Back in the 17th Century a Cossack named Bogdan Chimielnicky led the fighting and diplomacy that created a nation , Ukraine, that was broken away from The Kingdom of Polan and Lithuania and tied pretty tightly to Russia. Other players were Ruthenians, Crimean Tartars and Jews.
The uprising and war can't be spoken of without mentioning that Chimielnicky is right there with Haman and Hitler in she pantheon of people who most Jews hate.
Chimielnicky is a hero to most Ukrainians, both pro and anti Russians and was seen to be a hero in both Czarist and Bolshevik mythology.
Jews were tax collectors rent collectors and sellers of booze to the downtrodden Ruthenian peasants predecessors of the Ukranian people. They were considered feudal nobility who handled money, considered a vile necessary evil for the Polish nobility. As the rebellion was oppressed Ruthenians and Cossacks against Polish domination the Jews were targets. Jews describe the uprising as being about them but the Jews were relatively peripheral in the uproar. Jews also believe that the uprising was a genocide against them. Jews in fact were urged to embrace Christianity and become a part of the people they lived among , to break bread together and stop being exploiters. It is not known how many Jews converted, how many died and how many fled to Polish land.
Western Ukrainians assert that the Russian regime that was largely of Jewish ethnicity, the Communists , caused deliberately the deaths of millions during the revolution, the civil war and the Stalinist collectivisation of the land. By and large when the nazis came these folks welcomed and signed up with them.
Eastern Ukrainian, speak Russian, are religiously and culturally Eastern Orthodox and revere the Red Army that defeated the nazis.
The grandchildren of WWII are aligned as such: Many Jews and pro nazis with the U S A, many Jews and the Russian speakers very much against the coalition of pro nazis, Jewish Oligarchs and the Western world. The anti nazi side is playing a strong defense and it isnt clear how much muscle the pro westerners really ha ve.
