"At the end of April the Hetman Government came into power, and the Central Parliament was abolished. The autonomy of minorities was also withdrawn, but no serious inroads were made on the political rights of the Jews. The Court of Cassation was not disturbed, and the members were given the title of Senator. A Jew, M. Gutnik, of Odessa, was appointed Minister of Commerce. The Hetman regime lasted eight months, and when it was overthrown by Petlura, the new Government restored the autonomy of minorities and again appointed Jewish Ministers. M. Goldelmann, a member of the Poalei-Zion, received an Under-Secretaryship, and I was appointed Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs. I retained my seat on the Court of Cassation, though I did not act in my judicial capacity while I held a portfolio. Jews were also included in the various diplomatic missions dispatched by the Ukraine Government to foreign countries. Thus, Dr. Vishnitzer, the well known historian, and one of the editors of the Jewish encyclopedia published in Russia, is one of the secretaries of the English mission. Jews are included in the press and secretarial sections of the French mission, and a Jew is one of the secretaries of the Dutch mission."
The Pogroms
How do you reconcile the outbreak of pogroms with this favourable attitude towards the Jews?
"There is this difference between the pogroms which have unhappily taken place in the Ukraine and those which occurred under the Tsarist regime. Whereas the latter were instigated and connived at by the authorities, the Ukraine Government has steadfastly set its face against the pogroms, and it has had no part in, or responsibility for them. At the time of Petlura's coup d'etat at the end of November, 1918, I myself read, in numerous towns and villages in the Ukraine, proclamations issued by the Government strongly condemning pogroms, explaining to the people that the Jews were fellow-citizens and brothers who were helping in the evolution of the Ukrainian State, and to whom the fullest rights were due. The proclamations declared that pogroms must tend to discredit the Ukraine in the eyes of the civilized world, and those who. took part in them were no friends of their country.
"Unfortunately, after the Bolshevists took Kieff, and disintegration set in among the ranks of the Ukrainian forces, the worst element of the army started pogroms. Once more the Government disavowed them, sentenced the perpetrators to death, expressed their deepest sympathy with the Jews and promised the fullest compensation to the sufferers. I must unhappily admit that the last pogroms as to which I have information — those of February and March last — were very bad, thousands of Jews being killed. They were instigated by criminals, Black Hundreds, and Bolsheviks, who wished to discredit the Ukrainian Government. These events made a deep impression upon me, and at the end of March I tendered my resignation. I stated that I was aware that the Government were not to blame for the pogroms, but that, as a Jew, I felt that I could not retain an official position in a country where my brethren were being massacred. My resignation was not accepted, and the Government begged me to continue to give my services at least abroad, and I was appointed as one of a mission of four to represent the Ukraine at the Peace Conference, my colleagues being the former Ministers, M. M. Sidorenko, Paneiko, and Shulgin. The prevalence of pogroms in the Ukraine may be partly attributed to the fact that the Ukrainians, although constituting a distinct political entity, were subject for 250 years to Russia, and have acquired, as an evil inheritance, what I may call the pogrom habit. It is at least a matter for satisfaction that there is no anti- Semitic tendency in the Ukraine Government, which differs in this respect, very notably, from that prevailing in Poland. It is to the progress of democratic ideals in the Ukraine that we must look for the elimination of the evil pogrom element."
Justice and Polity Demand Fair Treatment of the Jews by DE. MARK VISHNITZER
Jewish Historian and Editor of the "Jewish Encyclopedia'' and the "History of the Jewish People."