A Ukrainian Jewish communal leader and former concentration camp prisoners received a top state honor.
President Victor Yuschenko awarded the Order of Merit last week to Mikhail Goldenberg, the board chairman of the Association of Jewish Culture in Nikolayev.
Three prisoners of ghetto and concentration camps – Leonid Dusman of Odessa, Boris Zabarko of Kiev, and David Fainshtein ofTernopol – also were recognized for “prominent personal contribution to the development of the war veteran movement, patriotic training of youth and long-term public work.”
Former concentration camp prisoners recently called on Yuschenko not to recognize Ukrainian Insurgent Army members as heroes of World War II, joining several international Jewish organizations who called on the president in 2007 to reverse his decision to award Gen. Roman Shukhevich, a commander of the Nachtigal battalion, with Ukraine’s highest award.
