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Ikuru Kuwajima: Cossacks

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As early as the 13th century, Cossacks formed military communities in Ukraine and Russia. Having fought many wars over hundreds of years, these populations had a large degree of autonomy and a reputation for being fierce warriors and skilled with horses. The Soviet regime suppressed Cossack activities, but after the fall of the Iron Curtain there has been a cultural revival. In Crimea, a number of active communities have sprung up in the last ten years; some are tied to pro-Russian movements as ethnic Russians still dominate the demography in Crimea. These groups have been restoring their practices, taking on policing duties and gathering the community to commemorate historic events. In 2009, photographer Ikuru Kuwajima spent several months photographing the Cossacks as they reaffirm their identity.

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Coassacks and anti-semitism

In regards to your recent multimedia piece on the resurgence of Cossaks in Russia and Ukraine, it should be remembered that the military culture documented by Ikuru Kuwajima has been responsible for a string of massacres of Jewish and other communities. In the aftermath of the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648–1657 (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmelnytsky_Uprising), because of the belief that the Poles had sold the Cossacks "into the hands of the accursed Jews" Cossack forces killed nearly half of the Jewish population in parts of Poland, including women and children. The Koliyivschina Rebellion of 1768-1769, by Cossack peasants against Poland turned into an ethnic cleansing campaign against Jews and Poles in which at least 20,000 people were herded into synagogues and churches and massacred. Cossacks were also involved in the anti-Jewish pogroms of 1881-1884 and of 1905-1906 in which thousands of Jews were murdered. Finally, after the Russian civil war, atrocities by and massacres of Jewish civilians were carried out regularly by Cossacks (see Jews, Pogroms, and the White Movement: A Historiographical Critique* by Oleg Budnitskii in Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History and Caucasian Phobias and the Rise of Antisemitism in the North Caucasus in the 1920s by Lyudmila Gatagova in Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences ). Estimates range from 50,000 to 200,000 Jews killed. As a magazine devoted to documentary practice, I was surprised at your lack of attention to these facts. I urge you to either remove the essay, or present it in a larger, more inclusive context including the brutal history of the Cossack warriors.
  • Posted by Jonathan Lipkin (not verified), 04/23/2010 - 7:48am
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Great

Thanks a lot for sharing with us. The history of Cossacks is soooo interesting!
  • Posted by Carla (not verified), 06/21/2010 - 5:41am
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