Judaism in the USSR in the post-Stalin Era - Cold War DOCUMENTARY
in our last episode we started to examine the soviet government's approach towards the jewish population in the ussr in the pre-war period this involved encouraging the development of a jewish national identity while at the same time actively repressing the religious aspects of judaism this pro-jewish national policy had begun to be reigned in somewhat in the late 1930s but we finished our previous episode at the time of the great patriotic war where a general relaxation in persecution for religious and cultural autonomy was taking place i'm your host david and this week we are going to finish our examination of the ussr's policy towards jews and judaism if you haven't watched part 1 yet please do so this is the cold war i'm a passionate learner and there is nothing better than finding a new topic to explore and research which is why i love the sponsor of today's video magellan tv it's the perfect place to start that journey of exploration magellan tv's historical documentaries are a 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one month free trial and watch hundreds of history documentaries anytime anywhere so during the war years persecution of judaism and jewish culture was relaxed this was done as a way of uniting the soviet people in the fight against its fascist enemies and even included the 1942 creation of the jewish anti-fascist committee which was sent to the west to help increase soviet sympathies for aid there this religious toleration extended into the first years of the post-war period and coincided with moscow's hopes that israel would align itself to the ussr the socialist bloc even went so far as to provide weapons to the israelis during the first arab israeli war however it soon became clear that the new jewish state was not going to become a worker's paradise when golden mayor became minister plenipotentiary to moscow in 1948 she was welcomed enthusiastically by thousands of soviet jews stalin's paranoid of descent began to question the loyalty of his jewish subjects this was magnified by comments made by some who spoke of their loyalty to israel as well as other calls for increased jewish resettlement to crimea implicitly challenging the government solution that was on what resulted from all of this was the worst period of government persecution that the soviet jewish community had had to face in the country's history it began with attempts to lobby for a proper restoration of jewish culture life being rejected for example jaime kacherginski a jewish writer and former partisan established a yiddish language school in vilnius but was prevented from teaching beyond the fourth grade in addition his request to start a yiddish language newspaper was denied kacher ginsky did convince members of the jewish anti-fascist committee to meet with lazar kaganovich the only jewish member of the politburo but the meeting was fruitless and then like it so often does in russian and soviet history it got worse 1948 saw the jewish anti-fascist league shut down as well as the publication halt of ernest the yiddish language and publishing house stalin and his government began a public campaign against quote rootless cosmopolitanism a term dating back to the 19th century to describe people who lacked the russian national character and was very obviously anti-semitic in nature solomon mikholz the head of the jewish anti-fascist league died in a car accident that year under very suspicious circumstances leading many to believe that he was assassinated through 1948 and 1949 leading members of the jewish community and intelligentsia were arrested and charged with treason and for working with foreign intelligence services even paulina zebchina the jewish wife of the foreign minister biatra slav molotov was arrested for treason although in reality it was for her close ties to the soviet jewish community on august 12 1952 13 jewish intellectuals all members of the jewish anti-fascist league were killed while being held in the lubyanka prison an event that has become known as the night of the murdered poets they had all been arrested in 1948 and 1949 but were held until 1952 before being charged with the crime of trying to establish a pro-american zionist republic in crimea a closed trial was held in front of three military judges and of the 15 accused 13 were found guilty and sentenced to death the family members of the accused were also arrested and sentenced to hard labor for being relatives of traitors the trial and executions were kept secret at the time but would become a rallying cry for the jewish community in the years to come 1952 also saw the beginning of the so-called doctor's plot a far more public condemnation of jews in the soviet union which included widespread media campaigns in bravda we already have an episode dedicated to the doctor's plot so we aren't going to go into the details here but this campaign reignited a widespread distrust of the jewish community among the wider soviet public reissa palatnik in the ninth grade at the time recalled quote it was scary to leave the classroom and go into the hallway because from all sides you heard you yids you poisoned gorky you wanted to poison stalin you poisoned all of our great leaders and the atmosphere was very tense even the teachers allowed themselves such remarks now there's also been persistent rumors that after he had dealt with the doctor's plot stalin was preparing to deport and exile the jewish community to siberia and the far east however no substantial evidence of this has ever been uncovered and stalin's death in march of 1953 meant nobody had ever to find out if those plans were real or just rumor and speaking of stalin's death we can safely say that it marked a profound change in soviet society the mass terror the purges and the incarcerations came to an end and as khrushchev's thought came into effect ethnic persecutions were ended amnesties were given and deported populations were even eventually allowed to return to their homelands except for the jewish community latent discrimination seemed to continue for example as noted by tardicover jewish intellectuals who had been arrested were released but were not formally rehabilitated at stigma they could not escape as it was marked in their internal passports so crucial to be able to find employment and a place to live the night of the murdered poets was not referred to as a state-sponsored attack on jewish intellectuals but rather as simply a tragedy gittleman noted that jewish schools and yiddish language theaters were not reopened the government explanation for this was that there was a lack of interest by soviet jews rather than any state-sponsored anti-semitism between 1959 and 1971 only 71 books were published in yiddish and there was only one yiddish language journal published soviet heimland which was started in 1961. birubhi janastern remained the only yiddish newspaper translation of official news with occasional news items included including from time to time interest in all of these things was limited to the older generations however as most younger jews had little command of the yiddish language the result of the closure of those schools years before now synagogues were also not reopened but we can point out here that this was not necessarily anti-semitic in nature as it was consistent with soviet policies at the time being leveled against all religions however gittleman has argued that since judaism as a religion was an integral part of jewish identity attacks on the religious aspects of life could be considered an attack on jewry as a whole the numbers are imprecise but william orbach mentions that the number of synagogues in the soviet union fell from 450 in 1956 to only 62 by 1965. that number of 450 is what was provided by the soviet union in a statement submitted to the un subcommittee on the protection of minorities this was then compared to a 1963 statement from the soviet embassy in washington dc indicating that only 96 synagogues were in operation thus confirming the closures but khrushchev's anti-religious focus was not unjust places of worship restrictions on the implements and symbols of worship were imposed including a ban on the importation of prayer shawls and the production of prayer books was restricted to one single publication of which only 3 000 copies were made clergy and the overtly religious were also targeted this included a wave of arrests in 1960 where congregational leaders were arrested on charges of spying this was then followed in 1961 by the sentencing of three prominent leningrad jews t perce e dinken and t khaganov two long prison terms following charges of spying 1963 saw three jews sentenced to prison terms for baking matzah although the chargers were for speculation as we discussed in our episode on christianity and islam in the soviet union after khrushchev's ouster from power brezhnev took a more benign approach to handling religion seeking coexistence between what was left of religious organizations and the communist state this isn't to say that life became easier because it didn't just that there was some relaxation for example while the ban on baking matsa was lifted and small religious gatherings were tolerated the number of rabbis in the country dropped from 40 in 1965 to a mere five by 1977 swings and roundabouts i guess so these are the more overt examples of the condition of the relationship between the soviet authorities and soviet jews but what about some of the less explicit conditions that the jewish community had to contend with well there is some substantial work on this topic that we can look at starting in the 1960s there was an extended campaign of struggle against economic crimes looking to assign blame and hopefully correct that not insignificant economic problems the soviet union faced data indicates that the campaign itself was anti-semitic in nature the first trial held in 1961 involved two jews but of the 56 trials that were subsequently held for economic crimes 111 of the accused were given death sentences of which according to leon shapiro 60 were jewish he contends that jewish defendants were given harsher punishments when compared to their gentile co-defendants the soviet jewish community saw themselves being scapegoated for soviet economic mismanagement and failure now one of the most egregious examples of published anti-semitism from this time was a book from 1963 by the ukrainian academy of sciences written by tropheem kichko kichko himself had been a cpsu party member since 1928 but had also been a german collaborator during the nazi occupation but then reinstated to the party in the late 1940s the 1963 book judaism without embellishment argued that both the bible and talmud preached hatred towards gentiles as well as arguing a multitude of other falsehoods and lies even making reference to the doctor's plot the cover of the book was reminiscent of nazi propaganda depicting a man with a hook nose and a prayer shawl grasping with bloody hands the book garnered a great deal of international attention and condemnation for its portrayals despite the argument that the book was attacking the religious aspect of judaism as well as zionism kichko's book was not alone either books like f myaski's contemporary judaism and zionism bolshakov's zionism the service of anti-communism and evgeny esiev's fascism under the blue star all appeared during khrushchev's and brezhnev's tenures all of this certainly contributed to a feeling of growing unease among soviet jews to properly look at the existence of anti-semitism in the soviet union we can also look at the decreasing number of jews represented in the party the government the military and other positions of power and influence in 1939 15 out of the 139 of the members of the central committee were jewish or 10.8 percent but by the 1960s and 70s there was only one in the politburo the last jewish member to sit there lazar kaganovich was removed from his position by 1962 of the 1443 deputies in the supreme soviet only five were jewish whereas in 1937 there had been 47. by 1979 there was only one
high-ranking jew in a political position the vice prime minister benjamin thiemshitz while there were no senior ranked jews in the military or diplomatic corps one of the most dramatic decreases can be seen in university enrollment while jews had made up 13.3 percent of soviet university students in 1935 that had dropped to only three percent by 1962. khrushchev explained these decreases in 1956 while speaking to a delegation of french socialists at the beginning of the revolution the jews were more educated than the average russian since then we have created new cadres and now if the jews were to occupy first place it would be spread discontent amongst the inhabitants who have roots in the country so what was the result of this gradually building discrimination well many soviet jews made the decision to attempt to emigrate and there is precedent with this following the bolshevik revolution many jews fled abroad to europe the united states and even to china but this emigration was halted after 1923 as the soviet state established itself and consolidated its power in general the soviet union wanted to prevent its citizens from leaving the country requiring exit visas in order to depart immigration it was felt implied that there were problems in the state something the soviets were keen to avoid portraying to the outside world following the end of the second world war 175 000 jews were allowed to leave the soviet union moving to poland but subsequent emigration was severely curtailed between 1948 and 1953 only 18 permits were granted to soviet jews permitting them to leave the country all 18 relocated to israel once khrushchev was established in power he looked for ways to decrease international attention to the issue of jewish immigration and he established ovir the office of visas and registration which was in charge of immigration-related issues 1957 as the thaw was coming into its own 1185 soviet jews applied to leave the soviet union to move to israel of whom 100 were granted permission this slow trickle of immigrants lasted through the 1960s and into the 1970s but the vast majority of applicants were refused that denied soviet jews earned the moniker refusenik now the soviet government had some specific reasons to block immigration of certain individuals those whose educational credentials included engineering or the sciences as well as anyone employed by the military or the government were bound to be denied as were members of the intelligentsia including doctors writers musicians and artists the soviet government didn't want these people this human capital to leave to assist in this various procedural hurdles had to be overcome by any applicants the applicant needed to have an invitation from a relative already living in a foreign country these invitations when extended were often lost by the soviet postal system the applicant needed to provide written permission from all members of their immediate family giving their confirmation that the person could leave the country the government required that all emigrates leading for non-communist countries had to pay an education tax intended as a repayment for the years of government-funded educational services and even if all of these things could be met the chances of being allowed to leave were still slender and these were the concrete steps taken there was also softer pressures put on applicants to dissuade them they could be fired from their jobs they could lose housing privileges and earn extra attention from the security services and it wouldn't just be the applicant that could be punished but their families and friends as well refusniks risked economic and social isolation for their choices the decision to even apply to emigrate from the soviet union was a momentous one the growing number of jewish refuseniks in the 1960s gave rise to another group in the soviet union the jewish dissident movement this group had some links to the larger soviet dissident movement which we will talk about much further in other episodes but the jewish dissidents were less outspoken on general issues and focused on immigration men like vladimir slepak and anatoly sharonsky emerged as leaders of the movement petitioning soviet leaders and calling on the international community to provide solidarity while they held sit-ins and created small circles for the study of the hebrew language and of jewish history although many of these jewish dissidents were arrested for their actions gradually international criticism of soviet immigration policy increased in 1975 the united states passed the jacksonvanic amendment to the trade act of 1974 which denied most favored nation trade status to non-market economy countries that did not allow open emigration considered a human right the soviet government began to back down on its harsh stance towards letting its own citizens leave starting in the early 1970s the number of jews allowed to emigrate began to gradually increase 1000 in 1970 14 000 in 1971 33 000 in 1972 35 000 in 1974 with the numbers beginning to fall again by 1977. overall 147 000 jews emigrated between 1968 and 1977 this immigration continued however through the 1980s until the collapse of the soviet union and beyond okay so the history clearly indicates that since the 1930s life for soviet jews became increasingly more difficult the result of both real and perceived anti-semitism right well there is a widespread scholarly consensus that this is the case but like all scholarly debate there is some well debate largely proclamated by marxist historians in the west they argue that the soviet union couldn't be anti-semitic due to its role in saving hundreds of thousands of jews during the second world war by accepting their immigration in the early days of the war albert einstein praised soviet efforts at a nobel prize winners banquet saying we do not forget the humane attitude of the soviet union who was the only one among the big powers to open her door to the hundreds of thousands of jews when the nazi armies were marching in poland they also critique narrative points and offer context to explain some of the points we have just outlined for example regarding the decrease in the proportion of jewish students in the soviet universities they attribute this to the results of higher death tolls among jews during the second world war as well as increased literacy rates among other ethnic nationalities in the soviet union historian herbert aftecker shows that while the proportion of jewish students had fallen in 1960 8.2 percent of the
students were jewish while jews only represented 1.1 percent of the soviet population he also showed that jews continued to be well represented in academia and the arts with 14.7 percent of doctors eight and a half percent of writers and journalists and seven percent of artists being jewish finally he also rejected claims that there were no jews in command positions in the red army claiming that there were 100 jewish generals in 1960 aftecker also rejected the claims that jews were being targeted for economic crimes quoting harold berman a professor from the harvard law school after berman's return from several months in the soviet union in 1962. quote in the past months i have read reports in american newspapers that anti-semitism is supposedly growing in the soviet union to my mind there is a large element of subjectivism and inaccuracy in these reports i know they are often connected with the recent trials in the ussr of big speculators thieves and embezzlers however this in my opinion does not mean that any policy of discrimination is being pursued against the jews my jewish friends in the soviet union with whom i discussed this question confirmed this for among those convicted are not only jews but individuals of other nationalities hyman loomer the prolific marxist writer considered the claim of soviet anti-semitism to be western propaganda using the example of kitschko's book he pointed out that it was condemned by the ideological commission of the communist party and then confiscated and destroyed loomer also argued that the religious prohibitions in place in the soviet union targeted all religions and not just judaism addressing the rehabilitation of jewish victims of the stylist repressions he points out that memorials were erected in the memory and honor regarding publishing of works in yiddish loomer quotes the novosti state agency which in 1963 claimed that 187 books by 80 different authors had been published in yiddish in the seven years prior he also quoted the israeli sociologist dr haim darren drabkin who stated that while there were remnants of anti-semitism in the soviet union it was the remnants of the past and not a feature of soviet society loomer also argued quoting ausabel kunitz and aronson that the closing down of yiddish language newspapers and schools was the result of increased industrialization and the growth of the russian language and not of the targeting of jewish culture rumor even addressed the claim that sixty percent of those arrested for economic crimes were jewish quoting the soviet public prosecutor gennady terehav quote i state with full responsibility that in our country the absolute number of jews brought to trial on criminal charges is not only smaller than among other nationalities but that the proportional percentage of jewish defendants in relation to the total jewish population is lower than it is in other nationalities so as you can see over this two-part episode soviet policy towards the jewish community was complicated to say the least in the early days of the soviet union the jewish community thrived they had the advantage of entering the soviet period with higher levels of education and literacy than many other communities the soviet state assisted with the creation of a secular yiddish identity and culture while at the same time oppressed judaism as a religion this shift ended however once stalin came to power who initiated a systemic attack on soviet jews one that accelerated in the years before his death in the khrushchev and brezhnev years continued attacks on judaism occurred and combined with casual societal anti-semitism this all led to a gradual alienation of the jewish community from soviet society to the point that for many their only option was to attempt to leave the country we hope that you've enjoyed today's episode and to make sure you don't miss all of our future episodes please make sure you subscribe to our channel and have received explicit permission from your entire extended family in writing to press the bell button i would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our supporters and if you aren't a patron please consider supporting us at patreon.com the cold war or through
youtube membership we can be reached via email at thecoldwar channel at gmail.com this is the cold war channel and as we think about the cold war i will leave you with the words of jfk in the final analysis our most basic common link is that we are all inhabit this small planet we all breathe the same air we all cherish our children's future and we are all mortal
2022-04-18 09:40
