The Jews of Ukraine represent the third-largest Jewish community in Europe and the fifth-largest in the world. Kiev, the capital city, has a Jewish population of about 90,000; it is followed closely by Odessa and Dnepropetrovsk, with estimated Jewish populations of 60,000 each; and by Kharkov, with an estimated 50,000 Jews.

Jewish life in Ukraine can be traced as far back as the 10^th century, with the Jewish-Khazarian settlement of Kiev. In the 16^th and 17^th centuries, Jews played an important role in economic development. During the 19^th century, despite many restrictions, the Jewish people were actively involved in the commerce and industry that led to the growth of Kiev, Odessa and Kharkov.

Some of the worst violence inflicted upon Jews in Europe took place in Ukraine. Thousands died during the Chmielnicki uprising of 1648. Great loss of Jewish life and property resulted from the pogroms perpetrated by Czarist Russia and during the Polish-Russian war following World War I.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the Soviet government allowed JDC to train Jewish workers who were being resettled on collective farms in Ukraine. The program, called Agro-Joint, ended when JDC was expelled from the USSR in 1938.

Six hundred thousand Ukrainian Jews were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators, the greatest number of Jews killed during the Holocaust in any of the former Soviet republics. The most devastating slaughter occurred at Babi Yar, just outside of Kiev, where 34,000 Jews perished in a two-day massacre.

Following Ukraine’s "liberation" by Soviet forces, Jews continued to suffer under the Soviet policy of state atheism and to experience an endemic anti-Semitism.

With the fall of Communism, the door was opened to efforts to revitalize Jewish life in Ukraine. JDC has been helping Jewish communities throughout Ukraine to establish the foundations for strong communal structures that can one day lead to eventual self-sufficiency.

2005