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World Jewish News
Ukrainian Security Service Opens Archives
26.03.2009
On the 23rd of March, in Odessa in the building of the Ukrainian Security Service (USS), there was a ceremony dedicated to the transfer of the documents of Ukrainian Jews, who were convicted in the years of combating cosmopolitanism, into the open electronic archive.
Head of Odessa department Anatoly Matios handed to representatives of the Jewish community the hard copies, as well as an electronic version of the archive materials.
Among other things, they contain materials on the case of the Odessa group of Yiddish writers Haanan Vaynerman, Irma Drucker and Note Lurie, who were arrested in 1951 on charges of having links with members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee and espionage activities. In 1955, all prisoners were released because the facts of the charges had not been confirmed, and only in 1991 they were officially rehabilitated.
In his speech, Anatoly Matios said: "The young Ukrainian State is not responsible for these shameful events of half a century ago, but we still think it is necessary to ask for forgiveness for the mistakes and crimes that were committed against people whose only fault was unwillingness to part with native culture. We tried to at least partially restore justice in this issue. The Ukrainian state will continue to do everything to ensure that all representatives of the multiethnic Ukrainian people still live in this country in peace and tranquility."
The representatives of the Jewish community in Odessa thanked the USS officers for their work in the archives and for their efforts to prevent the inflating of tension in the region.
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