In the corner of the choir synagogue in the western Ukrainian city of Drohobych, there is a sharp display of images detailing the bloody and tragic history of the Jewish community in the area. One is particularly surprising: the black and white image of the bodies of four young Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II.
“If you look closely, there are now parallels,” said Leonid Golberg, a 66-year-old member of the local Jewish council. “Now Russia is doing the same thing in Ukraine.”
Golberg is a small senior member of the 40 -member Jewish community of Drohobych, a city located in the hills of Ukraine rising above the Carpathians, a few miles to the west.
There is a larger population of Jews in the city. More than 12,000 Jews – 40% of the city’s population – Killed Only a small fraction of the systematic genocide of Jews during the Holocaust during mass hunting, starvation in the ghetto founded by the Nazis or the Bellajek death camp. Only 400 Jews survived the war at Droobich.
The people of Droobich knew the Nazis. Even more surprising is the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin said his invasion of Ukraine was aimed at “denaturing” the country, a statement he reiterated on Monday.
On Monday, Putin gave a speech at the Victory Day parade in Moscow’s Red Square. In a statement, Putin said that “a confrontation with the neo-Nazis, the bandits, supported by the United States and its lesser partners, is inevitable”.
Putin also told the Russians that “they fought for the homeland, for its future, so that no one would forget the lessons of World War II, so that there would be no place in the world for butchers, punishers and Nazis”.
Demands may grow on Russia’s growing island, where the flow of information and news is increasingly limited. But nowhere is the lessons of World War II remembered as well as the city of Drohobich, whose history shows the hypocrisy and deception of Putin’s claims.
Golberg said that far from learning the “lessons of World War II,” Russia simply repeats history on a larger scale. And in an attempt to justify this, Putin said that Jews “the whole civilized world said the red line had been crossed”.
Golberg’s voice was furious about the recent COVID-19 attack and the half-hour cigarette break he presented to HuffPost in the synagogue.
One of the photos shown is from 1939. It shows a Soviet official taking a Nazi official after a meeting of the parties after the successful invasion and partition of Poland as a result of a secret agreement reached some moments before Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. The outbreak of World War II.
On the back of the two men is written “Drohobich”, which indicates the direction of the city, a few kilometers from the road on which they are located.
The geography of Ukraine has blessed it with fertile land as it is known.European bread basket,But damn it Repeatedly under grace Bigger and stronger neighbors both east and west as they fought for power and influence in Europe.
Nazi Germany occupied Droobich in 1941 and destroyed the city’s Jewish population.
Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Caused anger Proving that Hitler had Jewish blood and that Jews were complicit in their genocide, he added: “We have long heard intelligent Jewish people say that the greatest anti-Semite is the Jews themselves.”
“Lavrov said what he said, because in reality they were thieves and criminals,” Golberg said. “It’s not just genocide they’re committing here, it can be called Ukrainian genocide.”
After the defeat of the Nazis, Droobich and Ukraine were under Soviet control. The city’s Jewish community continued to be persecuted and the choir synagogue was hijacked by authorities and used as a warehouse that had been in ruins for decades.
The population of Droobic Jews is small but proud. The choir synagogue was restored to an extensive renovation project that began in 2014 In its former glory. It is part of the famous Holy Trinity building in Droobich, next to the Eastern Orthodox Church of St. George at Catholic Church of St. Bartholomew, as a sign of the city’s multicultural heritage.
Golberg was surprised that the country in which he lived and worked freely as a Jew was occupied by an army claiming to be fighting Nazism.
“They say there are Nazis in Ukraine, but let’s look at the facts,” Golberg said. He noticed the diversity of the Ukrainian army.
“Jews who served in the Ukrainian army and defense battalions on the territory of Ukraine Celebrating Easter Last month. Muslims in Kiev Celebrating Ramadan“- said Golberg.” Then where is Nazism? “
By the time HuffPost left the synagogue, Golberg was already busy with his next appointment: conducting a free tour of the synagogue for IDPs who had just arrived in Drohobich after being forced to leave their homes in other parts of the country.
“The war affected everyone,” he said. “Before, people didn’t fully understand what was going on and what Russia was, but now everything is different: everyone understands what Russia is, which is a war, that we have to fight until we win and before we do. win. “There is no peace”.
Source: Huffpost
