Holocaust story inspires pride, doubt
ISPAS, Ukraine - It is a story of courage and kindness during the first tragic days of the Holocaust in Ukraine — the tale of how a village rose up against an anti-Semitic gang of killers to save its Jewish neighbors.
A researcher stumbled on the inspiring story this year. Now some of Ukraine's Jewish leaders plan to raise a monument, host a delegation of students from Israel and stage a ceremony Wednesday honoring this small farming community in western Ukraine.
But 66 years later there are conflicting accounts of what happened in Ispas during that terrible summer of 1941, when the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union triggered an outbreak of anti-Semitic violence.
Residents and one survivor say the 2,000 villagers risked their lives for the sake of about 100 Jews, an account supported by some leaders of Ukraine's Jewish community and the scholar who uncovered the tale.
But another survivor says there were no heroes in Ispas. And a leading Holocaust expert says that most of the Jews of Ispas were killed by fellow villagers.
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A researcher stumbled on the inspiring story this year. Now some of Ukraine's Jewish leaders plan to raise a monument, host a delegation of students from Israel and stage a ceremony Wednesday honoring this small farming community in western Ukraine.
But 66 years later there are conflicting accounts of what happened in Ispas during that terrible summer of 1941, when the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union triggered an outbreak of anti-Semitic violence.
Residents and one survivor say the 2,000 villagers risked their lives for the sake of about 100 Jews, an account supported by some leaders of Ukraine's Jewish community and the scholar who uncovered the tale.
But another survivor says there were no heroes in Ispas. And a leading Holocaust expert says that most of the Jews of Ispas were killed by fellow villagers.