# List of Ukrainian Jews

Presented below are lists of famous or notable Ukrainian people of Jewish descent and other Jews born in the territory of present-day Ukraine, before 20 century borderland region in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (later in Russian Partition and Austrian Partition).

## Athletes

* Oksana Baiul, figure skater, Olympic gold
* Alexei Beletski, Ukrainian-born Israeli, ice dancer, Olympian
* Oleksii Bychenko, Ukrainian-born Israeli, figure skater, 2016 European silver medallist, Olympian
* Artem Dolgopyat, Ukrainian-born Israeli, Olympic gold (artistic gymnast - floor) for Israel
* Olena Dvornichenko, Israel/Ukraine, rhythmic gymnastics
* Grigoriy Gamarnik, Ukrainian-born Soviet, world wrestling champion (Greco-Roman lightweight), world championship gold and silver
* Samuel Gerson, Ukrainian-born US, Olympic silver wrestling (freestyle featherweight)
* Natalia Gudina, Ukrainian-born Israeli, figure skater, Olympian
* Vadym Gutzeit (born 1971), saber fencer, Olympic champion, Youth and Sport Minister of Ukraine
* Pavlo Ishchenko ("Wild Man"), Ukraine/Israel, bantamweight & lightweight boxer, 2x European Amateur Boxing Championships medalist, and European Games medalist
* Moisei Kas’ianik, Ukrainian-born USSR, world weightlifting champion
* Marina Kravchenko, Ukrainian-born Israeli, Soviet and Israel national table tennis teams
* Lenny Krayzelburg, Ukrainian-born US swimmer, 4x Olympic champion (100 m backstroke, 200-m backstroke, twice 4x100-m medley relay); 3x world champion (100 m and 200-m backstroke, 4×100-m medley) and 2x silver (4×100-m medley, 50-m backstroke); 3 world records (50-, 100-, and 200-m backstroke)
* Grigory Kriss (born 1940), Ukrainian Soviet Olympic épée fencer who won four Olympic medals, including a gold medal
* Tatiana Lysenko, USSR/Ukraine gymnast, 2x Olympic champion (balance beam, team combined exercises), bronze (horse vault)
* Valeria Maksyuta, Ukraine/Israel gymnast, multiple World Cup medalist, Israeli Olympian, Maccabiah Games champion
* Valentyn Mankin, Soviet/Ukraine, only sailor in Olympic history to win gold medals in three different classes (yachting: finn class, tempest class, and star class), silver (yachting, tempest class)
* Faina Melnik, Ukrainian-born USSR, 11 world records; Olympic discus throw champion
* Andriy Oberemko, soccer/football midfielder (Mariupol & U21 national team)
* Igor Olshansky, NFL American football defensive end
* Zhanna Pintusevich-Block, Ukraine, sprinter, world 100-m & 200-m champion
* Katerina Pisetsky, Israel/Ukraine, rhythmic gymnast
* Maxim Podoprigora, Ukrainian-born Austrian swimmer
* Ian Rubin, Ukraine/Australia, Russia national rugby league team
* Igor Rybak, Ukrainian-born USSR, Olympic weightlifting champion (lightweight)
* David Tyshler (1927–2014), Ukraine-born Soviet sabre fencer, Olympic bronze medalist
* Yulen Uralov (born 1924), Ukrainian Soviet Olympic foil fencer, and USSR champion
* Iosif Vitebskiy (born 1938), Soviet Ukrainian Olympic medalist and world champion épée fencer, and current US fencing coach
* Alexei Zhitnik, Ukraine-born Russia, hockey defenseman (NHL)
* Aleksandr Kolchinsky, heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler, Olympic gold.

## Politicians

* Mykhailo Dobkin, former governor of Kharkiv Oblast 2010-2014
* Volodymyr Groysman, former Prime Minister of Ukraine (2016–2019)
* Hennadiy Kernes, Mayor of Kharkiv 2010–2020
* Ihor Kolomoyskyi, former Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast 2014-2015
* Pinhas Krasny, Ukrainian minister of Jewish Affairs for the Directorate of Ukraine
* Vadim Rabinovich, 2014 presidential candidate
* Moisei Rafes, deputy secretary of National Affairs (Jewish Affairs) for the General Secretariat
* Abraham Revutsky, Ukrainian minister of Jewish Affairs for the Directorate of Ukraine
* Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine (2019–present)
* Moishe Zilberfarb, deputy secretary of National Affairs (Jewish Affairs) for the General Secretariat
* Alexander Zolotarev, state controller for the General Secretariat
* Yukhym Zvyahilsky, former Prime Minister of Ukraine 1993-1994 and entrepreneur
* Oleksandr Feldman, People's Deputy of Ukraine (2002–present)
* Oleksii Reznikov, 17th Minister of Defence (2021-2023)

## Russian/Soviet politicians

* Karl Radek, Soviet politician
* Grigory Sokolnikov, Bolshevik politician
* Abram Slutsky, headed the Soviet foreign intelligence service (INO), then part of the NKVD
* Leon Trotsky, Soviet politician, the founder of the Red Army, commissar (Soviet minister) of Foreign Affairs
* Lazar Kaganovich, Stalinist politician and one of the organizers of the Ukrainian Holodomor and Stalinist Great Purge
* Moisei Uritsky, Soviet politician, chekist
* Grigory Yavlinsky, Russian politician, head of a liberal "Yabloko" party (half Jewish)
* Grigory Zinoviev, Soviet politician

## Israeli politicians

* Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, second President of Israel (1952–63)
* Shmuel Dayan, Zionist activist, Israeli politician
* Levi Eshkol, Israeli Prime Minister (1963–69)
* Ephraim Katzir, fourth President of Israel (1973–78)
* Golda Meir, Israeli Prime Minister (1969–74)
* Natan Sharansky, Israeli politician
* Moshe Sharett, Israeli Prime Minister (1954–55)

## United States politicians

* Kirill Reznik, US Politician, Member, Maryland House of Delegates (2007–Present)

## Israeli military persons

* Yaakov Dori, first Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (1948–1949); President of Technion.
* Tzvi Tzur, sixth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1961–1964)

## Soldiers and Revolutionaries

* Pavel Axelrod, Menshevik, Marxist revolutionary
* Yakov Blumkin, Soviet spy
* Naftali Botwin, revolutionary terrorist
* Morris Childs (born Moishe Chilovsky), American communist and spy
* Leo Deutsch, revolutionary
* Raya Dunayevskaya, founder of Marxist humanism in the U.S.
* Israel Fisanovich, World War II submarine commander and Hero of the Soviet Union
* Grigory Goldenberg, revolutionary
* Ze'ev Jabotinsky, founder of British Jewish Legion
* Jacob Golos, Soviet spy
* Olga Kameneva, Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician (sister of Leon Trotsky)
* Walter Krivitsky (born Samuel Ginsberg), Soviet spy
* Alexander Parvus, revolutionary, major investor and financial supporter of the October Revolution
* Sidney Reilly (born Shlomo Rosenblum), a Ukrainian-born adventurer and Secret Intelligence Service agent
* Pinhas Rutenberg, Zionist, Social revolutionary
* Grigori Shtern (Grigory Stern), Red Army commander (Colonel General)
* Naum Sorkin, Red Army military intelligence chief in the Far East (Major-General)
* V. Volodarsky (born Moisei Goldstein), communist revolutionary
* Mark Zborowski, Soviet spy
* Iona Yakir, Red Army commander and one of the world's major military reformers between World War I and World War II
* Mishka Yaponchik, gangster, leader of the Odesa Jewish Resistance group in 1917-1921

## Other Historical figures

* Michael Dorfman, Russian-Israeli essayist and human rights activist
* Yisroel ben Eliezer (The Baal Shem Tov), Rabbi, founder of Hasidic Judaism
* Shlomo Ganzfried, Rabbi
* Fanny Kaplan, would-be assassin of Lenin
* Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Hasidic Judaism
* Isroel Shmulson, architect
* Simon Wiesenthal, holocaust survivor from the Nazi Holocaust, Nazi hunter, writer
* Semion Mogilevich, "boss of all bosses" of the worldwide Russian Mafia, former member of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives

## Business figures

* Jan Koum, co-founder of WhatsApp
* Leon Bagrit, pioneer of automation
* Zino Davidoff
* Bernard Delfont, impresario
* Lew Grade, founder of ATV
* Ihor Kolomoyskyi, a major Ukrainian business oligarch
* Max Levchin, co-founder of PayPal
* Hryhoriy Surkis, head of public organization Football Federation of Ukraine, Ukrainian parliamentary
* Viktor Vekselberg, billionaire, steelmaker
* Gennadiy Korban, Ukrainian businessman, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish community of Dnipro, Patron of the Jewish community of Krivoy Rog
* Boris Lohzkin, President of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine
* Michael Kogan, entrepreneur, founder of Taito

## Natural scientists

* Aleksander Akhiezer, physicist
* Matvei Petrovich Bronstein
* Mikhail Gurevich
* Waldemar Haffkine, biologist, developed vaccine against cholera and plague
* Boris Hessen, physicist
* Abram Ioffe, nuclear scientist
* Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov
* Veniamin Levich, electrochemist
* Boris Podolsky
* Isaak Pomeranchuk
* Jacob Rabinow
* Anatol Rapoport
* Grigory Shajn
* Iosif Shklovsky
* Vladimir Veksler
* Alexander Vilenkin, cosmologist
* Selman Waksman, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1952)

## Mathematicians

* Naum Akhiezer
* Vladimir Arnold
* Chudnovsky brothers
* Vladimir Drinfeld
* Felix Gantmacher
* Israel Gelfand
* Alexander Goncharov
* Marc Kac
* Naum Krasner
* Mark Krasnoselsky
* Mark Krein
* Evgenii Landis
* Boris Levin
* Leonid Levin
* Boris Levitan
* Jacob Levitzki
* David Milman
* Pierre Milman
* Vitali Milman
* Mark Naimark
* Moses Schönfinkel
* Samuil Shatunovsky
* Pavel Urysohn
* Oscar Zariski

## Social scientists

* Solomon Buber, Hebraist
* Ariel Durant, historian,
* Boris Eichenbaum, historian
* Mikhail Epstein, literary theorist
* Moshe Feldenkrais, inventor of the Feldenkrais method
* Alexander Gerschenkron, economic historian
* Jean Gottmann, geographer
* Zellig Harris
* Jacob Marschak, economist
* Elye Spivak

## Musicians

* Sophia Agranovich, pianist
* Simon Barere, pianist
* Sidor Belarsky, operatic basso and music educator
* Felix Blumenfeld, pianist
* Shura Cherkassky, pianist
* Michael Ben David, singer
* Isaak Dunayevsky, composer
* Mischa Elman, violinist
* Anthony Fedorov, singer, American Idol finalist
* Samuil Feinberg, composer
* Emil Gilels, pianist
* Maria Grinberg, pianist
* Eden Golan, singer
* Mordechai Hershman, cantor and singer
* Jascha Horenstein, conductor
* Vladimir Horowitz, pianist
* Leonid Kogan, violinist
* Mikhail Kopelman, violinist
* Oleg Maisenberg, pianist
* Samuel Maykapar, composer/pianist
* Nathan Milstein, violinist
* Benno Moiseiwitsch, pianist
* David Oistrakh, violinist
* Igor Oistrakh, violinist
* Leo Ornstein, composer
* Gregor Piatigorsky, cellist
* Pokrass brothers, composers
* Mark Reizen, operatic bass
* Yossele Rosenblatt, cantor and composer
* Heinrich Schenker, music theorist
* Joseph Schillinger, composer, music theorist, and composition teacher
* Leo Sirota, pianist
* Isaac Stern, violinist
* Roman Turovsky-Savchuk, lutenist-composer
* Lyubov Uspenskaya, singer
* DJ Vlad, DJ, producer, interviewer, journalist, and YouTuber
* Yakov Zak, pianist

## Fine artists

* Michael Matusevitch (1929–2007), painter
* Nathan Altman, painter and stage designer
* Boris Aronson, painter and designer
* Nudie Cohn, fashion designer
* Sonia Delaunay, painter
* Maya Deren, filmmaker
* Boris Efimov, cartoonist
* Naum Gabo, sculptor
* Boris Iofan, architect
* Ilya Kabakov, conceptualist artist
* Yevgeny Khaldei, photographer
* Jacob Kramer, painter
* Morris Lapidus, architect
* Louise Nevelson, sculptor
* Solomon Nikritin
* Jules Olitski, painter
* Leonid Pasternak, painter
* Antoine Pevsner, sculptor
* Olga Rapay-Markish (1929–2012), ceramicist
* Mikhail Turovsky, painter
* Roman Turovsky, painter

## Performing artists

* Jacob Adler, actor
* Yosl Cutler, puppeteer
* Abraham Goldfaden (1840–1908), playwright and theatre director
* Alexander Granach (1890–1945), actor in theater and film (Berlin & Germany, Poland, USSR, Hollywood and Broadway)
* Aleksei Kapler, film artist
* Mila Kunis, actress
* Mark Donskoy, Soviet film director
* Anatole Litvak, director
* Alla Nazimova, actress
* Otto Preminger, director, producer, actor
* Ingo Preminger, producer, literary agent
* Elena Ralph, model
* Yakov Smirnoff, American comedian
* Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian screenwriter, actor, comedian, and director, who was elected the President of Ukraine in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election.

## Writers and poets

* Sholom Aleichem, Yiddish-language writer
* Eli Schechtman, Yiddish writer
* Isaac Babel, writer
* Eduard Bagritsky, poet
* Hayyim Nahman Bialik, poet
* Yosef Haim Brenner, Hebrew-language writer
* Sasha Cherny, poet
* Michael Dorfman, journalist and essayist
* Moysey Fishbein, poet
* Ilya Ehrenburg, writer
* Alexander Galich, playwright poet
* Asher Hirsch Ginsberg (Ahad Ha'Am), Hebrew-language writer
* Lydia Ginzburg, writer
* Jacob Gordin, American playwright
* Erol Güney, journalist and translator
* Vasily Grossman, writer
* Ilya Ilf, writer
* Vera Inber, poet
* Alejandro Jodorowsky, Spanish-language writer and filmmaker
* A.M. Klein, poet
* Pavel Kogan, poet
* Lev Kopelev, author and dissident
* Clarice Lispector, writer from Brazil
* Benedikt Livshits, writer
* Nadezhda Mandelstam, writer
* Yunna Morits, poet
* Anatoli Rybakov, writer
* Boris Slutsky, war-time poet
* Shaul Tchernichovsky, poet and translator

## Chess players

* Alexander Beliavsky
* Ossip Bernstein
* Isaac Boleslavsky
* David Bronstein, World Championship challenger
* Iossif Dorfman
* Louis Eisenberg
* Alexander Evensohn
* Efim Geller
* Eduard Gufeld
* Ilya Gurevich
* Mikhail Gurevich
* Nicolai Jasnogrodsky
* Gregory Kaidanov
* Alexander Konstantinopolsky
* Konstantin Lerner
* Moishe Lowtzky
* Vladimir Malaniuk
* Sam Palatnik
* Ernest Pogosyants
* Iosif Pogrebyssky
* Leonid Stein
* Mark Taimanov
* Boris Verlinsky
* Yakov Vilner