Ukrainian refugee Stanislav Gokhman speaking at The Algemeiner’s J100 Gala in midtown Manhattan. Nov 29, 2022.

Ukrainian refugee Stanislav Gokhman speaking at The Algemeiner’s 9th annual J100 Gala on Tuesday warned the audience that what has happened to the Jewish community of Ukraine could happen anywhere. “It’s not only my story, I’m sorry to tell you, but it’s your story too,” he said. “We had so good a life in Spain…we had so good a life in Germany, but one day it all finished, like is happening in Ukraine, and I’m sorry to say it can happen everywhere. Antisemitism is thriving everywhere.”

Gokhman told attendees his story of fleeing the war in Ukraine with his wife and children. “Bombs everywhere. We tried multiple times to escape….Finally my kids and my wife left Ukraine, but I [remained] in Ukraine. And for two and a half weeks I was not able to see them. They went to Moldova, and I really lost my hope to see them again. But with big support from the Odessa Jewish community, international Jewish organizations, The Algemeiner – who posted a story about Jewish communities that suffer from our war – finally I escaped too and I journeyed to my family.” 

Before Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine began in February there were estimated to be more than 40,000 Jews living in Ukraine and another 200,000 Ukrainians eligible to make aliyah under Israel’s Law of Return. Since then, thousands of Jews fled Ukraine, and Ukrainians made up 25% of this year’s record setting immigration to Israel.

Gokhman described the importance of Jewish voices like The Algemeiner speaking up for the global Jewish community. “We need a voice of Jewish people everywhere. Not only for us, for all people in the world. And in a time when the biggest humanitarian crisis since World War II is going on in my country, I again and again can tell you only our unity, and only Jewish voices like The Algemeiner can save us in the future.”

Watch Gokhman’s full remarks at The Algemeiner’s J100 Gala below: