Yesterday the State Archives of the Lviv Region received anonymous letter denouncing my person. The unsigned, implicitly anti-semitic letter sent from Kyiv claimed that the archives should beware of my person, because i “work for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs” and  “slander the good name” of the Ukrainian Archives.

I am not used to discuss with cowards who are ashamed of their own name and thoughts, but I will make an exception.

1. In 2010/2011 I was awarded a scholarship from Polish Bureau For Academic Recognition And International Exchange to conduct my academic research at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The scholarship was sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
   There is huge difference between working for the Israeli MFA and getting scholarship from it. Beside this, I see nothing wrong in working for the Israeli MFA (just as for Ukrainian MFA).
2. This accusation referred to my earlier post on my visit to the State Archives of the Chernihiv Oblast, which took place in 2013. During this visit I was seriously misinformed and treated disrespectfully by some members of the staff of this archive. I found this situation very confusing, and below of any standards of any state institutions. Simply some of the employees did not represent the state institution in which they work in respectful way. Such situations should not be swept under the carpet. Defining a problem is the first step to cure it. Standing for high standards of services in providing by the archives is standing for their good name.

I must say that my second in the archive in 2015 went perfectly and the staff from the reading room as well as th management was extremely polite and cooperative.

Experts says that anonymous letters are usually written by not very bright people. Indeed, it requires minimal level of intelligence to distinguish scholarship from employment and to understand that honest critics of the archival services contributes after all to its improvement and good name (and not silent acceptance of lack of manners among state officials).

Management of the State Archives of the Lviv Region  found this letter embarrassing for the archives and ensured me that they never consider anonymous letters. Thank you for your professional and respectful approach.

Dear anonymous person, we are eagerly looking forward for next denunciations. If you forget to sign them we will do this favor for you and publish your name. It wasn’t that hard to figure out who are you.