Anti-Semitism in Ukraine . . . from Seminarians?

"President Bush is disliked by many," said Brett, giving an example of the past tense to his English class of Ukrainian seminarians.
This prompted a student to assume "and Bush, he is Jew?"
Brett, my lifelong friend and roommate, explained that no, Bush isn't disliked because he might be a Jew. And no, he wasn't surprised by the response. Having been a seminarian in America himself, Brett's very attune to the religious scene and general attitudes toward faith. To illustrate the Ukrainian attitude towards Judaism, Brett just explained to me the Vertep(which neither of us have actually seen, fyi), a Ukrainian Chistmas play tying the birth of Christ to Ukraine's attitudes and culture. The only Jew in the story is the best friend of Satan.
I should preface all of this by saying the American understanding of anti-Semitism and where it comes from is entirely different from the Ukrainian experience, much of which is steeped in pre-WWII history(we Americans are, I admit, in the dark here). How much do you know about the Polish-Soviet war of 1919-1920, the Holodomyr Famine in Ukraine, or Old Europe(pre-1940)?
To give some background, Ukrainians don't have a lot of exposure to faraway cultures, ethnicities or varying points of view. Mostly everyone here is of Ukrainian, Russian or Polish descent. Few people travel out of the country, those that do go somewhere in Europe or to the USA. I have seen one African in L'viv and, I kid you not, some people stopped in their tracks and stared, mouths agape, in shock. There have been a few chinese tourists here, and they stick out like Boy George at a Catholic funeral. It's a matter of exposure.
My friend nearly wet his pants last year during a discussion of religion when one student, innocently unaware, asked, "the (n-word)s in your country, they are religious?" This spawned a 10 minute explanation of what that meant, why it's the most innapropriate word in the American vocabulary, and what the proper reference was. If English is your 4th language, you've never been outside Ukraine, and you've never seen someone who wasn't pale in your life, you'd probably make the same mistake.
Back to Judaism. According to the American Holocaust Museum, there were some 200,000 Jews in L'viv(then L'wow or L'vov, the Polish or American names, respectively) in September, 1939. After Operation Barbarossa, the Nazis took control of L'vov and sent many Jews to Belzec concentration camp. Post-Holocaust, there were only 200-300 Jews left. I'm having trouble finding reliable sources in English about the current Jewish population/culture in L'viv, but as I understand it, nearly every synagogue in L'viv was destroyed, some 40 buildings. L'viv had the third largest Jewish population in Poland before the Holocaust.
Today, there are no markers, monuments or signs to speak of that recognize Jewish cemetaries, synagogues or the ghetto. In contrast, Krakow also had a large Jewish population and ghetto, not to mention Plaszow, the concentration camp featured in the movie "Schindler's List." Just about everything is marked well, and tours are regularly given. Judaism is part of the city's identity, and Krakow to L'viv is about the distance from Madison to Chicago. So how come Krakow is so friendly to Judaism and L'viv isn't?
Judaism in L'viv or Ukraine, as I understand, is still a very touchy subject. I just edited a story about a Jewish Rabbi in an eastern Ukrainian city that was publicly assaulted in broad daylight by a gang a few weeks ago. Obviously, this isn't everybody, but I find it really interesting it is such a hot-button issue. Circa WWII, there was a lot of ill-will in Europe towards Jews, it wasn't just in Germany(this is too complex to elaborate on here).
Before, I thought anti-Semitism to be so neanderthalic and trivial that is was laughable. My aunt studied in Tel Aviv and often indulged us with Jewish food. I still love eating at Ella's Deli, a Kosher restaurant, in Madison, WI. So I was a bit taken aback when Brett caught me up with Ukrainian affairs, but I've come to realize it's part lack of exposure, part historical context, part something I don't understand.
I leave you with Brett's story from his class yesterday, a policy I will adopt as my own:
"I was explaining the conflict between 'Secular America' and Religious America' by dividing my class in two teams for a mock debate. Not wanting to generalize, I started naming people 'you represent Catholicism, you're fundamentalist, you're Lutheran, you're Muslim, and you will be a J- . . . But I let it go."