On April 27, a lecture titled "The Shoah and the Nazi «Karaite Policy»: The Case of Melitopol" was held at the Main Building of the War Museum in Kyiv. The event was organized to mark the 124th anniversary of the birth of Philip Friedman – one of the first Holocaust researchers who documented Nazi crimes after the war.
The event was co-organized by the Center for Interethnic Relations Research in Eastern Europe and the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies.
The lecture was delivered by historian Yurii (Amir) Radchenko, a researcher of interethnic relations in Eastern Europe. The moderator was Anatolii Podolsky, Director of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies.
The central topic of the lecture was the tragedy of the Karaite community during the Nazi occupation of Melitopol.
Yurii (Amir) Radchenko explained that the Karaites began arriving in large numbers in Melitopol only after the Crimean War. They are bearers of both Turkic and Jewish identities. With the arrival of the Nazis in 1941, the Karaite community came under threat of persecution. Their only means of survival became the possibility of denying any affiliation with the Jewish community. The Nazis even involved Jewish scholars in the process of identification – one of them being Philip Friedman. Acting independently, the scholars refuted the Jewish origins of the Karaites to save their lives.
According to Radchenko, Melitopol’s case is unique: Karaites often had to find ways to disassociate themselves from Jews independently. They were supported by members of Ukrainian local governance and residents. In particular, Melitopol’s mayor, Vasyl Perepliotchykov, and his deputy, Andrii Putov, advocated for the Karaites before the German administration. They also maintained contact with members of both wings of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists – OUN(m) and OUN(b) – who were involved in the rescue of local Jews.
The memorial lecture marked a crucial step in honoring the legacy of Philip Friedman. The scholar’s academic contributions will provide a foundation for future research on the history of the Karaite community.
