The Double Exile of Ukraine’s Jews under Putin’s “Denazification”

under the pretext of “denazify” Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a war against his neighbor. But now the Jewish community, which until a month ago lived through a time of splendor in the country after decades of devastation and migration due to the Holocaust and Soviet repression, is evacuating its faithful.

In the sinagoga chabadin the heart of the port city of Odessa and the only open one of the four that existed before the war, around twenty Jews come to recite the Shacharitthe morning prayer, and then go to work and/or volunteer in the city, where there is great tension due to a possible attack of Russia.

But that synagogue is no longer what it was, since now the wooden benches are practically empty compared to how they were filled before February 24.

Of the 25,000 Jews registered by the Odessa community, one of the largest in the country, at least 5,000 have been evacuated to Moldova since the war began, according to data from the Jewish community.

While the rest either have stayed because of their relatives or are not fit to leave as they are men and old enough to be called up by the Army to fight the Russians.

“The denazification? A lie”

The director of jewish museum from Odessa, Zvi Hirschopens the doors of the small hidden space where it keeps relics of the Holocaust and of the migrations of the Jews throughout the 20th century.

Twenty-five years he has lived in this coastal city, the so-called pearl of the sea Blackin which “no one” he has looked at him badly in the streets nor has he “have insulted” for being a Jew, he declares.

“What I understand is that Putin is lying” says about denazification and points out that “Has no sense” that point of speech to invade Ukraine.

Putin insists that the solution of the conflict with Ukraine It would only be possible if we take into account the “Russia’s legitimate security interests”including the “Crimean sovereignty”illegally annexed in 2014, as well as the “demilitarization and denazification” of the Ukrainian state, as well as its neutral status.

At the end of the prayer, the chief rabbi of Odessa and south of Ukraine, Abraham Wolfsits in his office where he receives several calls, including one from his wife, who has fled and is in Germany.

Originally from Israel, he came to Odessa at the age of 22, but the 30 years he has been working in the city for the Jewish community “they have disappeared”he points out.

“What I have achieved in 30 years has disappeared. And all in a second. But it is what God wants, I do my job and this is the result”point.

According to the “denazification”the rabbi says that he does not want to talk about politics, although he implies that Putin has made a mistake.

“Three plus one is four. But now (for him) one plus one is a million.”he assures, alluding to the fact that the Russian president has made a big mistake by launching the invasion under the justification of the “denazification”.

Tolerance

The rabbi points out that before the war, there were two exclusively Jewish kindergartens in the city, two orphanages, primary schools and even a Jewish university. In total, eleven buildings for the Jewish community, including four synagogues.

“But now, everything is closed”he affirms, except the synagogue of chabad. wolf He says that despite the Russian occupation coming to the city, since Odessa is among the most imminent targets of Moscow’s troops, he will stay.

He refers to two acquaintances who are currently in two Ukrainian cities under Russian occupation and who continue to work, without wanting to publicly reveal more details.

“We are doing everything for the Jewish community. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I don’t want to look for an explanation, I don’t want to imagine or fantasize.”, he asserts, although what he is clear about is that he is going to stay in Odessa. another who does not want “talk about politics” because it says that “do not have time” is Oleg, 40 years old and wearing a sweatshirt from the Mossadthe Israeli Intelligence service.

“I don’t have time to read the news, but I do know that we help those who need it,” he states when asked about the “denazification” from the country.

Christina, a Jewish Ukrainian and American who accompanies him in the evacuation task, affirms that “there is no reason” in Ukraine to say that the country is “Nazi”.