The Power Within: The Kyiv Independent’s first-ever magazine is here. Get yours, fresh off the press.

order now

Team

Roman Shvartsman photo

Roman Shvartsman

Roman Shvartsman is the chairman of the Odesa Association of Jews.

Articles

Roman Shvartsman at YES conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 24, 2025.

Hitler wanted to kill me because I'm Jewish. Putin wants to kill me because I'm Ukrainian

by Roman Shvartsman
Editor’s Note: The following is a translated transcript of the address delivered by Roman Shvartsman, the chairman of the Odesa Association of Jews and a Holocaust survivor, at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) Special Gathering hosted by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 24, 2025, marking the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “Ladies and gentlemen, A month ago, the German Bundestag commemorated the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwi