Despite Ukraine having a Jewish president, some Jews are conflicted about aiding the ongoing crisis due to the complex history of Ukrainian Jewry.

In the tenth century, Ukrainian Jews lived in relative peace, working as middlemen between peasants and the nobility. However, in the fifteenth century, Bogdan Chmielnicki, now considered a Ukrainian hero, brutally slaughtered tens of thousands of Jews.

In the years following the Chmielnicki massacre peace returned and Jews flourished. Jews and Ukrainians lived side by side, sharing both language and recipes that are still used today.

In the seventeenth century, Eastern Ukraine was absorbed by Russia and Jews suffered once more from pogroms, antisemitism and forced assimilation. Pogroms continued into the twentieth century, despite Jews taking part in the founding of Ukraine’s first attempt at a modern country in 1917.

Despite the atrocities Ukraine participated in during the Holocaust, Jews and Ukrainians found a middle ground once more in the 1960s and onward, even joining forces to free Ukraine from Soviet rule.

Today, while antisemitism still exists in Ukraine, so do flourishing Jewish communities and in 2019 Ukraine elected its first Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:54 Ukrainian national hero Bogdan Chmielnicki
01:51 Periods of Jewish flourishing in Ukraine
02:48 Cossacks and Jewish middlemen
03:12 Jewish-Ukrainian coexistence - language and food
04:03 Russian Antisemitism, Hasidism, and Zionism
04:49 Jews in modern pre-Soviet Ukraine
05:27 Soviet socialist republic and German invasion
06:16 Ukrainian and Jewish dissidents and common cause
06:26 Jews in Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union
07:01 Should Jews support the Ukrainian cause?
08:32 Outro

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Image and footage credits:
Adam Jones
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
lgckgc
Christopher Michel
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About Explainers: From ancient Jewish traditions to the modern State of Israel, we explain it all. Diving into anything and everything related to Jewish culture, history, and even religion.
Understand Jewish holidays, Israeli politics, Jewish diasporic communities, and more. Learn about Judaism in pop culture, debunking myths about Jews, and explore obscure Israeli landmarks.

About Unpacked: We provide nuanced insights by unpacking all things Jewish. People are complex and complicated — yet we’re constantly being pushed to oversimplify our world. At Unpacked we know that being complex makes us more interesting. Because of this, we break the world down with nuance and insight to drive your curiosity and challenge your thinking.

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