KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) -- Three of Ukraine's four billionaires are Jewish, according to the Ukrainian Korrespondent magazine's annual list.
Igor Kolomoysky, 47, a co-owner of the Privat business group and president of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, leads the Jewish billionaires on the list with $2.3 billion, down from $6.6 billion in 2008.
Victor Pinchuk, 48, is next at $2.2 billion, down from $8.8 billion, followed by Gennady Bogolyubov, 47, with $1.7 billion, down from $6.2 billion.
Heading the list is Rinat Akhmetov, who owns FC Shahtar Donetzk, with $9.6 billion -- a more than threefold drop from $31.1 billion in 2008.
Eduard Dolinsky, executive director of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, said the large number of Jews on the Korrespondent list creates a mixture of pride and anxiety within the country’s Jewish community. He said it could strengthen anti-Semitic stereotypes during financial crises in Ukraine, where Jews comprise approximately one half of 1 percent of the population of 46 million.
KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) — Three of the four
billionaires from Ukraine are Jewish, according to the Forbes magazine
annual billionaires list.
The highest ranking Jewish Ukrainian on the list, Victor Pinchuk, 48,
a business tycoon and son-in-law of the former president of Ukraine
Leonid Kuchma, slipped from 203 to 246.
Igor Kolomoysky, 47, a co-owner of the Privat business group with
interests in metal and financial sectors also slipped, together with his
business partner Gennady Bogolyubov, 47.
Ukraine Jewish leaders say the large number of Jews on the Forbes
list has created a mixture of pride and anxiety in the Jewish community.
Jews make up approximately one half of 1 percent of Ukraine’s
population of 46 million, and some Jews and experts fear the
overrepresentation of Jews among the country’s business and political
elite will strengthen anti-Semitic stereotypes.
The Ukrainian Jewish billionaires are from the industrial city
Dnepropetrovsk. They are activists in and donors to the Ukrainian Jewish
community.
Kolomoysky was elected last October as president of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, an umbrella Jewish organization.
Sculpture sur glace et légendes ukrainiennes
Holocaust and Holodomor (Origins of Anti Semitism)
En mémoire du plus grand crime de l'histoire moderne
Arcand enquête
Le sang des innocents
Ukrainian Archive
