“Lice and scum”: Persecution of UOC as a mirror of Third Reich anti-Semitism
How does the hate-fueled rhetoric against UOC believers in modern Ukraine echo the tactics of Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda in the 20th century?
Hate-based propaganda always follows the same template – regardless of time or target. And it’s always terrifying.
Take, for instance, a recent post by “priest” Roman Hryshchuk of the OCU: “Exit polls on Palm Sunday, voting on Easter! And the vote will be cast with your feet! Anyone who sets foot in a Moscow Patriarchate church on these days is voting for the ‘Russian world,’ for Putin, and for Russian occupation! You’ll be choosing life or death for Ukraine! Don’t say you weren’t warned!”
He didn’t stop there. The post included a graphic clearly pointing the finger: believers of the UOC are responsible for Russia’s war against Ukraine. In his eyes, UOC clergy are the “occupying power” propping up “a death machine against our people.” According to Hryshchuk, “The goal of UOC priests has always been the destruction of Ukrainian identity.”
This kind of speech isn’t an outlier. You’ll find hundreds of similar posts from other OCU figures. And the media? It’s been dragging UOC clergy through the mud for years. But what’s truly alarming is when this propaganda starts pouring from the lips of those in power.
Take Mykola Dobrovolsky, a Cherkasy city official (head of the “Patronage Service” department), who rallied municipal workers via social media to take part in church seizures. He called it a battle “against Rashist scum and Moscow lice.”
“We’ll celebrate Easter in a Cherkasy free from Moscow priests,” he wrote in a city group chat. To stir up the crowd, he labeled UOC parishioners “enemies and separatists.”
“Unfortunately, we have both open and covert traitors, collaborators, and enemies. The Moscow Church and its FSB-affiliated priests are among them.”
You might say, “So what? It’s just talk.” But this is no random internet commenter. This is a government official. And not only is he blatantly violating the Ukrainian Constitution, he’s doing so with impunity. And when propaganda becomes official policy, history tells us exactly what follows: mass violence.
Anti-Semitism and anti-Church rhetoric
History offers countless examples of authorities using hate speech to divide and destroy. The goal is as old as politics itself: Divide and conquer. But sometimes, the divide isn’t just political – it’s racial, national, or religious. And that’s when it leads to the kind of atrocities that stain history forever.
One of the most horrific examples? The Nazi regime’s anti-Semitic propaganda that fueled the Holocaust.
For Hitler’s regime, anti-Semitism wasn’t just an ideology – it was a political weapon, used to mobilize society. Hitler didn’t invent this propaganda; he perfected it. Since 1919, German literature and media had been carefully crafting the image of Jews as a “foreign race,” parasites plotting against the German people, controlling world finances, and inciting wars.
Hitler himself called for “rational anti-Semitism,” with a chilling goal: “the complete extermination of the Jews.”
By 1932, Goebbels made it plain: “The Jews are to blame for everything!”
Sound familiar?
Because if you’ve read those Nazi slogans, you can’t help but feel déjà vu when you hear how the UOC is being treated today in Ukraine. Government officials are blaming the Church for every national crisis. First, it was supporting Crimea’s annexation – though official UOC documents have always emphasized Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Then came COVID: believers were blamed for refusing to hold online services. And now? Since February 24, 2022, the UOC is blamed for starting the war itself.
They’re accused of being Russian agents. Traitors. Threats to the nation.
Just like the Jews were accused of serving the KGB, the UOC is now branded “agents of the FSB.”
Dehumanization
The parallels with fascist tactics don’t stop at accusations – they’re in the language itself. Goebbels’ propaganda dehumanized Jews, calling them “leeches,” “parasites,” “rats spreading disease.” Children’s books portrayed them as “drones, snakes, germs, locusts, bloodsuckers.”
Now look at Dobrovolsky. What does he call UOC believers?
“Lice.” “Scum.” Something to be “cleansed” from Ukrainian soil.
This is dehumanization, pure and simple. Once you strip someone of their humanity – call them filth, vermin – it becomes easier to justify violence. And that’s exactly what’s happening in Ukraine.
Historian Jeffrey Herf once pointed out that Nazis justified killing Jews by claiming it was self-defense – that Jews were plotting to destroy Germany.
That’s the very same narrative being used now. UOC believers are accused of treason without evidence, and violent attacks on churches are excused as “defending national security.”
Just read Hryshchuk’s post again. The logic is identical.
Modern-day pogroms
The actions of Dobrovolsky and other followers of Dumenko’s OCU aren’t just dangerous – they follow a grim historical pattern.
First, the target is named.
Then, addresses are published.
A mob is gathered.
A “liberation” celebration follows.
This was the blueprint for Jewish pogroms. In 1941, Ukrainian nationalists serving the Wehrmacht used it to unleash the Lviv pogrom, killing 6,000 Jews. Later, Ukrainian police helped exterminate Jewish ghettos and conduct mass executions at places like Babyn Yar.
Today, under the banner of “voluntary parish transfers,” UOC churches are being violently seized across Ukraine.
This isn’t random chaos. It’s coordinated, and often backed by state structures. It happened in Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Cherkasy, Bila Tserkva, Shepetivka, Khmelnytskyi – countless cities. Churches stormed, believers beaten, clergy expelled. No one is held accountable.
Where does this end?
History is clear: hate speech leads to bloodshed.
In 1941, the Ukrainian newspaper Volyn declared that “the Jewish question will soon be resolved” – and what followed were mass killings.
Today, we’re hearing eerily similar calls regarding the UOC. Many Ukrainian officials are demanding to “finally resolve” the issue of the “Moscow Church.” In public discourse, this is accompanied by open calls to seize churches and expel believers. And if thugs can assault churches and parishioners with impunity today, what comes next? The physical elimination of the unwanted?
Let’s be clear: inciting hatred is a crime. International courts have condemned Nazi propagandists not just for the murders that followed their words, but for the verbal part as well. In 1946, Goebbels and his associates were found guilty of crimes against humanity – even though they “only spoke.”
And so, sooner or later, figures like Dobrovolsky and Hryshchuk will be held accountable for their words.
But that’s for the future. The question now is: what will happen to the UOC?
Today, across Ukraine, church pogroms are carried out to chants about “lice” and the need for “cleansing.” And one thing is certain: if the state does not intervene to stop this, the violence will only escalate.
