2.7 million Jews lived in Ukraine until 1939. There were the most of them here in Europe. In the world, Ukraine ranked second. More than 1.5 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.
This number could have been higher if there were not people who saved Jews, risking their own lives. Subsequently, Israel recognizes the saviors as the Righteous Among the Nations. Today, our country ranks fourth in the world by the number of the Righteous.
… In the lobby near the Assembly Hall there are seven thematic exhibits: «Holocaust in Vinnytsia», «Ukrainian nationalist movement and Jews in World War II» (Jews in the ideology of the OUN (B)», «Righteous Among the Nations» (two exhibits), «Nazi camps in Ukraine», «Holocaust in Ukraine», «Nazi New Order in the occupied cities of Ukraine».
The exhibition was organized by the staff of the «Tkuma» («Revival») Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies in Dnipro. According to researcher Olena Ishchenko, Jews were most saved in Western Ukraine. Today it is 200 Righteous. We already know many names of the saviors of the Jews, known and unknown to the general public: the Sheptytskyi brothers (Metropolitan Andrei and Fr. Clement), abbess (Olena) Viter from St. Joseph Monastery of the Basilian Order of Sisters, the family of UPA General Roman Shukhevych, Pole Jan Chodorowski, a graduate of Lviv Polytechnic, and many others.
Bohdan Levyk, Director of the Regional Research and Education Center «Holodomor, Holocaust: Interethnic Dialogue», which operates at Lviv Polytechnic, said the terrible numbers of mass extermination of Jews in Lviv and stressed the importance of discussing this topic at various levels: educational – at schools, academic – at universities, scientific – among researchers, adhering to the principles of Ukrainocentrism.
Today in Ukraine we have two dates to honour the Holocaust victims: the International Holocaust Remembrance Day – on January 27, and the Day of Ukrainians who saved Jews during World War II – on May 15.
After the opening of the exhibition, historian Olena Ishchenko gave a lecture entitled «Saviors of Jews during the Holocaust: The Regional Dimension». On the same day a book exhibition «Holocaust. Features of the regional dimension» was opened in the reading room of the Scientific and Technical Library of the University.
