Dmitry Gerasimov raises his clarinet as he plays with the Pushkin Klezmer Band. (Vadym Yunyk)
Kiev’s Maidan, or Independence Square, has been the heart of the Ukrainian protest movement that last week brought about President Viktor Yanukovych’s ouster after deadly street battles. Russian officials and other Yanukovych supporters have accused the Maidan protesters of being fascists and neo-Nazis. But while Ukrainian ultra-nationalists, including some who espouse anti-Semitism, have been a presence at the Maidan, Jews also participated in the politically diverse protest movement.
Majdan u Kijevu ili Trg nezavisnosti je srce pokreta protresta u Ukrajini što je dovelo do oslaska predsjednika Viktora Yanukovicha kakon uličlnih sukoba. Ruski predstavnici i drugi koji podupiru Janukoviča su optužiti demonstrante na Maidanu da su fašisti i neonacisti. Ali isko su na Maidanu prisutni i ukrajinski ukoltranacionalisti , uključujući i neke koji pokazuju antisemitizam, Židovi su također sudjelovali u političkom protestnom pokretu. takoi je časopis "Tablet Magazine" javio da je "Pushkin Klezmer Band"svirao na Maidanu masi demonstranata, svirao je klarinetist u orkestru i vokal Dmnitry Gerasimon .
On je rekao:
Naturally, I am on the side of people who have rebelled against indignity, police brutality and total corruption. I had gone many times to the Maidan and tried to help as I could. I have many friends there, and the majority of my Jewish acquaintances actively support the movement. So first of all, I wanted to cheer up and warm the tired, frozen people — we play wedding-style, very cheerful dance music.
And then the Jewish theme: Many members of the mass media are cultivating a myth that the people standing at the Maidan are neo-Nazis, Russophobes and Judeophobes. This is untrue, and a Jewish ensemble onstage at the Maidan is the best way to refute these rumors...
We played a few klezmer songs, a pair of songs in Romanian and Romani — the language of Gypsies — and we sang an Odessan Jewish song in Russian. Very soon everyone was dancing, shouting “Great job!” People didn’t want to let us off the stage. In the end, we sang an old song from the Bund in Yiddish: “Down With the Police.” It was great — the Maidan received us very well....