Antony Blinken as US Secretary of State is a vivid example of the advantages of a tolerant democratic society over intolerance and persecution on any grounds.
The reasons that prompted Antony Blinken’s great-grandfather to leave tsarist Russia in 1904, unfortunately, have not been eradicated even today. Having escaped the raging anti-Semitism, the Blinkens in America, like other tens of thousands of Jewish immigrants from the territory of present-day Ukraine, found themselves in an environment more tolerant of their origin and religion and were given the opportunity for a normal life and prosperity.
Ukrainian Jews in the United States, as full-fledged members of a multinational and multicultural society, have become significant figures in American science, culture, politics and many other areas.
Before the start of the mass flight from the pogroms, the largest Jewish diaspora in the world lived in Ukraine — about a quarter of the entire Jewish population. By the early 1990s, after the pogroms of the early 20th century, the Holocaust and Soviet anti-Semitism, the Ukrainian Jewish community hardly numbered several thousand. I am happy that today the Jewish community of Ukraine is experiencing a period of true revival, also thanks to the support of the American diaspora, many members of which have Ukrainian roots.
Blinken remembers well his family’s history, and I am confident that his commitment to democracy and tolerance will help reinforce these values globally, as well as in Ukraine.
