The excesses against the Jews continued a long time. Professor Grushevski, the president of the Central Rada, took pains to suppress the attacks. For this purpose he addressed himself again and again to the military and some of their leaders. Repeatedly he invited the Rada to work in common, as he pointed to the difficulty of the situation. Under the pressure of the Central Rada and the whole poltical situation (presence of German military, who had already spoken of order) there were no mass pogroms. Here we see the most characteristic feature of the Jewish pogroms — the moment the instigators cease to find them useful for their purpose, they suddenly come to a standstill. At the time in question a strong anti-Semitic propaganda was developed. The sentiment in favor of pogroms among the Ukrainian troops was genuine and strong. They were firmly convinced that the Jews were responsible for Bolshevism as well as for the disgrace of their country. Nevertheless the number of victims was very small. The military leaders who excited and fanned these sentiments stood under the influence of the causes above mentioned. They prevented an open pogrom and, what is the main thing, they gave no orders for a pogrom.
The German military occupation made itself felt.
They tried to utilize the "bread peace" to the fullest extent in their own interest. The Ukraine with its bread and its agricultural products must make it possible for Germany to continue the war in the west. The whole grain was often carried off from the villages by armed force. The villages soon realized the real meaning of the Force of Occupation. The Central Rada saw its political mistake. The representatives of the Ukrainian parties listened willingly to the speeches of the Jewish opposition against the Force of Occupation. The desire to liberate themselves from the Germans reconciled the Rada to the Jewish opposition. But the Central Rada had played its role, it was scattered by German bayonets.
The Occupation covered its domination over the Ukraine with the mantle of Hetman rule. The German military party introduced a congress of representatives of the peasant land proprietors, the "Corn Peasants/' These proclaimed as head of the Ukrainian State, Paul Skoropadsky, a descendant of an old Hetman family, a hitherto little known captain of the tsarist regime, who had later gone over to the service of the Ukrainian government. The Hetman was an obedient figurehead in the hands of the Force of Occupation. He was a devoted executor of their will and their efforts. The white terror prevailed in the cities and even more on the plains of the country. There was a continuous descent of punitive expeditions, requisitions, money penalties. The hate against the Force of Occupation and the external expression of the German rule grew from day to day, and not in the village only but also in the city. At the same time the great defeats of the Germans on the west front and the growing opposition among the German soldiers weak-
UKRAINE
ened the power of the Force of Occupation and announced its approaching end. The disturbances in the Ukrainian villages, which were kept down with the help of the Hetman's government troops and the German punitive expeditions, continued. In the cities secret meetings were held between the representatives of the Ukrainian parties of the Left and the Jewish socialistic parties. A complete rapproachment was not arrived at. The differences between them were of a radical nature. Mistrust was very great. The common enemy, however, brought about an understanding and the conviction of the necessity of making common cause against him. The understanding, however, was not of long duration. The enemy was soon overcome. The political parties of the Ukraine who had created a new national government, the Directory, experienced a violent clash with the Soviet government. In this embittered fight they carried to its full development the old weapon of poison, anti-Semitic agitation and the support of the organized Jewish pogroms.
CHAPTER
ON the ninth of November, 1918, the revolution broke out in Germany. The consequence was a political crisis in German-occupied Ukraine and a revolt against German domination.
On the thirteenth of November a political general strike was determined upon at a general meeting of the Central Bureau of the Ukrainian Labor Union. Everywhere in the basin of the Donetz where the Austrian troops retired there was a revolt. On the fifteenth of November the movement began in the Government of Kiev, district of Tarascha. Everywhere insurgent bands were formed under the leadership of Makhno, Grigoriev and others. At the head of the movement was a Directory and later Petlura. Yekaterinoslav, Kharkov and Odessa went over to the Directory. On the eleventh of December Kiev was occupied.