The Khmelnytsky Uprising, The Image of Jews, and The Shaping of Ukrainian Historical

The Khmelnytsky Uprising, the Image of Jews, and the Shaping of Ukrainian Historical
Memory
Author(s): Zenon E. Kohut
Source: Jewish History, Vol. 17, No. 2, Gezeirot Ta"h: Jews, Cossacks, Poles and Peasants in 1648
Ukraine (2003), pp. 141-163
Published by: Springer
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17:
Jewish History
?
wl
2003
2003.
141-163,
Academic
Kluwer
Printed
Publishers.
in
the Netherlands.
the image
The Khmelnytsky
Uprising,
historical
memory
shaping of Ukrainian
and
of Jews,
the
ZENON E. KOHUT
University
of Alberta,
This
Abstract.
early modern
a rapacious,
E-mail:
Canada;
traces
article
Ukrainian
how
historical
Zenon.
stock
narrative.
Kohut@ualberta.ca
in the
developed
the Jew was
image,
of the Ukrainian
independent
exploiter
the one true Orthodox
openly
mocking
image
of
the
to
According
even
at times,
and,
deliberate,
over them
who
lorded
and
people
controlling
in the seventeenth
faith. Elements
of this image were
present
of a renewal
in the
in the wake
late eighteenth,
of
only
relevance
of the Polish
continuing
the emergence
of a Jewish
question.
Ukrainian
folk
modern
the
culture,
tradition.
the written
entered
image
of the twentieth
beginning
a stereotype,
article
the
Finally,
into modern
its embodiment
century,
question,
Since
examines
century,
the Uniate
but
it solidified
the
problem,
the partitions
of Poland,
and,
following
the same
stock
also present
in
image was
this
to
and
its
genre
briefly
relationship
article
gives
Ukrainian
leading
in Ukrainian
Jew
this
a few
indications
historical
Ukrainian
historical
memory.
intellectuals
memory
on
how
this early
Although,
by the
had rejected
such
would
prove
difficult
to modify.
is considered
Khmelnytsky
Uprising
in a number
of national
historical
moment,
The
a great watershed,
The
narratives.1
a defining
Poles came
as a historical
to regard the uprising
that led the Cos
misunderstanding
sacks to rebel against
the "civilizing mission"
and eventually
of Poland
in
easternmost
of
resulted
territories
the loss of the
"Greater Poland."
The
Russians
as a major
to interpret
in the
the uprising
episode
in
of
lands
and
the
of
"Russian"
transformation
"gathering"
came
continuing
mas
into a European
the Khmelnytsky
power. Jews mourned
Muscovy
sacre as an unprecedented
a
of anti-Jewish
outburst
precursor
violence,
of the horrible
if not of the Holocaust.
of late imperial Russia,
pogroms
as a war of liberation
celebrated
the uprising
Ukrainians
from
Finally,
a popular
movement
in the cre
national
foreign oppression,
resulting
a
state
moment
in the
in general,
ation of the Cossack
and,
defining
of the Ukrainian
nation.2
shaping
The Ukrainian
of an event that in the Jewish
tradition
glorification
is perceived
tive of the
as
of early modern
horror
times
is indica
greatest
the historical
memories
chasm between
of the two
the
deep
have led to stereotypes
Such
perceptions
peoples.
not
if
anti-Semites
damental,
"biological,"
ready
of Ukrainians
to slaughter
as fun
Jews
at a
142
E. KOHUT
ZENON
moment's
notice,
and
in the social, religious,

within
these
Working
for
empathy
ing that
the
in the wake
of Jews
hand,
anti-Jewish
and willing
tools
exploiters
of the Ukrainian
oppression
people.
Ukrainian
historians
have shown little
and national
traditions,
the
that
tragedy
massacres
Jewish
of unbearable
other
as economic
frequently
befell
were
oppression.
the
Jewish
community,
if not
understandable,
Jewish
commentators,
have
presented
little
paying
the massacres
attention
as
to
the
imply
justified,
on the
a uniquely
so
complex
phenomenon,
or ignored the
and national
and have mitigated
context,
cial, religious,
violence
non-Jewish
Poles and Ukrainian
Uniates.
perpetrated
against
How and when were
such stereotypes
created?
It is the contention
a stock
that by the late eighteenth
paper
century
image of
in Ukrainian
consciousness.
the Jew became
historical
fully developed
was
a
to
this
the
Jew
and,
deliberate,
image,
rapacious,
According
even independent
at all times,
of the Ukrainian
exploiter
people who
of
this
over
and openly mocking

the one true Orthodox
controlling
traces
in the early
faith. This
of this image
article
the construction
on why
modern
narrative
and offers a hypothesis
it reached
Ukrainian
lorded
them
its culmination
150 years
the
Since
after the Khmelnytsky
Uprising.
was
in
it is also
stock image
also present
Ukrainian
folk culture,
to examine
this genre and to consider
its relationship
necessary
briefly
to the written
tradition.
the article
how this early
suggests
Finally,
same
modern
image
entered
into modern
Ukrainian
historical
memory.
The
of Jews
and
the Khmelnytsky
developing
image
in
modern
history
Uprising
early
writing
Until
the
monopoly
the Orthodox
great uprising,
on historical
The most
writing.
a virtual
clergy maintained
influential
post-Khmelnytsky
was also penned

the Synopsis,
text,
by a cleric. This work,
as the first history
described
of the Eastern
Slavs, has been
frequently
to Innokentii
the
archimandrite
of
the
attributed
Caves
Gizel,
Kyiv
history
in Kyiv
and first appeared
between
1670
Monastery,
effort to enlist the protection
and help of the Muscovite
attempted
common
to connect
Kyiv
common
with
in several
Muscovy
faith, ethnic unity, and
of the dynasty.
patrimony
dynasty,
as a rightful
presented
cleric
work of a Ukrainian
became
and
tsar,
1674.
In an
the author
ways:
through
territory, which
the
was
this
Paradoxically,
a springboard
for Russian
imperial
de facto as the first official
textbook
and was adopted

historiography
and reprinted
nineteen
times by 1836. But
of Russian
history,
as
was
serve
unfit to
elite's version
the Cossack
arguably
Synopsis
the
of
143
THE KHMELNYTSKY UPRISING
in great detail Kyivan

Rus'
and the Riurykid
until
it
the
Cossacks
well after 1654.
completely
ignored
dynasty,
on
of
the
first
the
the
later editions
Cossacks
appear
pages
(In fact,
in the discussion
of the Synopsis
of the Turkish
of 1677
invasions
the
it discussed
past:
but
1678, that
edition
of
with
is, in connection
the book appeared.)3
of the Eastern
history
Bohdan
Khmelnytsky
the mid-seventeenth
Another
which
Sofonovych
Monastery
relied
Sofonovych
times,
Stryjkowski.
He
does
in the
written
A
place
after
popular
the Cossack
the first
indigenous
wars and
in
of Jews
(only a few copies of

on Ancient
Chronicles
of
the hegumen
(1672-1673),
in Kyiv.
In his description
on Polish
writers,
heavily
discuss
the Cossacks
and
the massacre
St. Michael's
of early modern
especially
Maciej
the Khmelnytsky
Up
of the Jews
though
or any anti-Jewish
exploitation"
two stories that would
historical
Ukrainian
1670s
Based
Chronicle
mentioning
rising quite extensively,
on "Jewish
without
any comments
statements
and
introduces
religious
subsequent
of the town
took
century.
history
was
survived)
by Feodosii
Golden-Domed
that
this most
Slavs completely
ignores
the massacres
and, consequently,
clerical
have
events
Thus,
The
first
in
be retold
concerns
the capture
writing.
of Polonne,
the Cossack
where
colonel Maksym
Kryvonis
to escape
killed those Polish nobles who did not manage
from the town
a large number
is about
and "slaughtered
of Jews." The
the
second
of Tulchyn
Ivan Hanzha
by the troops of Colonel
(Handzha),
truce with
the Polish
defenders
of the town on condition
siege
made
the
latter
a ransom
pay
and Hanzha
"ordered
and
that
all
the
all their
took
into the
plot
all
which
could
of
of East
the
clergy.
European
or the Riurykid
under Poland,
dynasty.
the great
and Cossack
Ukrainian
and Russian
slaughtered,
another
the Poles
Poles
tsars. While
that
did
while
so,
taking
colonel, Ostap
Ivansky,
as well. These
events are
are
They
constitute
to wane
in the last quarter

of
satisfy the interests of the Ukrainian
the Cossack
officers
and the Cos
began
not
elite of the time

political
The historical
sack administration.
those
The
story
in the narrative.
secular
from
be
Jews.
or explanation.
any moralizing
of the killing of the Poles and do not
historiography,
the seventeenth
century,
scheme
all
without
mentioned
a separate
Clerical
Jews
Then
for himself."4
property
the town again and killed
simply
inserted
over
hand
who
tastes
of the Cossack
elite
differed
not
in some general
interested
the
medieval
state,
mighty
history,
Kyivan
was
interest
Their
Ukraine
Cossack
primary
They
liberator
were
hetm?n
Bohdan
rights and liberties

not denying
affinity
under
with
Khmelnytsky,
both Polish
Muscovy/Russia
and
kings
in
144
E. KOHUT
ZENON
even
dynasty,
high culture and
on Ukraine's
distinctiveness
the Cossack
chronicles
ethnos,
in the political
and social order
not
and at least autonomous
historical
The
development.
separate)
(if
a
to
chronicles
find
for
Ukraine
and
its
attempted
rightful place
people
religion,
insisted
the Polish-Lithuanian,
among
worlds.5
Muscovite-Russian
and Tatar-Ottoman
of anti-Jewish
and the description
violence
do not figure promi
to them
in
the
the
narratives
of
Cossack
references
chroniclers;
nently
are few
to
to
when
the
attention
the
compared
paid
Tatars,
especially
or to the small
or to tracing Cossack
rights under different monarchs,
Jews
est detail
of every military
engagement
of the Jews, their economic
discussion
rebels
not
does
inserted
always
The
treatment
The
problem.
under
period
to underscore
here
discussion,
the perfidy
even
and
by the
is
but
slaughter
on their own until

they
are
late in the
introduced
most
between
1672
of the
events
chronicles
likely by Roman
and 1702. Though
he describes,
primarily
is the
the events
so-called
Rakushka-Roma
the author
he only
far as the years of Bohdan

Khmelnytsky's
in the chronicle were written
related
As
heard
activity
down
of the Cossacks'
The
story
tal commanders
mistreatment
by a brief
actu
about
are con
a quarter
his account
cerned,
after they had occurred.
The author
of a century
begins
a compilation
of the war with
of Polish misdeeds
and oppression
caused
the Cossack
later in the narrative,
he turns
rebellion;
Jews.
the
Moreover,
subject
(narrative
line),
mentioned
only in passing.
to the Polish
subordinated
of the Cossack
written
Chronicle,
then
their
of the Poles.
the first
novsky
(1622-1703)
witnessed
many
ally
others.
and
the Poles.
and
role,
there, seemingly
of the Jews
is completely
Jews do not appear as actors
Chronologically,
Eyewitness
a separate
constitute
with
that
to the
by their Polish
regimen
remark on the town Jews,
is accompanied
from
the Cossacks
the liquor monopoly
prevented
at
turns
to
Then
the
drink
home.
author
the
any
oppression
keeping
on the local castle chiefs and vice
it mainly
of the peasants,
blaming
whose
over
control
gerents
(starosty
The great Polish
pression
of
the
as well as on Jewish
leaseholders.
namisnyky),
the op
about
he presumes,
knew nothing
landlords,
on
not
estates
did
live
their
in
since
peasants,
they
and
"blinded by gifts from the castle

or, even if they did, they were
Ukraine,
In the meantime,
leaseholders."
he continues,
the
chiefs and the Jewish
rent payments
in kind and
Jews grew richer and richer by increasing
money,
and
even
by confiscating
the debtors'
land.
145

The
litany of Polish
Eyewitness's
since it provides
the context
quoting,
in which
the first
The
and
and
accusations
anti-Jewish
Jewish
is worth
misdeeds
the hierarchy
of complaints
emerge.
cause
of the Khmelnytsky
War
is solely the Polish
of the Orthodox
and oppression
of the Cossacks.
Then
persecution
the latter's
freedoms were
taken away and they were
forced to do
corv?e
into
and turned
labor, to which
they were unaccustomed,
and
origin
them
the
at the castles
servants
household
to groom
and
yards,
stoke
horses,
perform
the Cossack
on
of the castle
fires
other
in the
unbearable
chiefs,
who
also used
sweep
stove, groom dogs,
tasks. Those
who
still
sent to them
had Polish
nobles
register
as
care
not
about Cos
colonels;
by
they did
sack freedoms,
but restricted
instead. The King
Cossack
privileges
an annual
and the Commonwealth
established
of thirty
payment
remained
the Crown
Hetm?n
but
would
embezzle
zloty for every Cossack,
[the Polish
colonels]
it with
that money,
the captains,
for the latter were not
sharing
at their own
elected by the Cossacks,
but appointed
the
colonels
by
were
ones
the
subservient
favoured.
The
also
colonels
discretion;
forced
to perform
all kinds
the Cossack
seize a horse
the Cossacks
no concern
would
again,
send
household
from a Tatar
in the steppe,
it away; they would
send the unfortunate
to the city by way of the wild
steppes,
or greyhound
as a gift for some lord, with
for the Cossack,
who might
easily be killed by the Tatars.
tasks; should
sure to take
they were
Cossack
from Zaporizhia
a falcon, eagle
carrying
Then
of unaccustomed
should
him
the Cossacks
to the Crown
take
a Tatar
Hetm?n
the colonel
prisoner,
his favourite
[Polish]
to scorn.
In the towns,
not allowed
to keep any
with
Cossack
courage
soldier,
thereby
putting
the Jews mistreated
the Cossack,
who was
or beer, but even mash.
at home
not just wine,
vodka
spirits
who went fishing beyond
Cossacks
the [Dnieper] rapids had to give
at Kodak;
tenth fish to the
every
they also
[royal] commissioner
to
to
had
to the aide-de-camp,
the captains,
and
give
[some fish]
were
to the chancellor.
the Cossacks
Thus
impoverished.
Besides,
there were
even the
Cossacks;
[registered]
to perform
corv?e
labor and pay taxes.
was
That was what
the Cossacks.
befell
The
lot of the peasants
were
well
with
different.
their
and
off,
cattle,
fields,
They
apiaries.
were devised
not customary
But new practices,
in Ukraine,
by the
to be only
still
son of a Cossack
six thousand
had
and Jews. The

castle-chiefs,
vice-regents,
reside in Ukraine,
but merely
held offices
of the oppression
of the peasants.
Even
lords
themselves
did
and
therefore
knew
if they
knew,
they were
not
little
so
146
E. KOHUT
ZENON
blinded
that
to bribe
from
from
by gifts
they could
not
that
them,
the
see
they
The
their
subjects.
about
this,
castle
chiefs
and
the
Jewish
own
was
being
would
subjects
the lord himself
had
that
their
property
given what
were
leaseholders
being
been
used
taken
so
complained
it freely. Meanwhile
not
have
had
taken
bitterly
the lazy scoundrel,
the lazy Jew grew richer, riding a carriage drawn
and thinking
the ox tax,
up new taxes:
by several pairs of horses
tax and others,
the handmill
tax, the marriage
tax, the measuring
one man
estates
until
encountered
seizing
[debtors']
[the Poles]
was
source
of
and
that
the
trouble
whose
apiary
apiary they seized,
6
for all of Poland...
latter
the
Church
respected
Ruthenian.7
Christian
to the question
of the oppression
of
in passing
and schools by the Poles,
that
noting
the vilest
than the most
Jew more
upstanding
returns
the author
Subsequently
the Orthodox
in the Ukrainian
lands during
processes
not in the style of the
author
describes
summarily,
mass
in the Cossack
about
enrolment
generalizations
the
Social
of the Polish
nobility
administrators
castle
throughout
and
Jews,
servants,
without
to Poland
sparing
even
but
lives,
surrendered.
but
and
officials
and
but as
chronicle,
army, the escape
of new
appointment
the
rebels
"killed
wherever
children."
All
the noblemen,
them,
they found
of the
the property
was confis
estates,"
specifically
on
to
that
the
Polish
nobles
surrendered
goes
say
to the rebels
to save their
in order
their possessions
once they
the nobles
the rebels
typically
slaughtered
all
with
town
their wives
mentioned
victims,
including
cated. The author
Jews
own
proper,
The
Ukraine.
the
uprising
Jews
Many
later
escaped
"no Jews remained
converted
to Poland
and
"Jewish
to Christianity
their
renounced
to save
new
their
religion.
number
lives,
Finally,
of Jews
in Ukraine,"
while
"the greatest
an uncountable
in Nemyriv
and Tul'chyn
number."8
perished
seems
to disapprove
that
the
author
It is worth
noting
generally
the
and
of the wartime
violence
and looting. While
describing
killings
he notes that "at that time, there
and Jewish estates,
of Polish
plunder
was much
from
of every estate, mostly
for prominent
trouble
people
in
the
and
their
Tatar
allies
the knaves."
he
adds
that
Cossacks
Later,
killed
"not only Jews and nobles,
Volhynia
that land suffered
the same fate."9
next
The
tial, were
two Cossack
written
by
the
chronicles,
subsequent
both
common
but
the
very
and influen
popular
of the Ukrainian
Cos
generation
people
of
sack elite. Both Samiilo Velychko (1670-1728) and Hryhorii Hrabianka

(1686-1737/38) relied heavily in their description of the Khmelnytsky
147

on Polish
period
contemporary
in the
pecially
the Most
Bitter
tween Bohdan
case with
and Most
relied
on hearsay,
and
es
apocryphal,
Hrabianka's
The Events
work,
Velychko).
since
War
the
Bloody
Origin
of the Poles
(often
the Zaporozhian
Hetm?n,
Khmelnytsky,
first chronologically.
It is in Hrabianka's
came
(1710),
accusation
historians,
although
they also
or
documents
Ukrainian
diaries
and
of
be
the Poles...
work
that
the
in Ukrainian
churches first appears
leasing Orthodox
some
are dealing,
the
after
We
history
writing
sixty years
uprising.
one
sentence
in
in fact, with
in
list
of
Polish
misdeeds
five-page
just
the Eyewitness's
the list itself clearly
Ukraine,
recapitulating
lengthy
enumeration
of complaints.
The
insert on the churches
reads:
"Also
of Jews
to
churches
sold the Lord's
[the Poles]
with
the
Jews'
baptized
permission,
were at the mercy
pious
[Christians]
Hrabianka
narrative,
subsequent
tributes
and takeover
and
the Jews,
and
infants were
various
customs
of
religious
of Jewish
mentions
In the
leaseholders."10
the Jewish
of new
invention
and the great

landowners
estates,
was
upon us" the Jewish
tribe, which
constantly
"inflicting
devising
new tributes
text
sent
the
of
the
and extortions
letter
supposedly
(in
to
He
retells
the
of
the
szlachta
story
by Khmelnytsky
Warsaw).11
a
at Nestervar
to Hanzha
the Jews
surrendering
adding
(Tulchyn),
detail:
the
defended
themselves
for
three
Jews
significant
days.12 When
Kryvonis
the Jews,
took Bar,
"of whom
of debtors'
all
there were
the Poles
alone
more
than
slaughtered,
thousand
fifteen
so were
and
were
in
killed
Bar."13
has
if too often fictional,

work
in
full.
the
Moreover,
preserved
surviving
revolt
is heavily
of Khmelnytsky's
dependent
monumental,
Velychko's
not been
description
count of the Polish
the
1720s
part of his
on the ac
the supposedly
to
have been proven
documents
that Velychko
quotes
contemporary
some probably
Parts
invented
himself.
of
be fictitious,
by Velychko
been
first
book
have
and
the
discussion
of
the
Jews
lost,
Velychko's
in his general description
of the first book may
promised
by the author
well
have
to have
been
been
among
a detailed
the end of the first

turned
historian
of
to Pereiaslav
book
and
Samuel
Twardowski,
the missing
discussion:
he
parts.14
intended
the Little
while
In any case,
to Velychko's
it is unlikely
at
outline,
re
"how Khmelnytsky
greeted him; about various
according
to discuss
Russians
to Khmelnytsky
and how they were sent back; about
the
in various places and about
conduct
the Jews; about Shumeiko's
on Kodak
and its failure."15 The first surviving mention
of the
ambassadors
Poles'
march
Jews
comes
the Ukrainian
an apocryphal
dated May
people,
from
appeal
Khmelnytsky
by Bohdan
28, 1648: "We shall not describe
to
here
148
ZENON E. KOHUT
all the insults,

and devastation
inflicted
oppression,
comprehensively
the
Poles
and
their
leaseholders
and
beloved
upon us Little Russians
by
massacre
the
mentions
the
Jews..
of
,"16
Nestervar
factors,
Velychko
in expressions
to those of Hrabianka
almost
identical
(Tulchyn)
(in
stead of "defended
for three days," he writes
themselves
that the Jews
"defended
themselves
does not mention
the
Velychko
relentlessly").17
he says that "fourteen
thousand
killing of the Jews of Bar at all. Rather,
nobles
who
there
with
their
German
treasures,
settlers,
sought
refuge
their servants,
and others"
As Valerii
has shown,
Shevchuk
perished.18
were
all these
details
Wojna
There
domowa
is no
in a chronicle
which
taken from the widely

read Polish historical
in 1681.19
Samuel
Twardowski,
published
by
further development
of the Jewish
theme until
ends
by Stefan
compiled
in the
chronologically
the Historical
Lukomsky,
late sixteenth
poem
1770,
Collection,
long before the
century,
as a postscript
a
the author
includes
Uprising,
although
Khmelnytsky
diatribe
Poles
and Jews.20
against Uniates,
exem
The
Historical
Collection
compilative
by Stefan
Lukomsky
an
in
historical
Ukrainian
toward
plifies
tendency
increasing
writing
more
based
religiously
Jewish violence.
churches
It further
this Historical
Poland
who
develops
is [a description
and Lithuania
Ukraine,
Poland,
of how the
different
among
peoples,
ends. What
Collection
developments
to 1648, of the wars
with
Union
and
was
of anti
increasing
justification
the topic of the leasing of Orthodox
Rome
in Lithuania
died
there,
and
the
lands
been discussed
(this has already
it was
it, and how
strengthened,
for
responsible
in all
commenced
persecutions
experienced
by the
who did not accept
the Union,
was
of Constantinople
patriarch
and
follows
in Russia,
of] various
from 1606
damnable
and
the Jews:
by
Here
accusations
how
faithful
how
exiled
the Orthodox
Ruthenians
the
blameless
the Uniates
by
would
of the Union. Also told is how the Poles
yet
held
by
above),
of the
and Cossacks
of
exarch
the
to Malbork
suffer
because
included in the Cossack
who
the
6,000 of the 50,000 Cossacks
fought against
how
Hetm?n
abolished
the
Sahaidachny,
[the Poles]
and
enserfed
hetman's
office and cruelly
executed
many
hetmans,
either by force or by deceit,
and
the remaining
Cossacks
44,000
register
only
Turks
under
imposed
the heaviest
leased
anything
else,
peasants.
Finally,
[the
to the Jews, to the great grief of the Or
and should
the Jews kept the keys to the churches,
or
a Christian
to celebrate
rite, baptism,
wedding,
divine
Poles]
so that
thodox,
there be a need
on the Ukrainian
taxes
churches
[the Jews]
charged
the Orthodox
a special
tax,
and
149

would
as
insult and beat the priests,

curse,
tearing out their hair
In other words,
the Poles
treated
the Ruthenians
just
or
no
with
fear
of
and the
God
pleased
Day,
Judgement
also
and
beards.
they
stories
following
the
will
their
display
crimes
in detail.21
and early nineteenth

the Jewish
centuries,
eighteenth
a prominent
come
to occupy
in
the
narratives
of
place
is
the Khmelnytsky
its causes).
This
Uprising
change
(in particular,
By
factor
late
had
exemplified
by
late eighteenthsack
elite
nineteenth
Rusov
(The
of
History
the Rus'
theme of
The
century.
discussion
of
economic
any
Orthodox
leasing
churches
it is developed
as "relentless
precedes
exploitation;
and in great detail, with
the Jews characterized
in this opportunity
of Christianity"
who
take pleasure
the Christian
the theme
of economic
faith.22 Overall,
in Istoriia
clearly
subjugated
curse the Orthodox
who
afford
Ukrainians.23
vividly
enemies
to diminish
is
oppression
motive:
the Jews
to the
Rusov
to Jews
religious
which
the Poles,
synagogues,
pleases
to oppress
the Jews even more
economic
the
opportunities
on
to
The
list of complaints
the
goes
incorporate
"keys
to the church"
The
People),
or early
nineteenth-century
historico-political
treatise,
of the historical
of the Ukrainian
the apogee
Cos
thought
a
and
for the Ukrainian
national
revival of the
springboard
was
which
Istoriia
in their
faith
argument:
churches
[with Rome]
one to five
who did not accept

the Union
parishioners
leased to the Jews, and for each service a fee of
of those
were
a fee
and funerals
set, and for christenings
of one to four zloty. The Jews,
relentless
enemies
of Christianity,
to
universal
wanderers
and outcasts,
took
this vile source
eagerly
of gain and immediately
the church keys and bell ropes to
removed
to go
their taverns. For every Christian
need, the cantor was obliged
was
talers
to the Jew, haggle with him,

the service, pay for it and beg
to his heart's
having
laughed
having
in their
reviled
all
Jews
Talmud...also
are described
were
not
sky Uprising
Christians
out,
as
"Polish
at the Christian
hold
order
dear, calling
the cantor
that were
not
paid
service,
it pagan,
to return
for had
of
and
or,
the
been
and spies who, with

their
the
the
Cossacks
rebellion
during
forgotten
[by
of taxes;"
for their collection
the
fully requited
of 1630-1631]
and were
Jews were killed mercilessly
broke
content
would
goyish,
that no services
language,
an oath
with
keys
celebrated.24
The
that
on the importance
and, depending
for the keys. And the Jew, meanwhile,
advisors
When
the Khmelnyt
by the thousands.25
the hetm?n
"cleared
the Jews from the part
150
ZENON
to Kyiv
to purchase
their
of Little
were
Russia
able
E. KOHUT
and Kaniv."
up
survival
and
Some
"good" Jews, however,
to Poland:
"The Jews
escape
well
and being
useful
rather
their freedom with
silver and
as behaving
by the people
recognized
to the community
than harmful
bought
that the army needed,
and they were
valuables
without
to go abroad
hostility."26
In the
sionally
to clear
allowed
subsequent
us
reminds
Ukraine
narration
detailed
that
one
of
of Poles
and
Jews
the
occa
of the war,
the author
of the Cossack
units was
aims
wherever
to be found,
they were
The author
of Istoriia
no concrete
are provided.27
examples
although
text
the
of
fictional
manifesto
Rusov
from
reproduces
Khmelnytsky's
one
at
that
mentions
the
of
"the
hands
Poles
oppression
Velychko
(the
and beloved
the Jews").28
and their leaseholders
The story of
factors,
in much more
in the previous
is given
than
detail
new
concern
most
of
the
details
the particulars
chronicles,
although
tactics.
of the siege and military
The author
the story of the
repeats
a point of stressing
in Bar.29 He also makes
fifteen thousand
Jews killed
connection
rather minor military
that have some remote
with
reports
the Bar
massacre
the Jews; in some cases, he seems to be relying on contemporary

docu
or diaries of the Cossack
staff officers:
"On June 13, Khmelnytsky
ments
received
report
from
the
the
Siversk
quartermaster-general,
that he
hetm?n]
had
from
Rodak,
cleared
the
Chernihiv
land,
[informing
as well as the Starodub
the vicinity,
the town of
including
region,
was
of Poles and Jews, and that his corps
Starodub,
advancing
rapidly
to Istoriia
to Novhorod-Siverskyi."30
Rusov,
According
Khmelnytsky
to drive Poles
and Jews out of the territories
that he was
continued
and
"useful" Poles
and Jews
"who did not lord over the
taking,
although
were
a contri
to stay, paying
allowed
Ruthenian
people"
supposedly
In particular,
in Brody
in kind.
bution
this allegedly
took place
and
Zamosc.31
The
so far as to claim
that
the absence
of Jewish
goes
was
a
to
in
in the Ottoman
be
considered
factor
Empire
a treaty with that empire rather than with Muscovy
in 1654.
author
leaseholding
concluding
He claims,
this
that some "young officials and Cossacks"

moreover,
brought
to the attention
at Pereiaslav.32
of the council
consideration
The
final mention
patriots"
the original
is a telling one: certain

"anti
are
background
supposedly
concealing
treaties with Muscovy
of the Cossack
that provided
of the Jews
of Polish
texts
for a free and
and
in Istoriia
Rusov
Jewish
the Hetmanate
and
equal union between
not only have Poles and Jews oppressed
Ukrainians
Thus,
but they are also suppressing
the truth about
the past.
the
empire.33
in the past,
151

sources
The
As we
have
completely
fundamental
and
of anti-Jewish
imagination
seen, in the earlier Cossack

to the Polish
subordinated
chronicles,
theme. The
the Jewish
chronicles
motif
is
list two
the Poles:
the violation
of the rights
against
grievances
estate and the violation
of the Cossack
of the rights of the
to a detailed
of
Church. As the authors proceeded
description
liberties
Orthodox
as the agents of the Poles.

the Jews enter the picture
misdeeds,
leaseholders
and stewards
of the absentee
lords, the Jews are
of the Cossacks
the mechanisms
and peasants
taking advantage
through
of economic
the liquor monopoly,
of various
the collection
exploitation,
Polish
As
the
taxes,
estates
etc. At
in the
the
so the Ukrainian
of
the Cossacks,
control
physical
on
time, Jews could
peasants
legally punish
the lord. Thus,
Jews had been
involved
(or
not only in violating
writers
the rights
understood)
not only
in economic
in the
but also
exploitation,
given
At
people.
of corporate
such
the
of
and
this representation
to stress
attempt
have
same
name
oppression
is still a part
the depravity
to
power
same time,
In a sense,
people.
as
the
chronicles
problem,
of the Ukrainian
of the Polish
of the Christian
over
infidel
Jews
in the
chroniclers'
king and
the Christian
accounts,
lords, who
Orthodox
the violation
are
and religious
rights, economic
exploitation
oppression
to fuse. The final step is the "keys to the church" argument:
beginning
it shows the utter depravity
of the Polish
allow the
ruling bodies, which
the rights of the Cossacks,
infidel Jew not only to violate
the
exploit
lease holding
and tax farming,
and secure physical
population
through
control over the peasant,
but even to establish
power over the
spiritual
access
to
Orthodox
their
the
where
church
divine
grace
by controlling
to their salvation,
could be
as the
in
That argument
also resonated
minds
dispensed.
contemporary
ultimate
of Christianity
and the Orthodox
Church.
profanation
And,
while
the "keys to the church" motif was part of the general
argument
itself,
in form
of the
sacraments
essential
as the fundamental
Polish
it was the Jews who emerged
perfidy,
even
and
economic,
exploiters
legal
spiritual.
Where
does this image come from and why was it developed?
Appar
about
comes from Polish

literature.
ently, the "keys to the church" argument
causes
As Polish
for
the
of
historians
the
great uprising,
began
looking
a whole
which had precipitated
series of tragedies
for Poland,
they first
on their stewards,
focused on the magnates
and particularly
the Jews.
In a sense
this was
an attempt,
or subconscious,
conscious
to admit
for
the
while
responsibility
uprising,
simultaneously
minimizing
as the primary
cause.
that blame by identifying
Jewish profiteering
In
Polish writings,
the
the pre-war
of
Cossacks
and
the
peas
exploitation
some
152
ants
E. KOHUT
ZENON
porary Polish
Cosacco-Polonici
in most
is described
the Jews
by
contem
Among
in his Historia
belli
Grondski
Samuel
authors,
terms.
strident
(Gr?dzki)
and
who wrote
Kochowski,
Wespazjan
(early 1670s)
in the 1680s, developed
the topic of Jewish
of
the
Ukraini
exploitation
ans most
causes
seventeen
for
lists
Grondski,
instance,
prominently.34
powers and control of

for the
demanded
payments
of the uprising, with Jewish

lease holding,
ceremonies
Orthodox
religious
(including
baptismal
ceremony)
similar enumeration
as Mykhailo
chronicler
The
Polish
Cossack
among
prominent
of wrongdoings,
has shown,
Hrushevsky
Hrabianka.36
of the
story
"keys
to the
This
story
writings.
commenced
chroniclers
judicial
them.35
a
provides
ones, and his list,
by the Ukrainian
Kochowski
Jewish
especially
was appropriated
church"
also
to come
appears
was
in 1649,
first cited
their work, by a Polish
In his booklet
Heaveris
from
the
long before
Catholic
priest
from Lublin,
Fr. PawelRuszel.
Ruszel
Favour,
as
one
of
the
Polish
tolerance
of Jewish
sins for
portrays
exploitation
In this context,
rebellion.
which
the state was punished
by the Cossack
and
that both Catholics
he reports
that he has it on good authority
are
Orthodox
forced
to pay
Jewish
As
leaseholders
before
noted
sacramental
earlier,
purposes.37
in Grondski.
for religious
ceremonies
reappears
of the seventeenth
Polish memoirs
the anonymous
for
in the
and
Hrushevsky
Jan J?zefowicz,
chronicle
from
dating
the
of a Polish
late
using churches
of payment
in
is also present
the motif
It
cleric
seventeenth
studied
century
by
from Lviv, Tomasz
or early eighteenth
century.38
creasing
at least
in
in Polish
literature
and the subsequent
presence
one
writers
this
with
should
of
Ukrainian
topic,
preoccupation
the factual
basis
address
briefly
(if any) of the "keys to the
church"
theme.
its strong
Given
Ukraine-Rus'
considered
the question
of Jew
Hrushevsky
in
his
volume
of
monumental
leaseholding
History
eight
of
evidence
and concluded
that no documentary
of such
a practice
had
ish church
historical
been
discovered,
in the Ukrainian
written
appeared
Jewish historian
of Jewish
Mykhailo
Ilia Galant
leaseholding
works
and
and
that
tradition
the
quite
accusation
late.39 The
itself
had
Russian
the motif
that, although
similarly
argued
in Polish
of churches was present
and Ukrainian
in Ukrainian
there was no docu
folk tradition,
to resolve
It is not my aim, of course,
mentary
proof of its existence.40
in
of whether
the Jews actually
leased Orthodox
churches
the question
me
in
is
interests
of
the
this
the
Ukraine. What
Jewish
paper
dynamic
in Ukrainian
historical
tradition.
appearance
question's
153

It is my
of the
contention
as exploiter
Jew
the development
of the stereotypical
the economic,
social,
and,
religious,
of Ukrainians
that emerges
oppressor
that
-
image
to some
in early
proto-national
to
is
tied
the
of
Ukrainian
re-emergence
historiography
closely
the Polish question
the Uniate
and, by the nineteenth
question,
century,
were writing
a new "Jewish question."
the chroniclers
twenty,
Although
even
after
and
the
similar
150
years
seventy,
Khmelnytsky
Uprising,
extent,
modern
issues
that
had
sparked
chroniclers
were
authority)
on
writing
the Left
to simmer. While
the uprising
continued
the
in the autonomous
Hetmanate
(under Russian
of the Dnieper,
Bank
another
part of their
had
-
fatherland,
Ukraine,
Right-Bank
warfare
decried by the chronicles
authorities
manage
renewed
to
firmly
the Poles
and
well
Uniate.
saw a series
of virtually
1768 when Uniate
in Uman.
slaughtered
were
the perennial
These
borderlands
the eighteenth
on a much
smaller
by Ukrainian
Orthodox
Jewish
and,
keepers,
tates and could
in some
prerogatives
conditions
szlachta.
Poles,
and
uprising.
sense
It is this heightened
Istoriia
the Ukrainian
Commonwealth.
intermediaries
cases,
or
purchase
of the
against Uniates,
1768 haidamaka
on
of conflict
who
continued
were
to be
tax collectors,
tavern
es
stewards
of landed
lease monopolies
that were
the exclusive
the
and its
Orthodox
Church
Moreover,
Ukrainian
concomitant,
culture, was
early modern
was
conflict
further
heightened
religious
by Russia,
in Poland.
Most
of the Orthodox
likely, Lukomsky
colours
peas
recruited
rarely Jewish,
Jews returned
this time as
Thus,
through
was re-enacted
the Khmelnytsky
century,
Uprising
scale. Polish Roman
Catholic
magnates
exploited
or nominally
Uniate
and Cossacks,
fre
peasants
through
quently
region.
institution
In Right-Bank
the eighteenth
Ukraine,
in
continuous
1734,
1750, and
uprisings
were
Polish
nobles
and
Jews
clergymen,
of the Polish-Lithuanian
out
Ukrainian
worked
the
the
Polish
nobility. Yet
of tax-farmers
and tavern-keepers.41
At the same
most
and
Ukrainians
Church was being
liquidated,
capacity
time, the Orthodox
were at least nominally
particularly
over
control
now
the minor
from
in the
century
devastated
completely
by
after 1714 did the Polish
reestablished
colonization,
owned by Polish magnates,
run by stewards.
The latter were
Through
of large estates
ants,
instead
been
and only
reassert
their
Rusov.
The
Jews
in 1770
under
under
attack.
acting
wrote
as protector
his diatribe
the
of Orthodoxy
and Ukraine
work was almost
certainly
impression
under
written
The
of the
siege that
after the
second
the Right Bank became,

of Poland
partition
(1793), when
and
home
the Uniate,
Polish
of the Russian
and
Empire
brought
part
Jew
154
E. KOHUT
ZENON
the
ish questions.
Initially,
on the Right Bank,
situation
and even
Jewish
leaseholds,
conversion
forced
to exist
continued
Uniate
of the Uniates
in the
until
an
began
1839. There was
magnate
Church.
Although
1790s, the church
influx
of Polish
into
there well
predominated
for the author
of Istoriia
the
itself
into
nobles
the nineteenth
even though Poland

Rusov,
remained
alive within
very much
Thus,
century.43
had been
including
the hated
the existing
the
estates,
accepted
the Polish
culture
and Polish
Kyiv,
authorities
imperial
the Polish
issue
vanquished,
linked with
of the Russian
the Polish
Empire.
Inexorably
issue was
there was a massive
influx
the role of the Jews. Moreover,
the borders
into Left-Bank
of Jews
Jewish
significant
found
written,
active
and
their
itself
visible
included
Jewish
quickly
Empire.
there
previously
where
Hetmanate,
had
no
been
Rusov
was
in the emerging
Pale of Settlement.
involvement
in commerce
and crafts,
The
lease holding
practices
all of Ukraine,
eight
almost
where
Ukraine,
The
presence.
in the Pale
out
Istoriia
and
of Settlement
of nine
included
(which
Ukrainian
provinces)
ethnic
the "discovery"
of the Jewish question
triggered
came
with
economic
This
complete
discovery
in the Russian
anxieties
and,
subsequently,
religious
animosity.44
at a great watershed
of Ukrainian
Istoriia Rusov was written
history.
of two of the Hetmanate's
the ultimate
defeat
The author
observed
Poland
and the Crimean
but he also wit
enemies,
Khanate,
the abolition
of the autonomy
of his beloved
Cossack
state,
to a mere
three provinces
of the Russian
reduced
Moreover,
Empire.
on the Right
the Polish magnates
still ruled,
the Jews held a
Bank
greatest
nessed
on taverns
con
and tax collection,
and the Uniate
Church
monopoly
to exist. To complete
the humiliation,
his Left-Bank
homeland
tinued
was
now
included
in the Pale
I contend,
and
anti-Uniate,
of developments,
anti-Polish,
ical devotion
It was
this
to
author's
of Settlement.
rise
that
gave
anti-Jewish
views
the
his
and
constellation
virulent
fanat
almost
same
to Orthodoxy.
At the
of Istoriia
time, the author
a child of the Enlightenment
and distinguishes
between
even
and
Tatars.
all
and
"bad"
neither
Jews, Poles,
Thus,
"good"
- are
- nor
nor all Jews
either
all Tatars,
considered
Poles
perpetual
and there is hope of achieving
with
the
enemies
of Ukraine,
harmony
Rusov
is still
of those
"good" elements
to Ukrainian
consideration
The
early
Scholars
firming
modern
have
Jewish
often
nations.
historical
referred
exploitation,
The
author
does
not
extend
similar
Uniates.
narrative
to Ukrainian
including
the
and
folk
literature
songs as a source con

as well as
leasing of churches,
folk
155
of authentic
Ukrainian
toward Jews dating
antipathy
of Khmelnytsky.
the coverage
However,
researching
in the early modern
cannot
I
of these topics
written
tradition,
help
on that
in
that
the
folk
all
songs are,
likelihood,
dependent
noting
or even some later
be considered
bookish
tradition;
they can hardly
proof
constituting
back to the time
an authentic
source. The
contemporary
about
"The
Duma
dumy,
two Ukrainian
Jewish
The
is of
latter
"The Duma
and
Leaseholders"
limited
causes
is elaborated
theme
the Oppression
about
the Battle
in
of Ukraine
by
of Korsun."45
on a
it concentrates
for my topic, as
from Ukraine.46
Jews' escape
interest
of the
grotesque
description
does say about
the
the traditional
motif
Jewish
of social
the
unrest,
of the post-war
Polish writers,
rebellion:
"Then the Poles
conceived
In what
duma
it
follows
literally
of blaming
the
of an idea
Jews for the
/They
blamed
the Jews: /'0 you Jews, /You children of pagan parents,
/Why
did you raise such rebellion
and alarums,
did you build
three
/Why
taverns per mile?
did you collect
such high tolls'."47
/Why
"The Duma
the Oppression
of Ukraine
by Jewish
a
since
it
contains
relevant,
long description
as well as of the Cossack
revenge
supposedly
oppression,
himself.
Khmelnytsky
ted
about
is far more
ers"
early
been
that
from
but
1850s,
The
and
incomplete),
to relating
national
"pure"
presumably
cover the numerous
the
was
duma
same
the second
history
of national
sample
from
borrowings
duma, we cannot
or whether
interpolations
Kulish's
in the
late
of Jewish
ordered
1840s
by
and
bard
had
(the first recording
Panteleimon
admit
recorder,
Kulish,
to the kobzar even as he recorded
this
peasant
in this
traditions
recorded
Leasehold
folk poetry.48 Thus, when

the Polish
and Ukrainian
determine
whether
the oral and written
we dis
literary
they are mostly

inter
traditions
at some
acted
earlier stage. Ivan Franko

this duma
in the late
studied
and found that it reflects the later Cossack
tradition
century
than the circumstances
of the 1640s.
In particular,
he noted
nineteenth
rather
of the Jews lording over the

description
to the catalogue
in Hrabianka
of Cossack
grievances
and Lukomsky
than to the reality of the mid-seventeenth
century."49
and Mykhailo
who
Volodymyr
Drahomanov,
published
Antonovych
that
"the poetically
Cossacks
is closer
this
duma
included
duma
Filiaret
in the
1870s, first
in it was borrowed
folklorists
Ukrainian
on the basis
Kolessa
the Polish
Shatzky
elaborated
has
noted
the
list of the Ukrainian
from Velychko's
directly
chronicle;
this
Kulish's
proved
thought
heavy
editing
of the Cossack
In the early
literary tradition.50
noted
poem
shown
that
the parallels
about
the battle
that
this
duma
between
at
Zhovti
displays
the plot
Vody.51
a striking
of the
duma
Finally,
similarity
rivers
later
of the
1920s,
and
Jacob
to a
156
ZENON E. KOHUT
Polish
w zlotej klatce,
albo zydzi
a
in
wolnosci
Raven
Golden
Polskiej
Korony
Cage,
(The
in the Freedom
of the Kingdom
of Poland),
Kmita.
Jan
by
w swobodnej
or the Jews
Shatzky
and tax
his
hat
Polish
the
work
literary
has
from
dating
out
pointed
1648, Kruk
that
the description
of Jewish
lease holding
as the episode
in which
the Christian
takes
seem to have migrated
to the duma
from this
as well
collection,
off to a Jew,
As to
source.52
oral
the way
the Ukrainian
tradition,
1909 that
early as
Ukrainian
by which
scholar
literary motifs
Ivan Ierofeiev
penetrated
as
suggested
to the
of a Jew migrated
the
image
stereotypical
the eighteenth-century
stage
or the Ukrainian
drama
theatre
from
dumy
school
the
religious
the
theater,
performances
wandering
(via
puppet
likely that
In the final analysis,

it appears
quite
vertep).53
their possession
of the
the stereotypical
image of the Jews,
including
to
from
into
the
Polish
and
Orthodox
churches,
passed
keys
dumy
no
is
there
Ukrainian
sources,
agreement
although
scholarly
literary
on this
The
subject.54
the
of
impact
If we
consider
icles
and
next
generation
early
the Ukrainian
Istoriia
especially
of Ukrainian
modern
historical
intellectual
held
Rusov
historians
narrative
chron
the Cossack
tradition,
over
the
considerable
sway
and writers.55
That
influence
in Mykola
five-volume
Istoriia
is particularly
apparent
Markevych's
This
of
Little
Malorossii
Russia,
patriotic
history,
1842-1843).
(History
recasts most
of
of Romanticism,
written
the influence
under
literally
the
those concerning
Jewish
of Istoriia
the stories
Rusov,
especially
on blessed
the Cossacks
mock
bread at Easter,
right to levy duties
curses upon the Christians,
the "good Jews"
ing their Jewish victims'
to
the
of Bar, etc.56
after
leave
allowed
ransom,
capture
paying
being
was
own
was
in its
book
very popular
Markevych's
right; its importance
to its use by Ukrainian
Romantic
thanks
moreover,
writers,
magnified,
most
Taras
Shevchenko.
notably
that finally
the Khmelnytsky
and
The
Uprising
image of Jews
resonance
found particular
from early modern
history writing
emerged
in Ukrainian
tual
the history
frequently
not
They
identified
the
Romantic
current
image
populism,
in the mid-nineteenth
and
which
became
century.
The
life of the common
intellec
the dominant
on
focused
populists
same individuals
were
The
people.
fiction.
and writers
of popular
historians,
or wrote
also
the common
about
but
people,
To the Romantic
with
their suffering.
populists,
ethnographers,
only studied
themselves
of Jews
and
the Khmelnytsky
Uprising
that
they
perceived
157
was an accurate
in early modern
of the
representation
historiography
im
of the Ukrainian
This
and exploitation
terrible
people.
suffering
what
the
Ukrainian
Romantic
age was further reinforced
by
populists
authentic
historical
considered
the ultimate
folklore.
source, Ukrainian
The
most
and
of the Romantic
representative
to
He paid considerable
attention
important,
Kostomarov.
famous,
was Mykola
populists
in his folkloristic,
of the Ukrainian
Jewish exploitation
historical
people
In a study of Ukrainian
folk songs, Kostomarov
and journalistic
works.
their reflection
of the arrogant
of the historical
emphasized
"tyranny
This
Jews."57
of the
condemnation
in his publicistic
is also prominent
social
role of the
Jews
of the early
writings
of Ukraine
1860s:
in Poland
the Judeans
settled
and Little Russia,
they occu
servants
the
the
middle
and
of
class, becoming
pied
place
willing
to
of
the
the
agents
stronger
mighty
nobility;
they clung
side, and
the lords, brought
they fared well until the people,
rising against
under their judgement
the helpers of the latter. The Judeans,
caring
When
their own comfort

only about
extract
from the
[advantages]
tween
the nobles
of the
the factotum
their taverns,
book
Kostomarov's
scholarly
Bohdan
under
style
Nevertheless,
and
edition,
the
lords;
their mills,
even
sometimes
and
serfs,
and
he
the
dropped
in later editions
and
serfs.
the
that
relationship
In this way,
lords entrusted
their
the
of
to
tribe, began
then existed
be
their
that
the
Judeans
to them
became
their
their property,
industry,
faith of the latter.58
income,
and their
in semi
Khmelnytsky
(1857) was written
and Istoriia
influence
of Velychko
Rusov.
as
a
source
Istoriia
in the second
Rusov
also
took
into consideration
in particular
the testimony
of the Jewish
eyewitness
once it became
in Russia
available
with
(beginning
other
sources,
Hanover
Nathan
the
fourth
edition
of 1884).59
Istoriia
Rusov
Russian)
the literary
a time when
ern national
and Markevych's
writers
populist
Ukrainian
provided
History
(and
with
and archetypes
for
subjects
The
of
at
latter
were,
course, highly
imagination.
significant
was
a
in
Ukrainian
the
of
mod
process
society
developing
consciousness.
The
of the Jew as leaseholder,
stereotype
Romantic
the one holding

the keys to the Christian
spy or
church, as Polish
or
as
someone
not
to
be
trusted
agent,
simply
go-between
certainly
in nineteenth-century
became
Ukrainian
literature
and was
prominent
often
in early twentieth
only displaced
as natural
Jews sympathetically
its struggle
for freedom.60
century with works

allies of the Ukrainian
which
portrayed
intelligentsia
in
ZENON E. KOHUT
158
Modern
Ukrainian
E.
has
Frank
Sysyn
ideals
socialist
and
history
shown,
entered
evolved
similar
lines. As
writing
along
new liberal
the advent
of positivism,
with
Ukrainian
populist
historiography,
grad
traditional
dissolving
historian
Ukrainian
greatest
anti-Jewish
ually
of the
For
rhetoric.61
twentieth
early
example,
the
century,
Mykhailo
as so
primarily
understood
the Khmelnytsky
Hrushevsky,
Uprising
cial movement,
with
national
and religious
"motifs" present
although
as well.
shows great appreciation
of Nathan
Incidentally,
Hrushevsky
account
Hanover's
of pre-war
social antagonisms:
more
from Volhynia
into the founda
penetrated
deeply
an even
the uprising
from which
and
developed
produced
causes
our
own
its
of
social
and
ethnic
broader
than
analysis
"Eye
This
Jew
tions
witness,"
who,
on
without
concentrating
refers to some of
the
condition
general
of
its secondary
and
enserfment,
symptoms
merely
manifestations:
the arbitrary
behaviour
of the leaseholders,
Jewish
ones
in particular.
attention
to various
Such superficial
details
of
social
relations
under
with
serfdom,
no
of the
thorough
analysis
is quite typical: we encounter
class and ethnic antagonisms,

primary
as well.62
it in other authors
The
Khmelnytsky
Uprising,
Ukrainian
historical
of
shaping
Although
ades after
Jewish
but
early modern
the uprising,
leaseholders
the main
cution
of
with
the
no
Ukrainian
it focuses
are mentioned
image
memory
of Jews,
and
the
some dec
writing
began
on Jews nor on the massacres.
historical
neither
in a long catalogue
of Polish
abuses,
of Cossack
rights and the perse
is registered
The
of Jews
slaughter
is on the violation
the Orthodox
with
together
focus
the
Church.
of Poles,
slaughter
at
Catholics,
and
and
others,
or moralizing.
is
attempt
explanation,
justification
is no Jewish
literature
historical
there
issue,
early modern
one. It is the perfidy
that allows a Christian
of the Poles
only a Polish
an image gradually
people be lorded over by the infidel Jews. However,
reported
In all the
of the Jew as ultimate

economic
the leasing
emerges
exploiter:
through
of virtually
trade monopolies,
and tax-farming;
everything,
legal and
over
to exert
his ability
and
power
peasants,
physical
through
legal
at times, Cossacks
in the name of the lord; and spiritual
his
through
to
him
of
the
the
which
control
church,
possession
keys
gives
alleged
over access
to the sacraments
and salvation
control
that represents
a profanation
of true Christian
faith. Elements
of this image appear
159
(1709); it gains resonance in Lukomsky
in Hrabianka
in Istoriia
fully developed
at the beginning
from
of
Rusov, which,
probably,
nineteenth
This
century.
historical
Polish
writing,
the
seventeenth-century
to explain
the great
both
on the Jews.
revolt
began
to circulate
image
which
is borrowed
attempted
in part,
to lay the blame
for it
this image was embellished
and
and,
that
contention
It is my
(1770), and is
in the
late eighteenth
and early nineteenth
centuries
of
because
the renewal of the Uniate
relevance
of
the
Polish
problem,
continuing
of Poland,
the emergence
of
and, as a result of the partitions
question,
codified
a Jewish
question.
which marked
the
Thus,
century,
by the turn of the nineteenth
a
end of early modern
Ukrainian
Jewish
history
stereotype
writing,
to
immense
the
of
had emerged.
Istoriia
and
Rusov,
popularity
Owing
the specific
interests
of Ukrainian
Romantic
that
populism,
stereotype
was
incorporated
into the new
into modern
Ukrainian
and made
historiography
it was
fiction.
But
its
not the only

one. For the populists,
important
of oral folk literature,
the dumy,
were as important
as any early modern
source. Moreover,
Ukrainian
on the Khmelnytsky
was
the anti-Jewish
Polish
literature
Uprising
genre of historical
the most
perhaps,
and exciting
images
way
source
or even,
the more
vivid
also
to nineteenth-century
strands
coalesced
available
All
writers.
Ukrainian
and
historians,
poets,
to shape modern
histor
Ukrainian
of the twentieth
the beginning
century
three
ical memory.
And although
by
intellectuals
the anti-Jewish
Ukrainian
rejected
stereotypes,
leading
in historical
to modify.
their embodiment
would
difficult
prove
memory
the
Notes
1.
I would
to
like
Yekelchyk
to thank
for
thank
Moshe
to use
for permission
Ukraine's
Intellectual
tions
Zvi
and
of Central
et
Gitelman,
Frank
Serhii
and
Plokhy,
Sysyn,
colleagues
Serhy
to my
these
I would
about
issues. Also
like
thinking
and Adam
the
of
editors
this
Teller,
collection,
original
my
contributing
Rosman
some
materials
Tradition:
Eastern
al.,
The
Europe.
(Cambridge:
from
this
Role
of
article
in
Istoriia
in Honor
Essays
Ukrainian
"The
Research
of Roman
Institute
in
of Jews
Image
Cultures
Rusov"
and Na
ed.,
Szporluk,
Publications,
2000), 343-358.
2. A
convenient
Cultural
Uprising
A
Process:
Russian,
(Edmonton:
the Russian,
Cossack-Polish
of
survey
Khmelnytsky
the Russian,
Polish
Survey
of
the
and Ukrainian Historical

CIUS
Press,
Ukrainian
war,
and
Ukrainian
An
1992).
and Soviet
is John
Basarab,
Writing
earlier
views
from
work,
on the
Pereiaslav
National
of Ukraine's
Interpretations
of the
interpretations
is provided by Stephen Velychenko,
Past
the Earliest
documenting
results
and
in Polish,
Times
the
as
History
to 1914
evolution
significance
1654-' A Historiographical
of
of
the
Study
ZENON E. KOHUT
160
The
CIUS,
1982).
(Edmonton:
Between
Remembrance
of the Polish
in Contemporary
Commonwealth
Monographs,
3. Hans
Feodosii
and
Sinopsis,
Kiev
in Joel
is analyzed
in
Jews
the Wars
as
the Mid-Seventeenth
during
Century
Historical
Research
East
(Boulder:
Writing
ed.,
Shown
European
einer
Einleitung
(K?ln:
went
Hrabianka,
Hryhorii
historical
distinctiveness.
further
He
any
distancing
further
traced
than
with
affinity
1992), 228.
others
the Cossacks'
in affirm
genealogy
Russia.
Fink Verlag,
(Kyiv, 1878; repr. Munich: Wilhelm
Samovidtsa
commentary
(Kyiv: Naukova Dumka,
chronicler,
thus
ed. with
starodavnikh,
and V. M. Kravchenko
ing the Ukrainians'

to the Khazars,
6. Letopis'
mit
Facsimile
z litopystsiv
Khronika
Sofonovych,
Cossack
1681:
1983), 365fT.
by lu. A. Mytsyk
5. One
the
of
1995).
Rothe,
B?hlau Verlag,
4.
events
of the
image
Denial:
The Fate
Jewish
and
Raba,
1972),
3-5.
7.
11. For
Ibid.,
and Belarusian
8.
Ibid.,
12,
13.
9.
Ibid.,
13,
15.
time
this
population
to
the term
"Ruthenian"
refers
period,
of the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth.
Deistviia
10. Hryhorii
Hrabianka,
valoi
brani Bogdana
getmana
1854) repr. in Hryhorij Hrabjanka's

(Cambridge, MA: Harvard Ukrainian
11.
32,
Ibid.,
51.
13.
Ibid.,
52.
The
indicating
next
very
that
Samiilo
this
15.
Ibid.,
32.
16.
Ibid.,
80.
17.
Ibid.,
84.
18.
Ibid.,
89.
19.
Ibid.,
note
20.
Stefan
150
on
p.
84,
21.
23.
Ibid.,
48,
49.
Ibid.,
40,
41.
The
"The
Grabowicz,
Ukrainian
introduction
on
a Polish
by
Valerii
lament,
source.
Shevchuk
90.
p.
in Letopis'
his
samovidtsa
(Kiev,
1878,
1972), 371, 372. Some scholars argue that

narrative
of which
istoricheskoe,"
371,
Studies,
(Moscow,
translation
Jewish
Literature,"
Relations
Ukrainian
on
with
was
his
own
translation
lost
eventually
of Twar
(Introduction
by
xi).
"Sobranie
24.
Wisniowiecki's
based
an
text
22. Istoriia Rusov HiMaloi Rossii
Jewish
neby
(Kiev,
10.
p.
Fink Verlag,
the
Princess
be
footnote
with
istoricheskoe,"
domowa,
Levytsky,
Lukomsky,
cf. also
to continue
planned
Wojna
on
well
may
23 and
1, p.
"Sobranie
repr. Munich: Wilhelm
Orest
krvavshoi
s poliaki
The Great War of Bohdan Xmel'nyc'kyj

Research Institute, 1990), 30 (314).
reports
text
the
trans,
Litopys,
vol.
1991),
Lukomsky,
Lukomsky
dowski's
sentence
of
part
Velychko,
Dnipro,
(Kiev:
poliakov
zaporozhskogo,
Ukrainian
48.
Ibid.,
12.
14.
i ot nachala
prezeVnoi
KhmeVnitskogo,
the
Theme
in ed.,
in Historical
372.
1846), 40, 41.
is adapted
(with
in Nineteenth-
Howard
Aster
Perspective
1988), 327-342,
minor
and
changes)
from
George
G.
and
Early
Twentieth-Century
Peter
Ukrainian
J. Potichnyj,
(Edmonton:
Canadian
Institute
here 331.
of

25.
Istoriia
p.
Ibid.,
65.
27.
67,
Ibid.,
70.
29.
Ibid.,
76.
30.
Ibid.
31.
Ibid.,
80,
Ibid.,
118.
Ibid.,
122.
author
his
defense
as
to
referred
the
Polish
spies
on
again
82.
To
substantiate
claimed
nia's
union
34. Mykhailo
that
with
with
united
Poland
Istoriia
Cossack
and
equal
Ukrainy-Rusy
2, 120, 121.
8, part
Remembrance
and
toria belli Cosacco-Polonici

32,
with
"as equal
Muscovy
Between
Raba,
of
and
the
privileges,
in 1654,
like Lithua
the Cossack
state
rights
of union with Muscovy

treaty
a clause
in 1569,
contained
whereby
Ukraine's
Hrushevsky,
vol.
1956),
hospilka,
35.
are
74.
Ibid.,
28.
33.
Jews
106.
26.
32.
The
52.
p.
Rusov,
161
free with
1922;
(Kyiv,
111-12,
Denial,
free"
repr.
K.
quoting
6, 7, 209).
(Ibid.,
New
York:
His
ed.,
Koppi,
authore Samuele Grondski de Grondi
Kny
(Pest, 1789),
33.
Istoriia
vol.
125.
36.
Hrushevsky,
37.
on Both
"A Curse
Their
Houses:
Catholic
toward
the
Attitudes
Sysyn,
the Khmel'nyts'kyi
Jews and Eastern
Orthodox
in Father
Pawel
during
Uprising
in Israel
Ruszel's
Fawor
and the Nations:
Presented
in Honor
niebieski,"
Essays
of Shmuel
Ettinger
for Jewish
Center
38.
Ukrainy-Rusy,
8, part
2,
124,
Frank
Istoriia
Hrushevsky,
v Iuzhnoi
Historical
(Jerusalem:
History,
Rusi
and Zalman
of Israel
Society
here xvii,
xviii
and xxiii.
xi-xxiii,
1987),
vol.
Ukrainy-Rusy,
kanonika
8,
lana
l'vovskogo
part
122.
2,
Iuzefovicha,
Cf.
k istorii Iuzhnoi i Zapadnoi Rusi
letopisei otnosiashchikhsia
"Letopis'
1624-1700,"
Shazar
sobytii
in Sbornik
(Kyiv, 1888), 121,
122.
39.
historical
nent
the
among
place
late
relatively
a prominent
to occupy
historical
antisemitism,"
of this
arguments
vol. 8, part
2, 122-126,
Ukrainy-Rusy,
evidence
documentary
so
been
uncovered
in
comes
accusation
this
has
here
of
far.
[Ukrainian]
and perma
(Hrushevsky,
126).
na Ukraine,"
I. Galant,
li evrei pravoslavnyie
"Arendovali
tserkvi
sta
Ievreiskaia
rina
1 (1909):
This
had been
also debated
in Israel. Most
71-87.
topic
recently,
a rare phenomenon,
Judith
Kalik
of Hebrew
indicated
that although
University
is clear documentary
there
of the leasing
of both Catholic
evidence
and Orthodox
to Jewish
out
churches
leaseholders.
This
fact was
in the discussion
of
brought
her
41.
but
tradition,
Istoriia
40.
no
a certain
in this matter,
interest
"Notwithstanding
or any
of churches
related
Jewish
conflicts
leasing
The
of Jews
for such misdeeds
emerges
blaming
paper
"The
monwealth"
at
Jewry
in
18-20,
1998.
M.
J.
Rosman,
Context
The
Lord's
Commonwealth
Ukrainian
and
Church
International
1648-1649:
Lithuanian
Harvard
Orthodox
the
Research
the
Jews
Conference
and
in the
Jews:
Institute,
Relations
Magnate-Jewish
the Eighteenth
1990),
Tah-Tat-East
at Bar-Ilan
Consequences"
during
Polish-Lithuanian
"Gezeirot
109,
Century
Com
European
University,
in
the
May
Polish
(Cambridge, MA:
110.
ZENON E. KOHUT
162
42.
Istoriia
Rusov
was
point
"Do
mentions
taken
think
that
written
Istoriia
Rusov
"Istoriia
Ohloblyn,
of Toronto
Press,
sity
44.
Cf.
45.
Both
Press,
Russia
are
to
and
nawsky
provides
46.
Patricia
the
of
story
have
the
1850s
texts
orendari
Kulish's
the
and
ed.
dumy,
Derzhavne
49.
this
combining
51.
been
In
53.
54.
45
44,
1965),
Ivan
Ierofeiev,
voho
tovarystva
that
standably
as
first
"merchants."
flight with
researchers
in
rewritten,
Ukrainskii
entirely
P. Kirdan,
B.
edition
of the
Ukrains'ki
Plisets'kyi,
1994), 218, 219.

o Iuzhnoi
Zapiski
duma
Rusi,
vol.
from
Andrii
1 (St. Peters
in the
Shut
the
narodni
of
possibility
of
conclusions
dumy,
u Kyievi
nineteenth
and
the
dumka,
i ikh
dumy
(Kyiv,
1910),
early
twentieth
217.
do
pisen',
direct
on
that
the
authenticity
interwar
the
Western
similarities
"Cossack
of
tradition,"
the dumas
most
dumy.
I rely
Ukrains'koho
45,
students
and,
between
the
Soviet
oral
nauko
46.
Ukraine
as
the
publication,
redaktsii,"
Zapysky
kn. 7, 17-64,
here
centuries,
on
influences
literary
and
Peretts,
Zhytetsky,
Volodymyr
influence
of contemporary
written
literature
depended
on the
insisted
virshiv
131 (1921): 1-63, here 49, 50. However,
Pavlo
in
Zibrannia
184.
1986),
u vidnoshenniu
dumy
in his
pisniamy,"
Shatzky's
Yiddish-language
and Denial,
217.
Remembrance
"Ukrains'ki
lxv.
narodnymy
(Kyiv: Naukova
holosin'," Zapysky NTSh
in particular
both
Hi,
1927),
narodni
recognized
significant
Filiaret
who
worked
Kolessa,
in Soviet
Ukraine,
suggested
fact
if not
See
and Marko
the
ukrains'kymy
vol. 43
tomakh,
Ukrains'ki
Between
late
ed.,
nad
"Ukrains'ki
the
reporting
folklore,
text
Ukrainy,
rejected
In the
Cana
(Toronto:
and
Tar
George
vydavnytstvo
Kolessa,
on Raba,
trans.
K. Moyle
specifically
an
and with
pokhoronnykh
52.
Univer
"recording"
is on pp. 63, 64. For a critical
view
of Kulish's
technique
as regards
see Ukrains
this particular
'ki narodni
duma,
1 (Kyiv:
introduction
vol.
Hrushevs'ka,
by Kateryna
Plisets'kyi,
Kolessa
Princeton
Minor,
edited,
heavily
Kostomarov.
Mykola
is in P. Kulish,
account
of
"Studii
Franko,
u p'iatdesiaty
tvoriv
Filiaret
University
(Toronto:
of Jewish
grotesque
picture
the the second
duma.
the
As
from
Nauka,
(Moscow:
Ivan
50. Marko
as
late
In the title
English.
is rendered
mistakenly
(leaseholders)
his
56-63;
1856),
of Oleksandrivka
burg,
it is very
likely
scholars
Many
1815-1825.
See
1979), 163-169 and 156-161. This
Studies,
publisher,
publication
village
of recording,
as
(Princeton:
narodni dumy: siuzhety i obrazy (Kyiv: Kobza,

47. Ukrainian Dumy: Editio Minor, 157, 159.
48.
'koho
3, 4.
chs.
Jews,
wrongdoings
variant
had
this
epos
narodnyi
Hrushevs
century,
of Poland.
of Ukraine
1800-1917
in Ukrainian
a variant
by
eighteenth
Editio
Dumy:
introduction
Natalie
by
Kilina,
Jewish
shown,
written
Her
of Ukrainian
is also
There
(This
Iershov,
avtora
ii,"
i pro
Serhiievycha
in Ukrainian
found
parallel
the word
duma,
Anatolii
See
a pochasty
partition
or edited
Encyclopedia
2, 360.
A Portrait,
Gathers
be
dian Institute
vol.
1793
the
was
Rusov,"
Kiev:
in 1792.
found
1928.
55-81.
1993),
Klier,
in the
circulate
after
1988),
F. Hamm,
Michael
to
was
work
O.
43.
time
considerable
the
in
here 288, 289.) Since news of the find would have
(Kyiv, 1928), vol. 1, 286-291,

that
was
which
stone,
Iershov
Anatolii
'Istorii Rusov,'
napysannia
akademika
poshanu
Mykhaila
na
zbirnyk
Iuvileinyi
Tmutarkan
by
chas
pro
pytannia
the
made
originally
of Ukrainian
Ivan
on
Ierofeiev,
the
dumy.
subsequently,
two reflect
folklorists
literature.
the
under
Western

and
Ukrainian
post-Soviet
on the
culture's
influence
folklorists
are more
open
Ukrainian
folklore.
See:
163
to the
P.
question
Zhitetskii
of
the
high
[Zhytets'kyi],
"Ukrains'ki
o narodnykh
dumakh
malorusskikh
I. Ierofeiev,
(Kyiv,
1893);
i ikh redaktsii;"
imaterialy
V. N. Peretts,
Issledovaniia
starinnoi
po istorii
dumy
vv.
ukrainskoi
XVI-XVIII
vols.
1-3; Filiaret
literatury
(Leningrad,
1926-1929),
Ukrains'ki
narodni
here
Ukrain
p. 83; Kirdan,
Kolessa,
dumy
(L'viv,
1920),
Mysli
skii narodnyi
55.
Frank
See
Sysyn,
Culture
57.
N.
"The
and
Istoriia
Markevich,
191.
I. Kostomarov,
in Sobranie
"Iudeiam,"
is adapted,
of
troversy
Historical
59.
N.
60.
For
a more
Frank
E.
Potichnyj,
62.
no.
minor
Hrushevsky,
and
Harvard
(Moscow,
the Development
of Modern
Studies
Ukrainian
14, nos.
vol.
1,
121,
127,
128,
171,
tvorch
pesennogo
iuzno-russkogo
here
translation
38-58,
43, 44. The
English
from Roman
"The Sion-Osnova
Con
Serbyn,
and Potichnyj,
in
Ukrainian-Jewish
Relations
here
99.
Khmel'nitskii
(St. Petersburg,
see George
G. Grabowicz,
discussion,
Ukrainian
Early
Twentieth-century
"The Jewish
Sysyn,
Ukrainian-Jewish
Istoriia
(1862),
85-110,
Bogdan
and
znachenie
1842),
8, 809.
changes,
in Aster
1861-1862,"
detailed
in Nineteenth61.
Malorossii
Perspective,
Kostomarov,
Chronicles
Identity,"
sochinenii
Osnova,
with
Cossack
National
"Istoricheskoie
estva,"
58.
[the
1990), 593-607.
(December
3/4
N.
Ukrains'ki narodni dumy
view].
E.
Ukrainian
56.
epos [the Soviet view]; Plisets'kyi,
Ukrainian
post-Soviet
Factor
Relations
Ukrainy-Rusy,
1904),
8, part
2,
119,
Jewish
Theme
327-343.
Literature,"
in the Khmelnytsky
Uprising,"
in Historical
Perspective,
vol.
638-650.
"The
in Aster
43-54,
here
120.
and
46.

The Khmelnytsky Uprising, The Image of Jews, and The Shaping of Ukrainian Historical

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The Khmelnytsky Uprising, the Image of Jews, and the Shaping of Ukrainian Historical

in the social, religious,

and openly mocking

was also penned

and was adopted

THE KHMELNYTSKY UPRISING

in great detail Kyivan

(only a few copies of

in the last quarter

elite of the time

rights and liberties

on their own until

far as the years of Bohdan

"blinded by gifts from the castle

THE KHMELNYTSKY UPRISING

and Jews. The

sack elite. Both Samiilo Velychko (1670-1728) and Hryhorii Hrabianka

THE KHMELNYTSKY UPRISING

and the great

if too often fictional,

the end of the first

all the insults,

taken from the widely

of the Union. Also told is how the Poles

included in the Cossack

THE KHMELNYTSKY UPRISING

insult and beat the priests,

and early nineteenth

who did not accept

to the Jew, haggle with him,

and spies who, with

the Jews; in some cases, he seems to be relying on contemporary

that some "young officials and Cossacks"

is a telling one: certain

for a free and

THE KHMELNYTSKY UPRISING

seen, in the earlier Cossack

as the agents of the Poles.

comes from Polish

powers and control of

of the uprising, with Jewish

THE KHMELNYTSKY UPRISING

the Right Bank became,

even though Poland

songs as a source con

THE KHMELNYTSKY UPRISING

folk poetry.48 Thus, when

the oral and written

they are mostly

earlier stage. Ivan Franko

of the Jews lording over the

list of the Ukrainian

In the final analysis,

life of the common

THE KHMELNYTSKY UPRISING

their own comfort

the one holding

century with works

class and ethnic antagonisms,

of the Jew as ultimate

THE KHMELNYTSKY UPRISING

(1709); it gains resonance in Lukomsky

not the only