Anti-Jewish prejudices in Volhynia during the Hetmanate of Pavlo Skoropadskyi

Abstract

The article aims to provide a comprehensive examination and analysis of anti-Jewish prejudice and discrimination in the Volhynia region during the period of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi’s rule. The methodology of the study is grounded in general scientific methods and specialized historical approaches, in line with the fundamental principles of historical inquiry. The principles of historicism and scientific rigor enabled a careful reconstruction and thorough analysis of events related to anti-Jewish prejudices within the Volyn Governorate, taking into account historical circumstances and the reproduction of causal relationships. Guided by the principle of objectivity, the study examined the issue in accordance with objective historical regularities, underpinned by a critical analysis of the literary and documentary sources. Employing the principle of systematization enabled the incorporation of the full available literary and documentary base accessible to the author, thereby achieving a comprehensive treatment of the topic. The study’s scientific novelty consists in the first systematic examination, grounded in the author's existing documentary corpus, of various manifestations of anti-Semitic prejudices in the Volyn Governorate during the period of the Ukrainian State under Pavlo Skoropadskyi. An examination of the existing scholarly literature suggests to the author that there is no single interpretation of the issue among researchers. Consequently, the author concludes that, under Hetman Skoropadskyi, several anti-Semitic prejudices occurred in the Volyn Governorate, manifested notably through administrative restrictions and obstacles. The study identifies the source of these limitations not as a nationwide policy of the Ukrainian State but as the biases of individual local officials within the Volyn Governorate. It is established that during this period, Jews became collectively subjected to accusations by local authorities of conducting anti-hetman propaganda. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that in 1918, the Jewish population of Volyn endured a substantial number of assaults, robberies, and arson.