of the Jewish population there
there were about 45.000 Jews (out of the 100,000 Jews who
were living in 262 communities of more than 1.000 persons.
were then presumably in the whole of Poland) living in the
which. taken together with the communities h: ving more
eastern regions of Poland which were inhabited by
than 500 Jews, meant that 37% of the Jewish population
Ukrainians Before the *Chmielnicki nuissacres of 1648 49
there lived in towns and townlers in which the Jews formed
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Figure 1. The Provisional National Assembly (ussembly or Ukrainian Jews) which look place in Kiev. November 1918. Those present
included: 1) Solomon Joseph Levin: 2) Eliezer Kaplan: 3) Alexander Goldstein: 4) Menahem Ussishkin: S) Vladimir Ze'ue Tiomkin:
6) Jacob Latzky-Bertholdi: 71 Max Schatz-Anin: 8) Noah Barou: 9) Samuel Tchernowitz: 10) Hillel Zlatopolsky: 11) Abraham
Devidson: (2) Isruel Bur Ychuda (Idelson): 13) Jacob-Zerubavel (Vitkin): 14) Moses Litvicov: 15) Ben Adir (Abraham Rosin).
Courtesy A. Rafacti-Zenziper Archive for Russian Zionism, Tel AVIV.
an absolute majority and 22% in localities where they
or a sector of their economy. Jews also engaged in avenda
formed 40 50% of the total population. In contrast. in the
there in the collection of customs duties and taxes. and
part of the Ukraine which lay beyond the Differ, in the
played an important role in the export and import trade in
provinces of Poltava and Chernigov (where about 225,000
the region. The Cosseck authorities of the part of the
Jews lived and constituted a majority in about (\\\) places
Ukraine annexed by Russia beyond the Dnieper opposed
only and 40% of the total population in three others). 65%
the frequent expulsions of the Jess from there 11717. 1731.
of the Jewish population lived in 39 communities of more
1740. 1742. 1744). and argued in favor of their Free
than 1.000. The same situation obtained in "New Russia"
admission 10 the Ukraine (1728. 1734. 1764) stating that the
(the provinces of Kherson. Yekaterinoslav. and Tourida)
Jews promoted the region's trade. When the Ukraine (with
where over 500,000 Jews lived: 760 of the Jewish
the exception of eastern Gaheia) became part of the Pale of
population was concentrated in 58 communities of over
Settlement after the partition of Poland-Lithuania. the Jene
1.000. and Jews formed a majority only in their agricultural
continued to play a con siderable and dynamic role in the
settlements. In 1897 Jews constituted 309 of the urban
economy of the region In 1817. 30% of the factories 111
population of the Ukraine. 263 of them living in 20.10wns.
Ukraine were owned by Jews. They were particulark active
in each of which there were over 10,000 Jews.
in the production of "atenholic beverages. In 1872. before
After the abolition of the Pale of Settlement. with the
the anti-Jewish restriction 111 this sphere. 906 of those
October 1917 Revolution, the civil war. and the disorders
occupied in distilling were Jews: 56.6% in sawmills, 48.85
which accompanied ii. more than 300.000 Jews left the
in the *inbacco industry and 32.5% in the *sugar industry.
Ukraine for other parts of the Soviet Union. Hence they
Only a limited number of Jews were occupied in heavy
formed only 5.4% of the total population and 229 of the
industry. where they were generally employed as white-collar
urban population of the Ukraine in 1926. and 4.19 and
workers. In 1897 the occupational structure of the Jewish
11.7% respectively in 1939. In 1926. 446 of them lived in 20
population of Ukrame was 43.39 in commerce: 32.24 in
towns. each having over 10.000 Jews. while in 1939. 399
crafts and industry 2.96 in agriculture: 3.79 in commun-
lived in the four enties of Odessa. Kiev. Kharkov. and
cations: 7.30 in private services (including porterage and
Dnepropetrovsk. This intensified urbanization did not.
the like): 5.8% in public services (including the liberal
however, give them predominance in the cities. since there
professions): and 4.8% of no permanent occupation Under
also was a stream of Ukrainian peasants From the villages
the Seviet regime. by 1926. it had become 20.6% in arts and
into the towns. which assumed a pronounced Ukrainian
crafts: 20.6% in public services (administrative works.
character.
15.3% workers (including 6.6% industrial workers): 13.35
For the history of Ukrainian Jewry after World War I
in commerce: 9.2% in agriculture: 1.65 in liberal profes-
and in the Holocaust see
Russia.
sions: 8.9% unemployed: 7.3% without profession: and
Economic Situation. The migration of Jews from the
3.2% miscellaneous (pensioners, invalids. etc.). The propor.
western provinces of Poland 10 the Ukraine in the 16th
tion of lews in various administrative branches was 40.65
century was mainly due to their economic role in the
in the economic administration and 31.9% in the medical-
*arenda business ())] a large or small scale Hence, the
sanitary administration. After large numbers of Jews had
Ukraine became a region where Jews managed a consider-
been absorbed under the Five-Year Plan 10 heavy industry
able proportion of the agricultural economy. administering
respecially the metal and automobile industries). 117 the
complexes consisting of a number of estates, single estates.
artisan cooperatives (in which there were over 70.000
15
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UKRAINE
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Jewish members 12.9% of the membership). and in
National Council (the Rada), which in January 1918
agriculture (16,500 families in the cooperative farms). the
proclaimed the separation of the Ukruine from Russia: this
proportion of lews living in villages rose to 14% of the
episode came 10 an end in August 1920. when the Red
Jewish population.
Army completed the conquest of the Ukraine. During this
Hatred of the Jews. When the Jews settled in the Ukraine
Time the leaders of the Ukrainian nationalist movement
during the period of Polish rule. they found themselves
attempted 10 reach an agreement with the Jews. They
between nummer and anvil: under the arenda system the
established relations with the leaders of Zionism in custern
Jewish lessee administered the estate in the name of the
Galicia. and jointly waged il struggle against Polish tims in
Polish landowner. and. if living in the town. he found his
the Ukraine. During this period the Jews were represented
CUS
among the nobility. officials. the Catholic clergy.
in the Rada (with 50 delegates), II secretarial for Jewish
and
cal army garrison. To the enslaved peasants and
affairs was established (July 1917). and at law passed on
reber Cossacks. Ukraimians, and Greek-Orthodox the
"personal national autonomy" for the national minorities,
Jewish lessee appeared both as an intidel and an alien an
among which the Jewn were included. The Jewish ministry
emissary of the Polish Catholic noblemen who sought 10
(M. "Silbertarb was the first minister: he was succeeded by
dominate them. The Ukrainian townsmun was jeulous of
J.
W.
Latzki-Bertholdi) passed a law providing for
his urban rival. the unbelieving Jew. whose success was due
democratic elections 10 the administrative bodies of the
to the assistance of the foreign and hated Polish regime. In
communities (December 1918). is Jewish National Council
times of rebellion and war, this hatred and jealousy was
was formed. and the Provisional National Council of the
vented in severe persecutions and horrifying massacres.
Jews of the Ukraine was convened (November 1918). These
such as the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648-49, when over
institutions were short-lived. In July 1918 the autonomy
100.000 Jews were brutally killed and almost all the
was abolished. the Jewish ministry was dissolved and the
communities of the Ukraine were destroyed, and the
pogroms which then took place. without the Ukrainian
persecutions of the *Haidamaks in the 18th century. which
government taking any effective measures 10 assure the
were more limited in scope but even more terrible in their
security of the Jewish population -proved that the whole of
cruelty. These massacres, whose perpetrators were admired
this project had been directed more at securing the
as national heroes. gave rise 10 at popular tradition of haired
assistance of the Jewish partics in order to achieve complete
toward the Jews in the Ukraine: it was nurtured by the
separation from Russia than at really developing 1 new
nerease of the Jewish population in the country. by its
positive attitude toward the Jews.
economic position. and later by the propugation of the
Religious and Social Movements in Ukrainian Jewry.
Russian language and culture by Jews an act which the
Ukrainian Jewry became a l'ocus of religious and social
nationalist Ukrainian intellectuals (the 'Ukrainophiles")
Terment within Judaism from the late 17th century. The
regarded as collaboration with the "Museovite" Russian
massacres and sufferings endured by the Jews in the
government in its campaign against their awakening as at
Ukraine also introduced spiritual and social Trends. The
eparate nation. This tradition of hatred toward the Jews
messianic agitation which followed the massacres of
found its expression in both Tolk songs and literature (T.
1648 49 paved the way for the penctration of Shubbatean-
Shevehenko: N. Gogol). in historiography (N. Kostoma-
ism. while at the time of the Haidamak persecutions and the
or). and in political thought (M. Dragomanov). The
revival of *blood libels, the Frankist movement made its
Nationalist and Socialist Party of the Ukraine was also
appearance, and *Hasidim as inaugurated by Israel b. Eli-
invired with anti-Jewish feelings. The pogroms of 1881-82
ezer Ba'al Shem Tov developed and spread rapidly through
roke out and spread through the provinces of the Ukraine:
the country. After the pogroms of the 1880s, the Uk raine
after 1917, in the Civil War and under the regime of S.
was not only the birthplace of the Hibbat Zior, the
Pet
the "Socialist" government). about 100,000 Jews
Bilu. and the Am Olam movements but also of the
ered in the Ukraine (1919-20). as in the days of
Dukhovno-biblcyskoye bratstvo ("Spiritual Biblical Broth-
Chm ki and with the same cruelty. Two decades of
erhood," founded by lacob Gordin and his circle) which
Soviet regime did little 10 eradicate the hostility against the
sought to "bring back' the Jews to the religious purity of
lews: during World War 11 great parts of the Ukrainian
the Bible and thus draw them closer to Christianity. Activist
opulation wholeheartedly collaborated with the Nazis in
and revolutionary trends were also prominent ir the
terminating the Jews in the occupied Ukraine
Hebrew and Yiddish literature which emerged in, the
The Period of the Independent Ukraine and Jewish
Ukraine during the 19th and 20th centuries.
National Autonomy. The period from March 1917 to
During the 192Us and the early 1930s three Jewish
: ugust 1920 constitutes a special chapter in the history of
districts were created in the areas of Jewish settlement in
ne Jews of the Ukraine. The Ukrainians established a
southeastern Ukraine Kalininskoye, Stalinskoye, and
Zlatopol: see also
Yevsektsiya).
B.D.)
After World War 11. During the last stages of Work War
11 and in the period after it. when Nikita Khrushchev was
the ruling party man of the Ukraine, Ukrainian Jews who.
during the occupation, Hcd or were cvacuated to Soviet
Asia, began to stream back and claim their previous
housing. possessions. and positions. They were met with
outspoken hostility by most of the Ukrainians who had
taken their place. The administration refused to interfore in
favor of the Jews and generally showed "understanding"
for the anti-Jewish reaction. even hushing up violent clashes
(as, u.g., in Kiev). When Khrushchev became the uling
figure in the U.S.S.R. after Stalin's death, and particularly
gure 2. Members of the faction of the "illegal He-Halutz" on a
in the 1960s. the traditional hatred of Jews in the Uk raine
irm near Kiev. 1923. Courtesy Central Zionist Archives, Jeru-
was again allowed to find free expression in pseudo-scie ntific
literature (e.g.. the book by the professional anti-Semite
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Trolim Kichko, Judaism without Embellishment, which up-
11 then goes on (1) consider the roots and stalks of a great variety 0
peared in 1963 under the auspices of the Ukrainian Academy
vegetables and Truits, determining whether or not (ur to who
of Sciences) and in various popular brochures and period.
extent) they fall under the terms of rad and shomer. Chapter
icals. This official anti-Jewish atmosphere prevailed in the
continues this subject, ir. particular whether kernels. shells. husks.
Ukraine during the whole postwar period. The only
and encasing leaves are 0 he regarded as part of the Truit. Toward
synagogue in Kharkov was closed down in 1948 and its
the end of the chapter. the problem of *hekhsher is inuched upon
i.e., the susceptibility of bod to ritual impurity. a subject dealt will
aged rabbi sent 10 a labor camp. in Kiev the only remaining
in detail in tractate Makhshirin. Chapter 3 continues with the
synagogue was put under severe surveillance of the secret
subject of hekhsher. introducing also the associated notion of
police. more than in other Soviet cities. Yiddish folklore
mahashavah. i.e., the intent 10 use the respective foods (vegerable (11
concerts and shows were almost completely hanned from
meat) for human consuription. Then there is J detailed discussion
the Ukrainian capital. Kiev. though they were allowed to
of various cases where one of the elements. bekhsher of
lake place occasionally 11) Ukrainian provincial lowns.
mahashavah. or neither al them, or both. are required in order to
An interesting reaction to this trend "from above"
make the food susceptible to impurity.
became noticcable in the late 1960s among Ukrainian
Most of the laws in this tractate are found seattered among the
intellectuals who openly strove to achieve more freedom
other tractates, e.e., Tasural 1:1 +; 8:9: Terml Your 3:1 3: and
in civil and national rights. Though engaged 11) defending
the Ukrainian character of their republic against Trus-
sification." some of them went out of their way in
emphasize their solidarity with Jewish demands for the
revival of Jewish culture and education. They also identified
with the Jewish attempt to keep alive the remembrance of
the Holocaust against the official policy of obliterating it.
Young Ukrainian writers, most of them Communist Party
members. expressed this new trend in Ukrainian national
thought in various ways. and even in labor camps after their
arrest for "bourgenis nationalism." A particular impression
was made in 1960 by the speech of the writer Ivan Dzyuba
in *Babi Your on the unniversary of the massacre (October
29). It was published only in the West, but it became
widely known among Jews and educated non-Jews in
the Ukraine.
From 1969 some Jewish families in Kharkov, Kiev, and
Odessa were allowed to leave the U.S.S.R. for Isruel.
Biblingraphy: 1.1. Malyshevski, Yevrei yuzhnoy Rusi i Kiyeve
X-XII vekakh (1878): Arkhiv yugo-zapadung Rossil. 5 pl. 2 (1890):
M. Zilberfarb, Dos Yidishe Avtonomyc in Ukraine (1919):
L. Khazanovich, Der Yidisher Ministerium un di Yidishe Khurbn
in Ukraine (1920): E. Heifetz, The Staughter of the Jews in
the Ukraine in 1919 (1921): J. Lestschinsky, Dus Yidishe Folk
in Tsifern (1922): idem. Ma-Yehudim he-Rusyah ha-Soyyetit
(1943): A. Druyanow (ed.). Reshummot, 3 (1923): L. Teheri-
kower, Antixemitizm in Purramen in Ukraine 1917 1918
Engraving for the tracta 6 Ukgin. which deals with cirual impurity
(1923); Committee of Jewish Delegations. The Pograms in
of husks and stalks etc., from a title page of the Hebrew-Latin
the Ukraine under the Ukrainian Governments, 1917 1920
Mishnah illustrated by Mich, Richey. Amsterdam. 1700 04.
(1927): E. D. Rosenthal, Megillat ha-Tevah. 3 pts. (1927
Jerusalem. J.N. U.L.
31): H. Landau. in: YIVO Shrijin far Ekonomik un Statistik,
I (1928). 98 104: Eshkol. Engiklopedvah Yesre'elit. (1929).
Makhshirm. R. Sumson of Sens (in his commentary at the begin.
1054 83: J. Kantor, Di Fldishe Batelkerung in Ukraine (1929): J.
ning of Tohoron suppes that Ukzm logically precedes Tohorol.
Shatzky, in: YIVO Historishe Sektsye. Grevres Takh (1938): L.
which continues with the subject matter of Chgin's linal chapter
Zinger. Dos Banayle both (194)): R. Dinaburg. in: Zinn. S 10
The laws of Chain were known to he very difficult to understand
(1943-45): S. Ettinger, ibid. 20(1955). 128 52: : (1956). 107 42:
and when Rav Judah studied it he would say. "we see here
R Mahler, Toledot ha- Yehidim be-Polin (1946): 1. Halpern, Beit
questions of R.iv and Simuel." In Horayal 136 it is related tha
Yorral Polin. (1948). 80 91: Dubnow, Divrei, 7 (repr. 1958):
several rubbis strove 111 umbarrass the nasi Simeon h. Gamaliel h:
O. S. Brik. Ukrayinsko-yevreysky (1961): S.I.
challenging him to teach them Okain. If the reference is 111 the
Goldelman. Jewish National Automomy in Ukraine. 1917 1020
tractate and not to the individual laws, 11 proves that at least part
(1968): V. Chornovil. The Chornovil l'apers (1968). 222-6 (speech
of the Mishnah were edited before Judah ha-Nasi. According 11
of Ivan Dzyuba).
(En)
Epstein. Mishnuh 3:2 represents the revised opinion nl Akiva (el
Tosefta 3:2) and Mishnah 3: represents the VIEW of Meir.
The Coselta also consists of three chapters. but man,
UKZIN (Heh, EXPY: "Stalks"). 12th and last tracture in the
paragraphs in 11. such as and 3:6 14, are not direct)
order Tohorot in the Mishnah and the Fosefta. There is no
related 10 any Mishnah: and even when there is a correlation, in
Gemara. either in the Babylonian or the Jerusalem
order of the Tosefta does not correspond 10 that of the Mishnah. I
Talmud. Okzin deals. in three chapters, with the problems
may he noted that the view of Resh (Simeon h.) Lakish, placing
of ritual impurity affecting roots. stalks. husks. shells,
Tohoror as the sixth and last order of the Mishnah. having bee
accepted (Shab. 310). UK appears as the last tractate of the whol
kernels. etc., and the importing of the uncleanness to the
Mishnah (as well as of the Talmud and Tosef(a). II is an unusur
Truits to which they are attached. This tractate was
subject with which to round off the Oral Law. According 1.
considered one of the most difficult even in talmudic times
Maimonides. its posit on does not express any particula
(Ber. 20a: Hor. 13h).
appreciation for this tractate: on the contrary "it has been left 1.
Chapter distinguishes first between yod ("handie") and shomer
the end," he says. "beesuse it is based on rabbinical speculation
("protection"). the former referring 10 that part of the Truit which
without any foundation in the Bible" (Introduction 10 Zernim) T
one holds when eating the fruit, and the latter to such parts as
give the Mishnah a litting close. later editors of the Mishnah adde
protect the fruit: both are relevant 10 the question of ritual purity.
an aggadic passage to the original text of Ukgin. speaking of gre:
November 17 - Lviv, Ukraine
Event: A USG contracted IL-76 will arrive in Lviv on November
6th carrying approximately $650, 000 in humanitarian cargo
donated through the U.S. private volunteer organization the
Children of Chernobyl Relief Fund. Most of this cargo is
destined for the Lviv Regional Childrens Pediatric Center and
includes neonatal resucitation equipment, medicines and medical
supplies, and an ambulance. Also on this aircraft is 5 pallets
of cold weather clothing and relief supplies orgainized by
Congresswoman Kaptur of Ohio from the Anastasia Fund and the
Toledo Sister Cities organization.
Suggested talking points relating to this relief flight are:
O In the area of neonatal care, I am pleased that on November
6th a USG contracted IL-76 delivered humanitarian cargo
destined for the Lviv Regional Childrens Pediatric Center.
Thanks to Nadiya Matkiwsky and the Children of Chernobyl Relief
Fund for their continued commitment to the people of Ukraine
and this humanitarian project in Lviv.
O This mission was the 53rd airlift of humanitarian commodity
to Ukraine since 1992 funded through the Department of State as
part of a continuing humanitarian program called Operation
Provide Hope. I am especially pleased to see that the
recepients of this assistance are the children of Ukraine.
O Over the last five years Operation Provide Hope has worked
with over 400 U.S. private volunteer organizations to deliver
donated humanitarian commodity to the Newly Independnt States
(NIS) It is estimated that by the end of this calendar year
Operation Provide Hope will have delivered over $2 billion in
assistance to the twelve NIS countries. This cooperative
effort goes well beyond global politics and humanitarian
programs and is a shining example that the people of the U.S.
care for and support the people of Ukraine and the rest of the
NIS during a critical period of change.
O To date this Operation Provide Hope has delivered over $300
million in humanitarian commodity to the people of Ukraine from
donors throughout the United States.
Tour/Discussion at L'viv
Oblast Clinical Hospital
L'VIV, UKRAINE
EVENT:
Visit to USAID/AIHA Partnership Sponsored Neonatal
Resuscitation Training Center and Neonatal Intensive
Care Unit at L'viv Oblast Hospital with First Lady of
Ukraine
DATE OF EVENT:
November 17, 1997
DURATION:
11am - 12:15pm
LOCATION:
L'viv Oblast Clinical Hospital
UI. Chernigivska, 7
290010 L'viv-10, Ukraine
Tel: (0322) 75-50-21
Fax: (0322) 75-78-15
NEONATAL
RESUSCITATION
TRAINING CENTER
DIRECTOR:
Dr. Dmytro Dobriansky
NEONATAL INTENSIVE
CARE UNIT HEAD:
Dr. Olga Detsyk
AIHA CONTACTS:
Washington DC: James P Smith, AIHA Executive Dir.
Tel: (202) 789-1136 Fax: (202) 789-1277
Kiev: Dr. Oksana Khartonuk, AIHA Regional Dir.
Tel: (011-380) 228-5375; (011-380) 229-2324
BACKGROUND: L'VIV NEONATAL RESUSCITATION TRAINING CENTER
AND NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT
The USAID/AIHA supported partnership between Henry Ford Hospital (Detroit)
and L'viv Oblast Clinical Hospital has been addressing infant mortality and
morbidity problems since its inception in 1993.
Programs developed by the partnership include a model Neonatal Resuscitation
Training Center (NRTC) to train health care workers throughout the region in
assessment, prevention, and newborn resuscitation protocols and a model
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and regional neonate transport system.
The NRTC focuses on preventing and immediately intervening in birth distress of
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otherwise normal infants while the NICU and transport system addresses the
needs of critically ill or premature babies. Together, these programs are
significantly decreasing both mortality rates and developmental disabilities in the
Oblast. Having proven their success regionally, the programs are now being
replicated by the partnership and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine elsewhere in
the country. Similar replication efforts are being undertaken by AIHA
partnerships in the Russian Federation and Uzbekistan.
Neonatal Resuscitation Training Program and Center (NRTC):
The L'viv-Detroit partnership developed a model Neonatal Resuscitation Training
Center that was officially opened in January 1997. The Center is responsible for
disseminating knowledge and conducting monthly training courses in neonatal
resuscitation, as well as gathering statistics from those medical institutions
whose personnel are trained at the Center.
Neonatal resuscitation training provides health care professionals with a set of
basic skills in newborn care which has become part of the standard practice in
delivery rooms across the United States and Western Europe. This training
enables practitioners to assist newborns when they experience difficulty
breathing on their own. Implementation of neonatal resuscitation skills in delivery
rooms and birth houses will serve to not only decrease infant mortality rates, but
also to reduce the number of developmental disabilities that can occur as a result
of oxygen depravation in the first minutes of life.
The model for neonatal resuscitation training in Ukraine was established by the
L'viv Oblast Clinical Hospital (LOCH)/Henry Ford Health System Partnership in
L'viv to complement activities in neonatal care which had been initiated in 1993.
The center utilizes the training curriculum of the American Heart
Association/American Academy of Pediatrics Both the Textbook of Neonatal
Resuscitation and the Instructor's Manual for Neonatal Resuscitation were
translated into the Ukrainian language by physicians at LOCH and will be utilized
by existing and future training centers in Ukraine.
Based upon the L'viv success, a national program in Ukraine was initiated with
the cooperation of the Ministry of Health (MOH) following the First Annual
Neonatal Conference in L'viv in 1996, which focused on primary resuscitation of
the newborn. Five regions have been identified by the MOH to establish training
centers in Ukraine. Using the model created in L'viv, AIHA and the Ukrainian
MOH opened the second training center in Ukraine in Kiev on October 23, 1997
(Ambassador Morningstar, Mr. Pressley and Ambassador Miller attended
the opening). Additional centers will be opened in Odessa and Donetsk,
Ukraine during 1998. US personnel have already trained instructors from these
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centers and teams of NIS and US partners will evaluate preliminary courses after
the centers open.
Preliminary evaluation of the data collected in the L'viv region, as well as on-site
evaluations, clearly indicate the effectiveness of the neonatal resuscitation
training provided by the center in L'viv. Building upon three years of partnership
activity in neonatology, the Center began offering courses in the Fall of 1996 and
in its initial year, has trained approximately 400 health care professionals in
neonatal resuscitation. Students include neonatologists, obstetricians, midwives,
pediatricians, and hurses. During the first 6 months of 1997 data collected from
L'viv and the L'viv Oblast showed a mortality of 7.8/1000. In 1993 the official
infant mortality was 13.5/1000. Although this is a small sampling - 2,753 births,
it shows a 40% decline in mortality. These results are consistent with
international studies that have shown 30% declines in both mortality and
developmental disabilities as a result of the introduction of neonatal resuscitation
training.
Equipment and supplies purchased with USAID funds for the Training Center
include training manikins, intubation heads and other relevant medical supplies,
as well as student manuals, slides, other educational materials and related multi-
media equipment.
Neonatal Intensive Care:
NICU and Center staffs have been trained extensively in modern methods of
neonatal care over the last three years. This has been accomplished through
numerous partnership exchanges from 1994 to the present and through national
AIHA/USAID-sponsored conferences held in L'viv in 1996 and 1997. The
partners have worked to establish a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to
meet the needs of critically ill and pre-term infants and organized transportation
systems and protocols to allow the L'viv Oblast Clinical Hospital (LOCH) to
effectively serve newborn needs from throughout the city and the L'viv Oblast.
This has been accomplished by redesigning the existing 48-bed unit and
establishing eight intensive care beds complete with cardio-respiratory
monitoring, capability for providing mechanical ventilation, controlled intravenous
therapy, and central blood pressure monitoring and supportive treatment.
Development of a Neonatal Lecture Series by the US partners was the
foundation for education of the LOCH staff. A collaborative practice model for
physicians and nurses for care at the bedside was developed as well as one for
Unit management. A Nurse Educator position was developed, in addition to the
Head Nurse role, to support the education and role development of the bedside
nurse. A Collaborative Practice Committee, which utilizes quality management
tools introduced by the US partners, meets monthly to solve Unit problems and
address practice related issues.
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The US partners, with the help of the members of the Ukrainian Village
Corporation in Warren, Michigan, who raised $12,000 in local contributions to
purchase a new infant transport isolette, established an effective transport
system for sick infants in the L'viv Oblast in 1996. The transport system allows
for premature and seriously ill newborns delivered within an 80-mile radius of the
LOCH to be transported safely. Previously, many of the infants died in transit
from cold, stress, and lack of oxygen.
Note: The Ukrainian Village is a nonprofit housing association that owns a
seniors housing development in the City of Warren, a northern suburb of Detroit.
Warren is the site of the largest concentration of Ukrainian-Americans in
southeast Michigan and the development is the home of many elderly people of
Ukrainian descent. The group sponsors a number of social activities and is
especially active with Democratic state and national legislators such as Mr.
Bonier. The group has been working with the Henry Ford Hospital as part of the
partnership's community outreach.
To further enhance the transport system, a newly donated Ford Transit
ambulance (valued at $27,000) for use with the infant transport isolette will arrive
in L'viv this week and be officially handed over during the First Lady's visit.
Contributions to Henry Ford Health System to support the ambulance donation
are being made by Ford Motor Company, Ford of Europe, and the Ford
Dealership in Kviv, Ukraine: Winner of Ukraine.
The development of the transport system has been actively supported by the
L'viv Oblast Health Department which created new regulations regarding the
transport of infants, thereby ensuring that sick infants will be transported to
LOCH from birthing centers and community hospitals throughout the region in a
timely fashion. Outreach education for district hospital personnel has been
established as physicians from LOCH are consulted on neonatal care during
transports. Physicians and nurses from district hospitals also come to LOCH for
two weeks of bedside training with the staff of the premature baby unit.
Since the inception of the neonatology program in 1994, the total value of the
Detroit partner's donations of equipment and supplies to the Neonatal Intensive
Care Unit (NICU) and the Neonatal Resuscitation Training Center has been over
$1 Million. A total of $1.5 million in donations has been made to the partnership
as a whole.
EVENT SUMMARY:
The visit will include a brief VIP tour of the Neonatal Resuscitation Training
Center and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit conducted by the Center Director
and the Head of the NICU, as well as other relevant staff members. Brief
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descriptions of the training course and the services available at the NICU will be
given. There will also be an opportunity to talk with patients and their families.
Stage I: Arrival and Greeting (11:00 - 11:05)
The First Lady and Ambassador Miller will be met at the portico by the First Lady
of Ukraine, Ludmila Kuchma, the Hospital Director, Dr. Boys Kryvko, the US
partner representatives, Dr. Sudhakar Ezhuthachan and Christine Newman, RN,
and Dr. Mykola Khobzei, Head of the L'viv Oblast Health Administration. Dr
Khobzei will present the First Ladies with flowers.
The First Lady of Ukraine is a vocal supporter of maternal and child health care
programs in general and the L'viv Oblast Clinical Hospital and the Center's
concept in particular. She and her staff have previously visited the Training
Center and the NICU and we anticipate that she will be eager to participate in the
visit with the First Lady of the United States.
Stage II: Tour of the Neonatal Resuscitation Training Center (11:05 - 11:20)
Dr. Kryvko will lead the First Ladies up the stairs to the Neonatal Resuscitation
Training Center on the second floor where the Center Director, Dr. Dmytro
Dobriansky, will greet them. US Ambassador Miller, and two representatives
from the Detroit partnership will accompany the First Ladies on the tour (see list
of participants in Group A below). Skill demonstrations, a brief description of the
training course, and data on the results of training will be presented by the
Center Director, Center staff and US partners. The Head of the L'viv Oblast
Health Administration Dr. Mykola Khobzei, Ambassador Morningstar of the State
Department, Mr. Pressley and Mr. Huger of USAID and James P. Smith, AIHA
Executive Director and others (Group B) will follow behind the tour.
Stage III: Tour of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (11:20 - 11:40)
Dr. Kryvko will escort the First Ladies and Group A to the Unit where they will be
greeted by the Head of the Unit, Dr. Olga Detsyk. Dr. Detsyk will give the First
Ladies a tour of the Unit, explanation of the services that are available, and
program outcomes.
Stage IV: Meeting with Former Patients and Families (11:40 - 12:00)
Dr. Kryvko will lead the First Ladies to the administrative rooms on the first floor
where they will meet with former patients and their families and a group of
current patients from the pediatrics wing of the hospital. Mrs. Clinton may want
to use this opportunity to give small gifts to the children. The First Ladies will
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also have an opportunity to see some of the equipment and supplies that have
recently been donated by the US partners.
Stage V: Brief Remarks (12:00 - 12:10)
Dr. Kryvko will lead the First Ladies to the auditorium on first floor where the First
Lady of the United States will have an opportunity to acknowledge the Ukrainian
health and government officials and other USAID health programs as she wishes
both the L'viv Oblast Clinical Hospital Center and NICU and other health
programs success (USAID to provide talking points in advance). At this time,
Mrs. Clinton will also be able to acknowledge the generous gift of a new
ambulance neonatal transport vehicle by Ford Motor Company. Keys to the new
ambulance will be presented to Dr. Kryvko by Mr. Ronald Plomp of Ford and two
of his colleagues from Ford in a brief, 2-minute turnover ceremony. (Note: if the
weather permits, this turnover ceremony will be held outside after the First Lady
exits the building.)
Stage VI: Exit and view donated ambulance and isollete (12:10 - 12:15)
As the First Ladies exit the building, Dr. Kryvko will briefly describe the transport
system, including the recently donated Ford ambulance/transport unit. The
ambulance will be parked in front and to the side of the entrance. See turnover
ceremony above if weather permits.
List of Participants:
Stage I:
First Lady of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton
First Lady of Ukraine, Ludmila Kuchma
Dr. Borys Kryvko, Head Physician, L'viv Oblast Clinical Hospital
Dr. Sudhakar Ezhuthachan, US partner representative
Christine Newman, RN, US partner representative
Dr. Mykola Khobzei, Head, L'viv Oblast health Administration
Stage II and III:
Group A:
First Lady of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton
First Lady of Ukraine, Ludmila Kuchma
Ambassador William Miller, US Ambassador to Ukraine
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Dr. Borys Kryvko, Head Physician, L'viv Oblast Clinical Hospital
Dr. Sudhakar Ezhuthachan, US partner representative
Christine Newman, RN, US partner representative
Group B:
Ms. Melanne Verveer
Ambassador Richard Morningstar, State Department
Mr. Donald Pressley, USAID
Mr. Greg Huger, USAID
James P. Smith, Executive Director, American International Health Alliance
Dr. Mykola Khobzei, Head, L'viv Oblast Health Administration
Stage IV:
First Lady of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton
First Lady of Ukraine, Ludmila Kuchma
Dr. Borys Kryvko, Head Physician, L'viv Oblast Clinical Hospital
10 - 15 former patients and family members
Stage V, VI:
Groups A and B and additional invited guests (USAID/US Embassy to provide
list)
Ford Representatives: Mr. Ronald Plomp, Mr. Christoph Sieder, Mr. Dan
Kulchyckj (?)
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L'viv, UKRAINE - DETROIT, MICHIGAN PARTNERSHIP
AIHA's Medical Partnership Program between Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan, and
L'viv Oblast Clinical Hospital (LOCH) and the L'viv Medical Institute in L'viv, Ukraine, funded
through a cooperative agreement with the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID). has existed since April 1993.
In addition to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Neonatal Resuscitation Training Center visited
by the First Lady, the partnership has focused upon rheumatic fever, urology and emergency care.
Rheumatic Fever: A coordinated L'viv Oblast-wide initiative to identify and develop protocols for
the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatic fever and its major sequelae, rheumatic heart disease is
underway. This includes the collection and analysis of demographic-based data concerning the
location and incidences of rheumatic fever outbreaks. and the targeted
use of antibiotics for primary and secondary prophylaxis.
Urology: US partners have conducted training in transurethral resection (TURP) of the prostate and
bladder and in related infection control and nursing practices. Dissemination of this information
has resulted in the completion of over 200 transurethral surgeries at LOCH. Further, training and
donated equipment have allowed L'viv surgeons to successfully develop a urodynamics laboratory
at LOCH and perform laparoscopic cholecystectomies. These improvements have contributed to
a reduction in average length of stay from 20 to 5 days.
Emergency Care: Exchanges have focused on evaluating and improving the integration of pre-
hospital and emergency receiving department care at LOCH. Training was provided in critical care
resuscitation, patient tracking and management, physical layouts of an emergency receiving
department, record keeping, and quality assurance. In addition, the L'viv staff observed physician-
nurse collaboration and the role of the nurse in a busy emergency department. Concentrated efforts
are being made to provide training in acute toxicological emergencies. A copy of a computerized
data base system (Poisindex) was provided to LOCH together with five computer monitors to help
develop ? regional toxicology
OTHER AIHA ACTIVITIES: In addition to the L'viv-Detroit partnership. AIHA supports
five additional partnership programs in Ukraine. These include: (1) L'viv-Buffalo, (2) Odessa-
Coney Island, (3) Kiev-Philadelphia, (4) Donetsk-Orlando, and (5) an EMS partnership - Coney
Island-Kiev.
SUMMARY PROGRAM DATA:
Total Partnership Exchange Days: 2,348 days
Value of In-kind Partner Contributions: $1.5 million
Value of Donated Equipment and Supplies: $1.5 million
WOMENS
HEALTH
L'viv's Smallest Success Story
BY SUDHAKAR EZHUTHACHAN, MD. DCH. AND CHRISTINE NEWMAN, MS. RNC
he infants are tiny enough to fit in the palm a nurse's hand, with hearts barely the size
1
of a walnut and underdeveloped lungs struggling for oxygen. But with the help of the
American partners at the Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) in Detroit, Michigan,
these babies at the L'viv Oblast Clinical Hospital (LOCH) in L'viv, Ukraine now have
a fighting chance.
"Little things really do count,"
tologist with the Ministry of
said LOCH neonatologist Zori-
Health. Good management of
ana Salabay, referring to the im-
low birth weight babies at part-
provements made in neonatal
nership hospitals in UVIV pro-
techniques that have helped save
duced some early positive results,
the lives of hundreds of prema-
added Sulima.
ture infants.
For example, last year 70 per-
From increased training of
cent of the 80 newborns in criti-
ctors and nurses to the use of
cal condition brought to the
mechanical ventilators, the Eviv-
NICU at LOCH within their first
Detroit partnership has improved
three days of life survived. In
the level of infant care, not only at
1995, the NICU had a 45 percent
the Premature Baby and Neona-
survival rate for transported in-
tal Intensive Care Units (NICU)
fants weighing under one kilo-
within LOCH, but to infants
gram, compared to a 25 percent
A nurse holds the tiny hand of a premature infant at LOCH.
throughout the oblast. The part-
survival rate at regional birth
nership created a successful framework for care by adapting the
houses. The use of modern approaches to improve newborn care at
principles of regionalization - a system of care based on the lev-
LOCH has decreased length of stay from 32.1 davs in 1993 to 29.8
el of risk for the baby - used in the United States since the 1950s
days in 1995.
but new to Ukraine. Very ill babies from throughout the region
Prior to 1993, Eviv Oblast did not have a neonatal intensive
HOW come to LOCH for treatment
care unit. Partners selected neonatology as the most critical area
In 1993. infant mortality in Ukraine was 13.5 per 1.000 live
of focus for the partnership to respond to the high infant mortal-
births, compared with 8.2 per 1,000 live births in the United States,
ity level in Ukraine. The partnership's four-part model addresses all
and 4.4 per 1,000 live births in Japan the lowest in the world.
the responsibilities of a Level 111 (the most intensive) regional
However, unlike in the United States and lapan, the data from
neonatal center as outlined in the "Guidelines of Perinatal Care."
Ukraine do not include infants weighing less than 1.000 grams
published by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Ameri-
meaning that the mortality rate is higher than the statistics indicate.
can College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, including clinical
"We are fighting for every child's life," explained Head of the
service, education, quality assurance and unit management.
'viv Oblast Health Administration Mykhola Khobzei.
An important initial step in the creation of the unit was the de-
The high infant mortality rate, coupled with declining birth
velopment of the Collaborative Practice Committee, comprised
ares, have made improved care for premature babies a priority for
of unit nurses and physicians to oversee issues as they relate to pa-
the Ukraine Ministry of Health, said Elena Sulima, MD, chief neona-
tient and staff concerns and analyze outcomes. Members of the
Photo by Suchakar Lynuthachan
1 15 1
COMMONHLALID 1996
WOMEN
S
HEALTH
immittee were educated on principles
seven days were transported to LOCH. In
Education: The Key to Success
of quality management and encouraged
most instances. however, they arrived very
The most important component of 1:-
10 use them to run their monthly meet-
sick and cold (with a body temperature
viv's model and the key to establishing a
ings, identify priority issues and analyze
less than 35 degrees Celsius), and in some
high-quality Level 111 neonatal unit is edu-
results.
instances, efforts to keep the infants warm
cation. Educational efforts included the do
with hot water bottles resulted in exten-
velopment of .1 neonatal curriculum and
Technical Advances in Care
clinical bedside training for physi-
In 1995. an eight-bed intensive
cians and nurses. Consisting of 40
care area was established at the Pre-
ТУДРОСТі
lectures and instruction outlines.
mature Baby Unit, and was equipped
slides and audio-visual equipment
with equipment donated from the
donated by HFHS, the curriculum
health care community in south-
provided a template for continuing
eastern Michigan, local equipment
education efforts within the region.
vendors and colleagues within the
Practical bedside training in intuba-
Henry Ford Health System.
tion, chest tube insertion, umbilical
Advances in technology intro-
catheter insertion and suturing was
dueed in the neonatal unit at LOCH
an essential part of the curriculum. A
included mechanical ventilation,
library of western medical and nurs-
regulated oxygen delivery, continu-
ing literature - books and journals
ous positive airway pressure through
donated by HFHS employees, Toron-
the nose, cardio-respiratory and
to Children's Hospital and several
gen saturation monitoring, con-
others - also was established at
aled infusion therapy, photother-
LOCH. Similarly, teaching videos, a
any (including use of a biliblanket
television and a video cassette
10 keep the baby warm), and ap-
recorder were donated by US part-
propriate dosing and administra-
ners to assist with meeting the staff's
tion of antibiotics. Guidelines for
educational needs. Over 160 health
clinical practice were developed and
care providers from LOCH have
translated into Ukrainian, and are
been trained in neonatal resuscita-
available as a pocket-sized reference
A mural in Kiev's Obstetrical and Gynecological Hospital No. 3 promotes
tion techniques. Supplemental,
for unit staff.
happy, healthy babies.
Ukrainian-language course material
Introduction of mechanical ven-
was also produced for staff with the
tilation was not without problems, how-
sive burns. Hypothermia is still a frequent
aid of Malteiser Humanitarian Aid Orga-
ever, use of mechanical ventilators drained
problem since most infants are transport-
nization.
existing meager oxygen supply, and voltage
ed by car.
"L'viv neonatologists are the first who
differences made transformers essential.
A regional infant transport program,
have applied the new approaches to the care
With increasing experience on the use of
is key to effectively transporting sick in-
of the newborn," explained Nina Goida,
this technology, the average duration of
fants to LOCH. A donation from Detroit's
MD, head of the Department of Maternal
ventilation has increased over time, and
Ukrainian community last winter helped
and Child Health Care at the Ukrainian
ventilated infants have been surviving in
with the purchase of an infant transporter,
Ministry of Health.
greater numbers.
which now can carry critically ill newborns
Speaking at the May 1996 regional con-
One of the main issues identified by
to the LOCH referral center from distant
ference on neonatal resuscitation and re-
the partnership is the inability to ensure
birth houses and hospitals (see COMMON-
gionalization, Goida encouraged neona-
sick infants reach the regional center
HEALTH, Winter 1996). Reliable ambulance
tologists to develop programs modeled after
a timely fashion. Typically, only those
support is needed, however, to ensure that
the LOCH program, which has introduced
critically ill infants who lived longer than
this effort continues uninterrupted.
"a practical level of skills" to neonatologists
COMMON
FAIL 1996
1161
Photo courtesy 01 Verian Towenstein
WOMENS
HEALTH
in 10 measure urine concen-
Morbidity and mortality data collection 111
Regionalization of Care
tration. and blood gas analysis
Ukrame is currently not consistent with that
changes which necessitated
of western nations.
Level I
Uncomplicated care
major alterations in patient care
Recently. a policy change in the Eviv
Level Il
Care of moderately ill
documentation.
Oblast required that all infants who die. in-
Level III
High-risk care
Imytro Dobriansky, MD. a
cluding those less than 1,000 grams, be eval-
neonatologist at LOCH, and
unted by a pathologist. This modification will
Level III Referral Centers
Level III care + neonatal
Andrew Tooziak, MD, a post-
allow data comparisons with western nations.
transport and regional
graduate student 31 the Eviv
Computers donated to the partnership
outreach education
Medical Institute and LOCH,
have aided the staff in developing a program
designed a bedside flowsheet to
that provides them an extensive database on
and "affected declines in early neonatal mor-
document patient data in the NICU, mod-
many aspects of patient care. Staff physicians
tality" at the LOCH Premature Baby Unit.
cling it after the one used at Henry Ford
enter data into the computer on all patients at
These early positive outcomes prompted the
Hospital. The information documented by
the time of discharge. Using this data, trends
Ministry to work with AIHA to introduce
the nurses is readily available to the physi-
can be identified in the newly instituted prac-
the LOCH Neonatal Resuscitation Program
cians, who also use the flowsheet to write
tice of mechanical ventilation and care mod-
throughout Ukraine, Goida concluded.
daily orders. This has greatly improved both
ified if needed. The computer support has fa-
LOCH physicians and nurses realized that
communication and collaboration between
cilitated regular communication through
in order for clinical care to improve, the ex-
physicians and nurses, contributing signifi-
e-mail with colleagues in Eviv. This allows us
isting role of the bedside nurse would have to
cantly to better patient care.
to have an ongoing dialogue about issues and
be altered. A nurse educator position was
Education of support service staff in ra-
aid in problem solving in a very expeditious
wated within the unit to help ensure sus-
diology, pharmacy and microbiology also
and cost-effective manner.
hable improvements in care and provide
addressed specific needs of sick infants, be-
Though partner efforts have resulted
ongoing education to nurses. The unit's first
cause if these staff do not function at peak ef-
in improvements in care, critical problems
nurse educator, Olha Vlad, participated in
ficiency, the critical care provided to these
remain that threaten the ability to sustain
an intensive, one-month training program at
infants could be jeopardized.
the changes and successes achieved. The
HFHS and continues to provide ongoing
Outreach efforts to neonatologists and
need for a steady stream of supplies, more
education and support to nurses in the
nurses in the Eviv region culminated in the
equipment and last but not least the
NICU in Eviv.
creation of two- to four-week training pro-
attitude of continuously challenging old,
And the outcomes of these courses are
grams in patient management and bedside
ineffective practices cannot be underesti-
significant, noted Salabay. "We accomplish
care. Physicians and nurses from district
mated. We continue to be amazed at the
more in our unit thanks to the expanded
hospitals in western Ukraine visit LOCH for
dedication and commitment of our col-
role of our nurses."
training. In addition, their realization that
leagues despite an unending series of ob-
Nurses in the unit now provide bedside
small babies had a chance to survive at
stacles. We have learned that collabora-
care to small, sick infants on ventilators, and
LOCH has resulted in earlier transport of
tion, not only between the partners, but
.re responsible for routine monitoring of
small and sick infants.
with other departments, organizations and
vital signs, interpretation of monitor and
Parent education is an essential compo-
the community, is vital to ensure that qual-
bedside laboratory data, listening to breath-
nent of the neonatal education program.
ity care can be provided even to the tiniest,
ing through a stethoscope, endotracheal suc-
This includes conducting ongoing classes
most fragile patients at LOCH
tioning to clean the trachea, initiating IV
for parents and providing informational
therapy, and monitoring central blood pres-
brochures on important issues related to
Sudhakar Ezhuthachan. MD. DCH. and Christine
sure. Nurses in NICU also perform basic
their infant's care.
Newman, MS. RNC. are US partners from the Hen-
!!' Ford Health System. Department of Pediatries.
bedside laboratory testing, including mi-
Division of Neonatology and the Department of
sedementation rates to determine if a
Evaluation of Program Outcomes
Nursing (Detroit, Michigan). Dmytro Dobriansky,
'!' has an infection, hematocrit to deter-
Collection of accurate data is the only
MD. assistant professor at Eviv Medical Institute
and it neonatologist at LOCH. provided numerical
mine hemoglobin count, urine specific grav-
way to evaluate any program or change.
data.
1 17 1
COMMON FAIL 1996
UKRAINE: L'VIV CLINIC
SCENESETTER
Tour and brief discussion at Neo-Natal Center of the L'Viv
Clinical Oblast Hospital on Monday, November 17, 11:15 a.m.
- 12:30 p.m. Attendees will include dignitaries and staff
from the Neo-Natal Center and L'Viv Oblast Special Hospital
for Children and Frank Zelazny of the Peace Corps.
You will present humanitarian aid shipments to doctors from
both hospitals. You will then tour the neo-natal facilities
and talk with staff. You will proceed to the training room
and hold a brief discussion regarding children's emergency
care with Boris Kryvko (head of the hospital), Olha Deksyk
(head of the Neo-Natal Center), Dr. Alexander Mendiuk (head
of the Special Hospital) and doctors.
BACKGROUND
Both facilities have benefited from partnerships with U.S.
organizations. Several staff members from both hospitals
have been trained in the U.S. The Neo-Natal Center is an
American International Hospital Association partner hospital
with the Henry Ford Clinic in Detroit.
TALKING POINTS
I am pleased to visit the L'Viv Oblast Clinical Hospital
and see first hand the results of your partnership with
Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan.
I cannot help but be impressed by both the systemic and
comprehensive approach to newborn care that you have
taken and by the great success that has resulted.
As has been outlined to me, you have integrated the
training of health care workers in assessment, prevention
and newborn resuscitation skills with a new regional
transport system. This will assure that very ill babies
can be brought to the hospital from throughout the region
for high quality treatment.
Your innovative work to address the special needs of
critically ill or premature babies has significantly
reduced both rates of mortality and developmental
disabilities in the region. And it has done so in a
manner that is affordable in the long run.
The result of this effort - a mortality rate of only 7.8
per thousand for the first six months of 1997 and a
reduction of over 30 percent since the partnership began
- are something we are all very proud of.
With results like this, I was not surprised to learn from
Ambassador Morningstar that the Ministry of Health is
working with USAID and AIHA to replicate the basic
neonatal resuscitation training center concept throughout
Ukraine. I understand that the trainers for these new
centers are being trained here in L'Viv.
This replication of successful model programs in close
collaboration with local and national governments is
indicative of the maturation of our assistance programs
in Ukraine and the continuing evolution of our
relationship as strategic partners.
Over the course of the past four years the partnerships
here in L'Viv, Kiev, Odessa and Donestsk have developed a
number of model programs improving the quality of care
and the efficiency and organization of the delivery of
that care.
When I was in Kiev several years ago, I saw first hand
the model prenatal and birthing education programs that
the partnership with the University of Pennsylvania had
developed.
I understand that the Kiev partnership effort is in the
process of expanding to include a comprehensive women's
wellness center and a breast cancer screening program and
that similar women's centers will open early next spring
here in L'Viv.
I attended the opening of women's wellness centers in
Central Asia last week. The model that has been
developed, with its mix of health education, screening,
early diagnosis, treatment and follow-up for women of all
ages, stands at the forefront of international efforts to
address the health care needs of women.
By replicating this model in three Ukrainian cities,
American-Ukrainian health partnerships are taking an
important step toward changing health practices in the
country as a whole.
What impresses me most during my short visit this morning
is the way in which you have accomplished these results -
through partnership. The comprehensive, multi-faceted
programs that I have just seen don't happen
automatically; they take a tremendous commitment of
resources from many, many different sources.
It is often the case that "how" we accomplish something
is as important as "what" we accomplish. This is true in
this instance, where the governments and health care
providers of our two countries have come together in
partnership to develop innovative solutions to problems
we face as individuals and as human beings.
As I have seen in my previous visits in this region,
these volunteer-driven partnerships make a real
difference in people's lives - here and in the United
States.
You should take great pride in what you have accomplished
and in how you have accomplished it - together in a
partnership that unites our people in common purpose and
to common benefit.
6/12/97 THU 10:44 FAI 201 376 4988
CHILDREN OF CHORNOBYL
002
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ICCF UKRAINE
PAGE 02
MIHICTEPCTBO ОХОРОНИ ЗДОРОВ'Я УКРАЇНИ
MINISTRY OF HEALTH OF UKRAINE
06.
97
No
11/105
Ha No
June 10, 1997
Mr Richard Morningstar
Ambassador and Special Advisor
on Assistance to the NIS
to the President and Secretary of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
Dear Mr Morningstar:
I am writing you to ask for your support in combating the unprecedented high rate
of infant mortality in Ukraine. As you know, this has been a matter of extreme concern to
President Kuchma and to ukrainian health authorities. Negative combination of
economic hardships, the long-term effects of Chornobyl, and other environmental factors
have led to a devastating drop in birth rates as well as increase of infant mortality in our
nation. Our experience showed that today Ukraine cannot cope with its current health
crisis using the outdated Soviet technologies. There is a critical need to introduce basic
commodities that will allow health institutions to function effectively. We need an
aggressive, cost effective approach which can combat infant mortality at a fundamental
level. Our physicians cannot fight this emergency without involvement of last generation
of antibiotics and sophisticated diagnostic equipment, such as fetal heart monitors and
incubators, or intensive community.
I have been closely working with the Children of Charnobyl Relief Fund since
1990 following their programs since then. CCRF's most recent neonatal equipment
shipments to the children's hospitals in Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Lviv have
actually increased the capacity of these hospitals in theirs attempt to attack the problem
nitially and, thus, drew great appreciation from President Kuchma
I believe that CCRF remains the only organization that has the right knowledge,
structure, contacts, operating network at the spots and resources to implement the
Women's and Children's Health Care Initiative that will be able seriously combat existing
problem of birth rate in Ukraine launching a program that will be self sustainable.
Україна 252021. KHIB . аупиця Грушевського, 7
7 Hrushevsky Street. Kiov 252021. Ukraine
TEL. (044) 293-6194 FAX (044) 293-6975 - TELEX 131360 TAMPO
06/12/97 10:47
TX/RX NO. 1397
P.002
/12/97 THU 10:45 FAI 201 378 4988
CHILDREN OF CHORNOBYL
003
/12/1997 02:53 2288365
ICCF UKRAINE
PAGE 03
de
I do hope that with your support this campaign will possess great potential to
increase infant survival and reverse some of the bleak demographic trends sweeping our
nation. This would leave a lasting legacy of your much appreciated tenure with the Office
of NIS Assistance.
In this context I am asking for your help in securing funding necessary to onable
CCRF fully implement this health initiative in Ukraine and in such a way to assist in
reversing the current situation with birth rate.
Respectfully yours,
actionshy
Prof. Anddj Serdiuk, M.D., Ph.D.,
Minister
06/12/97 10:47
TX/RX NO.1397
P.003
Remarks on
Jewish Heritage
UKRAINE: JEWISH CEMETERIES
History of intolerance. Ukrainian history includes an
unfortunate legacy of intolerance toward minorities. The Jews of
western Ukraine were regularly subjected to forced migrations -
"pogroms." Millions of Ukrainians were exterminated in Stalin's
forced labor camps. Ukraine was singled out for a disruptive
campaign that ruined its once-rich agriculture and led to a
massive famine in the 1930s that killed millions of Ukrainians of
all origins. Post-Soviet Ukraine has begun to take steps to
address previous wrongs. While the human rights record has
recently improved, historic anti-Semitism remains a serious
concern.
Bilateral agreement. In 1994, Ukraine signed an agreement with
the United States to preserve cultural sites important to both
countries. While this agreement was not specifically aimed at
any particular ethnic or religious group, early on, the
rehabilitation of Jewish cemeteries became the first focus of
efforts.
Jewish cemeteries. Under Jewish religious law, a cemetery is
forever a sacred site. In L'viv, decades before the Nazi
occupation, the historic central cemetery was full and closed to
new burials. A. new cemetery on the city outskirts served the
Jewish community. The Nazis used gravestones from the central
cemetery as paving blocks for roads. The visible elements of the
cemetery were destroyed, but most of the graves remained
undisturbed. After the Nazis were defeated, the Soviets took
control of L'viv and turned the site into a large marketplace.
Thus, the current use of the L'viv marketplace is considered an
ongoing desecration and an affront to the Jewish community. This
pattern was repeated in numerous communities throughout Ukraine
(and eastern Europe generally).
Competing priorities. The issue of restoration of cemeteries --
in L'viv and elsewhere -- must take place in the context of
present-day realities. Many U.S. Jewish organizations prefer to
focus on the needs of the small communities of Jews still living
in Ukraine, giving restoration of cemeteries a lower priority.
Orthodox Jewish leaders tend to give precedence to the cemetery
issue both on religious grounds, and because some of the greatest
rabbinical scholars of the 17th and 18th century are buried in
what are now unmarked graves. Resident Jews tend to fear an
anti-Semitic backlash if too much emphasis is put on Jewish
religious needs and requirements - they urge restraint in dealing
with the Ukrainian government.
Dealing with the problem. The Ukrainian government has ordered
an absolute freeze, or moratorium, on any construction or
privatization of sites that have been identified as Jewish
cemeteries, either presently or in the past. A Joint Cultural
Heritage Commission has been established to oversee
identification of Jewish cemeteries and non-Jewish cultural
heritage sites throughout Ukraine, and to seek a mutually-agreed
means of addressing the cemetery problem.
Future steps. International Jewish groups have already indicated
a willingness to provide resources to repair, restore, preserve,
and protect Jewish cemetery sites in Ukraine. We estimate that
there are over 2000 such sites in Ukraine, many in places where
there are few or no Jews left. This issue is on the agenda of
the Joint Commission on Cultural Heritage, envisioned by the 1994
bilateral agreement, which next meets in Washington this fall.
THE CENTRAL JEWISH CEMETERY IN L'VIV
Setting. Following the Nazi invasion in 1941, the occupying
German forces flattened and paved over the central Jewish
cemetery in the heart of L'viv. (This cemetery space had long
been filled to capacity with graves, and several greatly revered
Jewish sages were buried there.) After the war, the central city
market was built, mostly involving kiosks and metal sheds, on the
cemetery site. Over the intervening decades, at least one
several-story building was built on the grounds - now used as the
meat and dairy market - as well as several smaller permanent
structures.
Adjacent to these grounds is a hospital complex of several
buildings which are embellished with Jewish symbols and
inscriptions. This was the Jewish hospital, and now serves as a
maternity hospital. We know that no graves lie under the
hospital complex, as the Jewish residents of the last century
would never have constructed anything atop graves. The whole
area is immense, with the aggregate dimension of several football
fields.
Construction issues. In the summer of 1996, construction started
on the land just between the market and an adjoining hospital
complex. International protest stopped this construction,
whereupon the Kuchma government articulated its intention for a
national freeze on any construction or privatization on Jewish
cemetery sites. In September and October, 1996, a mixed
commission of local and GOU officials met in L'viv and determined
that the market should be moved and the cemetery in some way
memorialized. An AID study completed on August 8, 1997 estimated
the project cost between $4 and $12 million. The mayor of L'viv
IS believed to be committed to this project, which is viewed, if
done well and sensitively, as a boon to the city on several
levels.
The site. Apart from the actual movement of the market from the
cemetery grounds, still blocked by lack of funds, the major issue
remaining is the form the preserved cemetery would take. Care
must be taken to insure that, while Jewish law and sensitivities
are abided with, a forbidding, impenetrable wall not be erected
around the perimeter of what was for decades the busiest place in
town, thereby risking fomenting discord among L'viv's Jewish and
Ukrainian communities. The form, function, and accessibility of
this space are very much at issue. The cemetery itself cannot be
recreated as it was, as the headstones are all gone. If the term
"memorial park" is to be the operative one, it must be designed,
constructed, and utilized with great care, mixing legitimate
religious requirements with real-world considerations of access
by Jews and non-Jews alike. For this, we will look to the
leadership provided by the U.S. Commission for the Preservation
of America's Heritage Abroad; to Michael Lewan, Rabbis Morris
Sherer (Agudath Israel) and Chaskel Besser, and others. Meetings
that State Department officers have attended lead us to believe
that Rabbis Sherer and Besser understand the art of the possible,
that they will impose by their own moral authority the proper
amount of restraint, and that the most Orthodox and Hasidic
rabbis will defer to their judgment (within reason).
Restoration costs. We have long discussed with the Jewish
Orthodox leadership the eventual need for significant financial
contributions by the Jewish community in L'viv L' and elsewhere.
Recognizing the cardinal principle that Ukraine's Jews should not
be asked to buy back their own cemeteries, the costs of
restoration are as different matter. If the cash-strapped GOU and
local governments act to protect the estimated 2,000 Jewish
cemeteries across Ukraine, much of the cost of subsequent
preservation must fall to the Jewish community, particularly that
part of the world Jewish community in the United States and
Israel that has been leading this effort. We believe this point
to be inherent to this discussion, and to be a matter of at least
implicit agreement.
UKRAINE: JEWISH HERITAGE (VENUE TBD)
SCENESETTER
Remarks on Jewish Heritage at a location that is yet to be
determined (possibly L'Viv State University) on Monday,
November 17, 12:45 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. Attendees will
include: Rabbi Bleich (Chief Rabbi of Ukraine), Mr. Sheykhet
Meylakh (UCIS), Rabbi Bald (Rabbi of L'Viv), and Donna
Winkleman of the Peace Corps.
You will meet with Jewish leaders to discuss the role of
Jews in the development of L'Viv as the "cultural capital"
of Ukraine as well as the role of Jews in L'Viv State
University. The discussion will also focus on the
importance of education towards eliminating intolerance.
BACKGROUND
Until World War II L'Viv University was the site of a very
active Jewish academic community. In 1925-26, for example,
35 percent of the students were Jewish. Many of the leading
professors and researchers at the university were also
Jewish. Mathematician H. Steinhaus started publishing the
journal "Studia Matematica," which became a leading
international publication in the field. The math department
was mostly Jewish and very highly regarded. There were also
world-class physicists, geologists, engineers, astronomers,
geographers, biologists, historians, economists and legal
professors.
In the summer of 1941, upon the arrival of Nazi troops, 70
of the best professors from the University, the L'Viv
Technical University, and the Medical University were
abducted and shot.
Note: You should be prepared to respond should the issue of
the Jewish cemetery/market be raised.
Moment of Remembrance
at Ghetto Monument
UKRAINE: GHETTO MONUMENT
SCENESETTER
Wreath Laying at the Ghetto Monument on Monday, November 17,
1:25 - 1:45 p.m. Attendees will include: Rabbi Bleich
(Chief Rabbi of Ukraine) and others.
In a solemn ceremony, you will acknowledge the memorial (by
laying a wreath, placing a stone, or lighting a candle).
BACKGROUND
Rabbi Bleich will explain that Jews during WWII were led
down this road to their deaths. The sculpture is entitled
"Why?" and resembles a man holding his hands up to God.
Government
Ukraine-hosted Lunch
UKRAINE: GOVERNMENT LUNCH
SCENESETTER
Lunch at a setting to be determined hosted by the government
of Ukraine and will likely include Mrs. Ludmila Kuchma.
President Kuchma may attend, but he will be leaving for the
U.S. on November 18 and may not be able to participate. It
may be sponsored by a Ukrainian candy company, Svitoch.
Attendees will also include other government officials and
local dignitaries.
BACKGROUND
Svitoch is an outstanding example of a successful Ukrainian
company. Svitoch enjoys better name recognition than almost
any other Ukrainian firm.
Icon Restorers
at National Museum
UKRAINE: ICON RESTORATION INSTITUTE
SCENESETTER
Tour of Icon Restoration Institute or National Museum on
Monday, November 17, 3:45 - 4:30 p.m. Attendees will
include government officials and other dignitaries.
The Institute is one of the world's leading facilities for
restoring priceless icons. Part of the Institute's
restoration staff recently moved to the National Museum.
The Museum houses displays of 15th to 19th century Ukrainian
icons. At the museum you may participate in restoring a
work of art.
BACKGROUND
You will tour one of these two sites and view religious
works of art that are currently undergoing restoration.
Tour of
St. George's Cathedral
UKRAINE: ST. GEORGE'S CATHEDRAL
SCENESETTER
Tour of St. George's Cathedral on Monday, November 17, at
4:45 - 5:45. Attendees will include: Boris Gudziak (Vice
Rector, L'Viv Theological Seminary) and other dignitaries.
You will tour the cathedral, which is the "Vatican" of the
Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine (also known as the
Ukrainian Catholic Church).
BACKGROUND
The Greek Catholic church recognizes the authority of the
Pope. The church represents a focal point of Ukrainian
pride and nationalism. As such, many priests and members of
the church were persecuted under the Soviet regime. St.
George's was returned to the Ukrainian Catholic Church in
1990 after 44 years of compulsory Soviet-imposed Orthodox
control.
Dr. Gudziak and the Lviv Theological Seminary have been
working on an oral history project that records the heroism
and plight of Greek Catholics during the years of Soviet
oppression. Constructed between 1774 and 1790, St. George's
is an excellent example of Ukrainian stylized Baroque
architecture. This church is the historic sacred center of
the Ukrainian Catholic Church.
American
Community Event
UKRAINE: MEET/GREET UKRAINIAN WOMEN
SCENESETTER
Meet and greet prominent Ukrainian women (parliamentarians,
business leaders and activists) at the L'Viv Opera House
after the speech from 11:15 - 12:00 noon. Attendees will be
the same as those who attend the speech.
UKRAINE: AMERICAN COMMUNITY IN L'VIV
SCENESETTER
An event with the American community will be held at the
D'niester Hotel in the 2nd floor dining room on Monday,
November 17 at 6:00 - 6:30 p.m. Attendees will include:
Ambassador and Mrs. Miller, U.S. Embassy and USAID employees
and Peace Corps volunteers and staff.
BACKGROUND
You will have a chance to meet and greet the local American
community.
Speech at Opera House
1003
UNCLASSIFIED
UKRAINE: TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN
On November 21, the United States Government and the European
Union will formally launch a joint information campaign to
combat the trafficking of women from and through Eastern Europe
and the Newly Independent States of the Former Soviet Union
(NIS). The USG and the EU began discussing such a campaign in
April 1997 as a mechanism to expand migration activities within
the context of the New Transatlantic Agenda and to address a
common. serious problem which we face. At the U.S. - EU Summit
on May 28, President Clinton highlighted both the despicable
nature of the problem terming it as "modern day slavery"
and U.S. BU resolve to undertake joint action to prevent it.
The U.S. and the EU are developing the information campaign
concept jointly and will implement it on separate, twin tracks
in the region. The U.S. will sponsor an information campaign
designed for Ukraine and will use the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) as its implementing partner,
while the EU will sponsor one in Poland, using a European
non-governmental organization (NGO) as its implementing
partner. While the two countries are considered as both source
and transit venues for trafficking in women, they were chosen
for this project not to single them out in this status, but as
likely candidates for a successful and productive effort.
The Government of Ukraine has responded enthusiastically to our
proposal. Ukrainians already recognize trafficking in women as
a problem for women who lack opportunity in the existing
economic system. "La Strada" a European network of NGOs
funded by the EU and the Dutch NGO, "STV, focused on
preventing trafficking in Central and Eastern Europe has
opened a branch office in Kiev. "La Strada Ukraine" has
established a hotline in Ukraine for exploited women and has
begun a small information campaign focused on young women who
are finishing high school the group considered to be the
most at risk.
The U.S. EU information campaign will focus on providing
information to both potential victime that they can protect
themselves from exploitation, and to host-country officials,
indigenous NGOs, and foreign consular officers to assist them
in identifying and preventing potential problems. At the
November 21 workshop hosted by the EU in Luxembourg, all
involved parties the USG, EU Commission, EU Member States,
EU implementing NGO, IOM, and the governments of Ukraine and
Poland will review the information campaigns designed for
Ukraine and Poland and will formally launch the joint
initiative. Detailed components of the information campaigns
will be further developed from December through February and
will be implemented from mid-March through mid-May. We
envision that the overall project will end with a USG-sponsored
wrap-up workshop in June 1998 in Ukraine for all involved
parties, as well as local NGOs, to evaluate the effectiveness
of the campaigns in the two countries and to highlight their
messages. If the project is successful, we hope to broaden the
campaign to other countries in the region.
UKRAINE: L'VIV OPERA HOUSE SPEECH
SCENESETTER
Speech at the Ivan Franko Opera House on Tuesday, November
18 at 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. Attendees: local dignitaries and
prominent women in Ukraine.
You will give a speech at the L'Viv Opera House, a beautiful
example of Viennese style opera houses, built in 1897-1900.
The Opera House seats approximately 1000. The audience will
consist of prominent Ukrainian women, parliamentarians,
local dignitaries, students, artisans and others (guest list
TBD)
BACKGROUND
Zonta International Club of L'Viv, an association of
professional women, will sponsor this event in coordination
with the American Chamber of Commerce.
Meet and Greet with
Prominent Women