As I sat in the café, I felt myself getting more and more nervous. Behind me, an irate shouted “secessionist!” while filming me with her cell phone camera. Eager to learn more about ethnic politics, I had come here to Uzhgorod, a city lying in the western Ukrainian province of […]
Though Ukraine is certainly a mixed picture as far as anti-Semitism is concerned, the country has made a certain amount of progress in recent years. When it comes to reckoning with historical atrocities, for example, Kyiv has held ground-breaking events commemorating the likes of the Babyn Yar massacre. By and […]
While many people routinely employ the word “anti-Semitism,” the term itself is rather ill-defined. Though the news media has reported on recent anti-Semitic attacks which have spread through both Europe and the United States, such coverage has fallen short of the mark by failing to contextualize this “new wave” of […]
Late last year, while walking around the otherwise somewhat drab western Ukrainian town of Uzhgorod, I came upon a building which looked like something straight out of 1001 Arabian Nights: a Moorish-influenced synagogue constructed in red brick with Andalusian-style motifs and flourishes displayed on the façade. Originally constructed in 1904, […]
Recently, the western Ukrainian city of L’viv has been getting some pretty bad press. Last year, the Jewish Daily Forward noted the town had hosted a march in remembrance of a World War II-era SS unit, complete with Nazi salutes no less. The march, which drew a thousand people, honored […]
When Ukrainians speak of their yearning to join the European Union, what is their innate understanding of the west or “western values”? Such questions are assuming greater importance as Ukraine’s presidential election approaches in March. Though western leaders may have thought Kyiv was on track to embrace social tolerance and […]
Champion of the underdog or pseudo-populist? Ukrainian patriot or kowtowing to Russian interests? Inheritor of Maidan’s legacy or channeling the oligarchs? Love or hate her, Yulia Tymoshenko is one of the most controversial figures on Ukraine’s political scene and this grande dame will no doubt play a key role in […]
As Ukraine ramps up for its upcoming March, 2019 presidential election, what’s the political mood in Kyiv? In the midst of escalating tensions with Russia in the Azov Sea, which has even prompted president Petro Poroshenko to declare martial law, what are the chances that the West has Ukraine’s back? […]
Can Berlin’s “rebel culture” survive in the midst of an inexorable march toward gentrification? It may be a tough order, though anarchists and others are basking in victory after internet giant Google abandoned efforts to open a company “campus” in the trendy neighborhood of Kreuzberg. The corporation would not say […]
One of the highlights of my trip to Uzhgorod was a visit to the old Moorish-style synagogue, which now serves as a local concert hall. I climbed up on a hill of gravel, and beyond it looked like there was some type of construction or restoration going on. Returning several […]