Jews in Russia and in the USSR, by Andrey Diky
- Peter Myers
Date: November 27 2022
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Review: Jews in Russia and in the USSR, by Andrey Diky (1967)
reviewed by Peter Myers, November 27, 2022
Diky says that Jews were the "ruling class" for the first 30 years of the Soviet Union.
To back this up, in tables at the back of the book, he names the personnel running various ministries, showing that most were heavily Jewish.
Just before World War II broke out, Litvinov was removed as Commissar of Foreign Affairs, replaced with the non-Jewish Molotov. This was so that the Pact could be made with Hitler.
Such changes, at that time, only applied to a few Jews in conspicuous positions. The rest remained in place.
The Pact was made to buy time. But Hitler's invasion of Western Europe was quick and relatively bloodless, so it bought less time than had been expected. Once Germany attacked the USSR, it issued a lot of propaganda about Jews running the regime.
This was true, and the Russians, Ukrainians etc knew it, but they had not been able to say so or to do anything about it. They were resentful, because Jews had largely administered the instruments of terror, while Russians, Ukrainians etc had been the victims.
Nevertheless, apart from West Ukrainians, they did not rally to the Nazis. Instead, Soviet Patriotism was born. The Russian people would not fight for Communism, but for Russia. The regime, although heavily Jewish, had to rehabilitate Russian history, including its military heroes:
The medals of Alexander Nevsky, Suvorov and Kutuzov were instituted, and, soon after, titles that were known in pre-revolutionary Russia and golden shoulder straps which were so much hated by those who created the USSR, were also introduced.
The spirit of the past, against which various Goublemans, Apfelbaums, Suritzmans and their fellow tribesmen had fought to their utmost to eradicate it from the memory of the nation during quarter of a century and to deprecate it in every possible way, was let out from the bottle. As soon as this spirit got loose it found such response among those who had staunchly, with their blood, defended their Motherland, the land and the heritage of their ancestors, it was impossible to drive it back.
The international-Cosmopolitan mist had disappeared and in its place life had returned to the seemingly dead patriotism of the Russian people and the patriotism of the whole population of the USSR, people who realized their own strength and their right to rule their own country."
ENDQUOTE (p. 272)
During the war, Jews knew they faced certain death from the Nazis, so most retreated to the east, leaving Russians to do the fighting. This was noticeable to all, and did not go down well, given the savage losses at the front.
After the war, Russians, Ukrainians etc no longer submitted to Jewish domination. This was something not created by Stalin, but recognised by him:
And when Zhdanov, the communist and follower of the Third International, said, "Cosmopolitans without kith or kin", no one, besides the foreign Jews, protested against these words.
And when the words "Cosmopolitans without kith or kin" were pronounced, people interpreted them as the recognition by the power itself that the loyalty of those who spoke and acted in their name was taken under doubt. This corresponded exactly to what people thought and wanted, and whose national feelings after the victorious war were aggravated in the light of all of what they had seen and had suffered during the war.
Stalin, who was well-informed about these feelings, took this circumstance into consideration and in every possible way always underlined the sacrifices and merits of the "Russian" people during the war, recalling nowhere either the Jewish people or its sacrifices and merits, the presence of which were doubted by the population of the whole country.
All the population of the country still well remembered the millions of sacrifices during the collectivization, famine and camps in which no Jews were seen. Moreover, these sacrifices were not the result of brutality inflicted by some invading enemy, but were inflicted by the ruling class which consisted mainly of the Jewish ethnic group.
As Jews lost their privileged position, most turned against the USSR:
"In the USSR itself the Jewish ethnic group started gradually to lose its privileged position and to get equal rights and opportunities with the rest of the population. This was interpreted by the Jewry of whole Diaspora as "discrimination". ... And the larger part of the world's Jewry changed from advocates of the USSR to its opponents." (p. 271)
The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, an alliance of leading Soviet and American Jews, proposed turning Crimea into a Jewish republic. Crimea hosts Sevastopol naval base, which gives Russia access to the Mediterranean. Without it, Russia is no longer a great power.
The proposal for a Jewish Crimea was deemed a military risk by Stalin and Khrushchev. By that time, they sensed that Jews were aligning with the United States.
The Soviet Constitution provided for Union and autonomous republics to enter into direct relationship with foreign countries, and even to secede.
When Golda Myrson arrived in Moscow in October 1948 as ambassador of Israel, she was mobbed by ecstatic Jews; thousands applied to emigrate to Israel. The government sensed the unreliability of the Jews.
In the postwar years, Jews retained high positions in the professions and in cultural ministries, but were moved aside from diplomatic affairs, external politics and defense matters.
Khrushchev said after the war:
"Jews in the past have committed many sins against the Ukrainian people. The people hate them for this. In our Ukraine we do not need the Jews. And, I think that for the Ukrainian Jews who survived Hitler's attempts to destroy them, it would be better if they did not try to return here. It would be better for them to go to the Birobidzhan. You see, here we are in the Ukraine. Do you understand? This is the Ukraine. And we are not interested that the Ukrainian people would interpret the return of Soviet power as the return of the Jews". (p. 256)
But West Ukrainian Nazis, who had participated in the holocaust against the Jews during the war, made a pact with the Zionists in 1966. Henceforth, these Nazis and Zionists would work together to bring down the USSR:
In May of 1966 in New York, the fraternization of the Zionists and the men of the Petlura occurred along and again with a joint vow to destroy "Russian Communism", without referring to the Jews this time. The details of this fraternization were published in the Ukrainian weekly "Our Fatherland" in May 1966. The comparison of these two vows given by the Petlura men shows that they changed from Jewish destroyers into their allies in their common business of liquidating the united USSR ...
ENDQUOTE (p. 14)
That alliance has been on display from the 2014 Maidan to the war of 2022.
Diky has some differences from Solzhenitsyn.
After 1948, when Jewish dominance finished in the Soviet Union, Diky advocated for Soviet Patriotism. He supported the Soviet Union, whereas Solzhenitsyn opposed it. Diky did not raise the Gulag or religious question - the destruction of the Orthodox Church - whereas for Solzhenitsyn, spiritual matters were very important. ==
Jews in Russia and in the USSR: historical sketch
by Andrey Diky
Translated from the first Russian edition, self-published in New York in 1967. Andrey Iv. Diky, 14 Springer St., Richmond, Maine, USA.
A catalog entry at the National Library of Australia gives this information:
https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2927034
Jews in Russia and in the USSR : historical sketch / Andrey Diky ; translated and published by L. Volovlikoff
Bib ID 2927034
Format BookBook
Author Diky, Andrey
Description Ottawa [Ont.] : L. Volvlikoff, c1967 322 p. ; 24 cm.https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2927034 ==
A slightly later edition than the 1967 print edition is online at https://ia800901.us.archive.org/33/items/Andrey.DikyJews.in.Russia.and.in.the.USSR/Andrey.Diky_Jews.in.Russia.and.in.the.USSR.pdf
The following extracts are from the 1967 print edition; the highlighting is mine.
Peter Myers, November 26, 2022
Word version (open it in WORD): Diky-Jews-Russia.doc.
{p. 5} By the end of the second decade of this century, Russian Jewry had turned from the insignificant four-percent minority limited in its rights into ruling class capturing most of the ruling positions in all spheres of Russian life. The occurrence was something unheard of throughout the whole history of mankind: an unequalled historical precedent.
The final point deserving special attention is the reaction of the whole free world, its press, and its public opinion, towards the change in the social conditions of the Jews in Russia, at the end of the second decade of the Twentieth Century. The reaction towards the change that occurred thirty years later after the Second World War must also be considered.
In less than one year, after the fall of the Czarist Regime in Russia, the Jewish ethnic minority of foreign origin had become the ruling majority, an incident unparalleled in human history. It was then that world public opinion, the greater part of its press, and even social and political leaders of that time, ignored this change and remained silent. They remained silent about the fact that four Jews concluded the Brest-Litovsk peace in the name of Russia, that all Russia's
{p. 6} representatives on the League of Nations were also Jews ...
At the beginning of the second decade of the Twentieth Century, an organization called "Patriotic Union of Russian Jews in Foreign Countries", centered in Berlin, called for all Jews to disassociate themselves from the activities of their fellow tribesmen in the USSR, in view of the latter's excessive participation in the pursue of Red terror. This organization claimed, not without foundation, that the negative attitude of the Russian people towards the Jews was brought about by Jewish participation in Red ter-
{p. 7} ror, and that ultimately these anti-Semitic views would spread throughout the country and encompass all Jews in the USSR. But their voice was not taken into consideration. Instead, it was sharply criticized by the world's Jewry, and through the protest the "Patriotic Union of Russian Jews in Foreign Countries" was forced to break off its criticism. In essence these demands for disassociation were quite limited. The Russian Jews and other Jews throughout the world were called upon to disassociate themselves only from those fellow tribesmen who actively took part in Red terror. But there was no mention of the numerous Jews who held many high ranking positions in Russian institutions. This infiltration could not have gone unnoticed. It is therefore necessary to assume that the authors of the appeal had no objection to the monopoly status of the Jews in all areas of Russian life except that of Red terror. But even this modest call provoked a burst of indignation in all immigrant Jews who felt that this question should not be raised in any form: it should be kept silent if it could neither be justified nor refuted.
The result of this was that the impenetrable curtain was drawn down for thirty years over the existence of Jewish domination in the USSR. This conspiracy, which no one dared to violate for fear of being labeled an "anti-Semite", grew stronger. No one was prepared to accept the consequences of such a revelation.
After the Second World War everything changed radically. The "Jewish Question" in the USSR appeared on the pages of the world press and in the Russian emigre newspapers and journals, and then the expose began. But this expose preferred to ignore the truth and wrote of the oppression and persecution of the Russian Jews, much as had been done in 1917. The discrimination was underlined and the government of the USSR and its native population was openly accused of "cultural genocide" of a portion of its citizens, namely the Jews.
{p. 12} The accused, in all these mortal sins against the Jews, is the Great Russian branch of the Russian people. Only this branch of the Russian population is accused of these "crimes", excluding the Malorussian-Ukrainian branch, when it is well-known fact that it was in the Ukraine that all the excesses took place which are the bases of the Judaeophobia.
{p. 13} The absence of Ukrainians on the bench of the accused is not difficult to explain if the aim of those who accuse the Russian people of this "persecution" of the Jews is known. The aim is the liquidation of that united country created by the Russian people, now called the USSR. After this liquidation occurs, the aim is to create a whole range of sovereign states which includes the Ukraine.
The Ukrainian separatists strive towards this aim. They are allies of the forces that under the pretence of the struggle for freedom against Communism, seek to break up the alliance of the USSR. Their strongest plea to rest of the world is an appeal to save the Jews from a so-called "cultural genocide" being imposed by the USSR. The "cultural genocide" is nothing but a catchword, skillfully used in a propaganda campaign. The Russian people, the Russian Government, and Russian Communism are blamed for this "genocide", and always Russian as opposed to Jew is underlined and emphasized. This emphasis is deliberately and conscientiously employed as a literary-journalistic trick, in order to foster anti-Russian feeling throughout the world.
It is a point to remember, that little more than twenty years ago, the press of the world, especially that of the emigre Jews, wrote disapprovingly of the part the Ukrainians took in the destruction of the Jews by the Germans in the Second World War. Here is what we read in the "Jewish World", published in 1944, p. 235-236:
"A special role in their anti-Semitic campaign was reserved by the Germans for the Ukrainians. In the article devoted to the Ukrainian people, "Der Sturmer" has not only included the Ukrainians in the "North Dinarsk" racial type, but also made special effort to praise them for their anti-Semitic achievements of the past."
The newspaper mentioned with pleasure the destruction of four hundred thousand Jews during the Chmielnitsky uprising in 1648 and the seventy thousand Jews butchered by Petlura and other Ukrainian bands in 1918- 1919. The article ended with the pronouncement of the "convinced hope that the Ukrainians would find themselves at their height, and therefore revenge themselves against the Jews."
"All sixty newspapers published in the Ukrainian language, on Ukrainian territory occupied by the Germans, are conducting ruthless anti-Jewish persecution."
"On the eve of 1942, a meeting was held in Warsaw of all
{p. 14} the former officers and soldiers, who fought in 1918-1919 in the ranks of the Petlura army. At this meeting, a vow was taken to help the Nazi Germans in the liquidation of the Soviet Power, and in the destruction of Jews.
In May of 1966 in New York, the fraternization of the Zionists and the men of the Petlura occurred along and again with a joint vow to destroy "Russian Communism", without referring to the Jews this time. The details of this fraternization were published in the Ukrainian weekly "Our Fatherland" in May 1966. The comparison of these two vows given by the Petlura men shows that they changed from Jewish destroyers into their allies in their common business of liquidating the united USSR, and therefore deserves special attention. While the Jews of the USSR occupied the ruling positions, the Jewry of the whole world upheld the unity of the USSR. When the Soviet Jewry ceased to be this, the union of these Jews with all kind of separatists striving to destroy the USSR's unit began. This took place because the Jewry of the entire world realized that they could never return to their ruling position in the USSR.
{p. 75} From memoir literature we know that in the Berlin Congress, convened after the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-78,
{p. 76} the Prime Minister of Great Britain, a Jew, Disraeli, and also Lord Palmerston, found it possible and appropriate to question Prince Gortchakov, the representative of Russia, about the "conditions of the Jews in Russia". We also know the answer given by Prince Gortchakov, which forced this self-confident "lord" to blush.
From the recollections of Vitte we know what kind of pressure the financial circles of France, with Rothschild at its head, tried to exert on Russian politics regarding the "Jewish Question" during the conclusion of Russian external loans.
It is well known that the largest amount of financial and propaganda help came from the American Jews and was connected with all the revolutionary beginnings in Russia.
{p. 167} But as soon as Soviet power was consolidated, the iron hand of Cheka put an end to all kinds of anti-Jewish expressions.
Still, on 27 July, 1918, the newspaper "Izvestia" published a special decision by the Soviet Government about the energetic struggle with "anti-Semitism". It must be assumed that the negative response to the Jews, called "anti-Semitism" by many, took such dimensions that a special decision was needed, whereby enemies of Jews were declared "outlaws".
Guided by this decision, organs of Cheka, which had many Jews in leading posts, used to decide themselves who was a
{p. 168} "pogromist" and ruthlessly did away with him, without an investigation and trial, and without waiting until a "pogromist" revealed something. Under the concept "pogromist" it was not too difficult to bring anyone disagreeable to the new power.
Besides that, in the very same year of 1918, a decree was issued about the "Red terror", which opened wide possibilities for the physical extermination of persons disagreeable to the new regime. By the order of the "Red terror" all those "who due to their social origin and standing, and also due to their previous political activity and profession, were able to join the ranks of its enemies in time of danger for the Soviet rule, were destined to extermination".
During the first years of Soviet rule, especially during the years of the civil war, ignorant and vengeful organs of the new power, using this decree as excuse, "liquidated" many of those whom they considered potential enemies of the new regime.
It would hardly be possible to establish some day the exact number of those "liquidated". But that this number is great and involved hundreds of thousands in the opinion of some, and even millions, according to others, is beyond any doubt. It is not disputed even by those who fully justify such methods of struggle with potential opponents and enemies.
The lists of those liquidated "by means of Red terror" or as "hostages" (occasionally, but far from always) had been published in newspapers and contained hundreds of names. Jewish names were rarely, if at all, encountered in these lists; when they were, it was very noticeable! But, of course, no one dared to say a word about this. People have read, thought, remembered ... And a thought would occur of who the executioners were and who the victims were ...
In 1919, when Kiev was occupied for short time by the Volunteer Army of General Denikin, a "Special Investigative Commission of South Russia", comprising highly qualified jurists whose objectivity was indubitable, established that 75% of the Kiev Cheka were Jews. The commission also had established that among those whom the Cheka had executed there was no Jewish person. (The list of Cheka members and the list of those who were shot is given in Part II of this work.)
On the list among those who was shot is also the name of the first Chairman of Soviet Workers' Deputies Khrustalev-Nosar, who was active during the revolution of 1905. Khrustalev-Nosar severely criticized the seizure of power by the Jews, and the "squandering of Russia" by the members of
{p. 169} Central Committee of the Bolshevik party, a squandering that took place during the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk treaty.
When Uritsky was killed in Petrograd in August 1918, ten thousand people were shot "by the order of Red terror". The lists of the ten thousand victims were attached to fences and walls of houses adjacent to No.2 Gorokhov Street, where the Cheka was. Whether they were fully published in newspapers is impossible to establish at the present time without access to the archives. But the fact that the typewritten lists, containing ten thousand names, as confirmed by witnesses, were posted is not disputed in various autobiographic literatures even now.
What struck readers about these lists was the complete absence of Jewish names although the city of Petrograd was overfilled with Jews. This without even mentioning those big capitalists and "bourgeois" Jews who had lived in the city permanently even before the revolution.
Here is what one of those who read the lists tells us about them: "I was a worker then at the Putilov plant. At that time I was an ardent advocate of Soviet rule, for which I was ready to cut the throat of anyone who spoke ill about it. After the murder of Uritsky, literally all of Petrograd was in a state of fear and uncertainty. Mass arrest ensued. No one was certain of tomorrow, or yet of the next hour, even those who were one hundred per cent proletarians and advocates of Soviet rule. Rumors about mass Red terror, declared in revenge for Uritsky and to frighten all enemies of workers-peasants' power, circulated in the city.
Passing by Gorokhov Street my attention was drawn to some typed announcements posted on the front of house No.2, which was occupied by the Cheka. I stopped and started to read. As it turned out these were lists of those executed on the order of Red terror for the murder of Uritsky. I stood for a long time reading these lists. Whose name was not listed: officers, landlords, proprietors, merchants, professors, scientists, priests and students, even artisans and workers! But what struck me odd was that in these listings not a single Jewish name appeared. Yet all that had happened was that one Jew, Kenigisser, killed another Jew, Uritsky.
'Jews are quarreling among themselves and our people are the ones to get shot', I thought. And I myself got frightened, fearing that I might be saying this too loudly, because in those days, and even many years thereafter, you may be sure that they would stand you up against a wall, or at least
{p. 170} 'throw the book at you' for such words.
Afterwards I completed the Workers' Faculty Institute, had quite a few promotions, and visited the whole immense Soviet Union. And everywhere, right up to the war, I saw the very same thing: 'they' run everything, 'they' execute, 'they' forgive, 'they' order, whereas 'ours' are slaves overexerting themselves, daring not to utter a word ... Only silently, they would look distrustfully at some Frenkel, rushing by on the great trans-Siberian railroad in a brilliantly-lit saloon-car, checking the forced labor camps. The camps that were organized by the very same Frenkel did not, as a rule, have many of his tribesmen, but if there were any, they were in commanding positions. This was the situation before the war, as well as when the war broke out, and the Germans invaded and had to be expelled from Russia. There were not many Jews in the front lines. But to make up for this, medical units and supply units were overfilled with them especially deep in the home-front, behind the Urals. They preferred 'to wage war' there. Of course, there were exceptions. But these exceptions were not many. The officers and soldiers of the Soviet army and the whole population of the country saw everything; and it is not surprising that critical thoughts began to grow and strengthen about the Jewish role in the life of the country. The new 'ruling class' did not prove itself worthy of the position it occupied.
That equality which they did not have under the Czar regime they got after the overthrow and no one voice was heard protesting against it. Scarcely a few years passed when these equals turned into the privileged. And how! Much more firmly than the previous princes and nobles ... Previously it was possible to become a nobleman, even a count or a prince. How many there were, as Pushkin said, 'who leaped from Ukrainian peasantry to princehood.' But try to leap into being a Jew? This is impossible!
{p. 171} At this moment one of the interlocutors pulled a Bible out from his knapsack. He had received the Bible not long ago from some Baptist, Bible which he studied diligently. He turned to us and said, 'Here, listen to this, which is very similar to our times and to what we all witnessed ourselves'. And slowly, with deep feeling, he read the 'Book of Esther'. We listened holding our breath. For us, who had grown up under the Soviet rule, not knowing either the Gospel or the Bible, this was a revelation... To wipe out 75,000 men with impunity in one day just because in the opinion of the Jews, they were thinking maliciously but not doing anything, is not this the very same Red terror? And still to celebrate this day from year to year! It was simply unbelievable that something like this could be in the Holy Scripture. [...]
{p. 172} not inventions but facts, names, a real picture of that which took place in Russia during the first three decades of the Soviet regime. This took place during the time when, as Bikerman said, "Russians see Jews as judges and executioners", when all the commanding positions and leading posts of the government, without exception, are in the hands of a foreign, alien, and insignificant minority. [...]
But whenever there was a moment when the new power was losing its strength somewhere, the feelings of the revolutionary masses and Red Guards used to pour out into severe anti-Jewish pogroms. Such an occurrence took place in Glukhov and Novgorod-Seversk in the year 1918. "These pogroms in number of victims, deliberate brutality and torture, surpassed the well-known pogrom of Kalusha in 1917, committed by the revolutionary soldiers. More than once Red troops tried to deal with the Jews, and in many cases they succeeded. Sometimes the pogroms were committed by civilians: Jews were ransacked by townspeople, by peasants and by returning soldiers from the front. Not only did pogroms occur at that time (in 1919) but they went unpunished. Soviet authorities hushed up Glukhov's and Novgorod-Seversk slaughter: they did not find anyone guilty because they did not look for anyone." (p. 64 from the collection, "Russia and the Jews",
{p. 173} Berlin, 1924).
That is how matters stood with Jewish pogroms, which were called "counter-revolutionary", during the first years of the new rule. The new ruling class could neither curb nor avert these pogroms in spite of doubtless revolutionary inspiration by the armed forces of the country which were subordinated to it and this in spite of the fact that at the head of these forces at that time was Bronstein-Trotsky, and a great number of propagandist Jews, the commissars. The feelings of the masses were such that, as said above, authorities did not dare to undertake investigations and punish those guilty "pogromists" who were "outlaws" and were liable to be shot on the spot.
Jewish pogroms accompanied the armed forces of the Ukrainian Nationalists Ñ the "Petlura group", "Makhno group" and various other "chiefs" during all the time of their activity in these stormy years. Moreover, pogroms were committed by the military units and were followed by incredible brutality.
The most noted of all pogroms was the one that took place in the town of Proskurov, and which was committed by regular troops of the Ukrainian People's Republic, whose government consisted of Social Democrat-Marxists and had in its membership a minister, a Jewish lawyer from Kiev, A. Margolin.
On March 4,1919, a "Zoporozhie Brigade" encamped near the town of Proskurov. The twenty-two year old Semesenko, who was in command of the brigade, gave the order to destroy all the Jewish population of the town. In the order he stated that there will be no peace in the country as long as even one Jew remains alive.
On the 5th of March, the whole brigade split into three groups. With officers at the head, the brigade entered the town and started the extermination of the Jews. The troops used to burst into houses and slaughter whole families. During that whole day, from the morning to evening 3,000 Jews were slaughtered, including women and children. [...]
{p. 174} This slaughter took place literally under the nose of the Ukrainian Government, located at that time nearby in the city of Vinnitsa. This government did not take any measures against the pogromists, neither during nor after the pogrom. The Proskurov pogromists remained unpunished.
All the other pogroms committed by the "Petlura men" at that time, pogroms in 180 settlements on the territory of the Ukraine, also remained unpunished. During these pogroms tens of thousands of Jews were exterminated. Some claim that over 25,000 Jews were slaughtered; others raise this figure up to 100,000. [...]
The partisans of Makhno especially glorified themselves in this respect. They called themselves "anarchists" which in fact they were until the summer of 1918, when they turned all their fury towards the extermination of the Jews.
The Central Committee of the Anarchists, as is known, consisted almost exclusively of Jews. Some Jews, like Keretnik, Lemonsky, Shneider and others, were closest collaborators with Makhno.
{p. 175} The Jewish population of many millions in the Ukraine, where now the "Petlurists", now the "Makhnoists" were the masters, knew these feelings very well and could not expect anything good, neither from one nor from the other. The only
{p. 176} authority on which Jews could count for personal safety was the Soviet power. And even here they were not always safe, for we have seen events that occurred in Glukhov and Novgorod-Seversk, which formerly were under the control of Soviet power, were bloody pogroms took place in spite of this.
It is not surprising then that the Jews, choosing the lesser of many evils, gave preference to the Soviet power, which did not exterminate them physically, but only brought them material losses. However, this material loss compensated itself with redundancy, owing to the fact that the new power consisted mainly of their fellow tribesmen who widely opened all kind of possibilities for Jews. These possibilities enabled Jews to occupy all kinds of materially rewarding and morally satisfying positions.
The population saw this and, not without foundation, considered that now came "their rule", the Jewish rule. And because this new power presented demands to the population, demands that the population considered to be unjust and unbearably difficult, all the dissatisfaction was pouring out in anti-Jewish feelings, the same feelings that were restrained only by fear of severe punishment.
Such was the situation in general in that part of Russia and Ukraine, where events ran high in the civil war, during which the ruling authority in many places repeatedly changed.
It was during these changes that Jewish sympathies were evident. As a rule, their sympathies were on the side of the Reds, even in those cases when their enemies were the ones bringing with them the re-establishment of property rights and that social system under which many Jews enriched and prospered.
In 1919 Kiev was occupied by units of the Volunteer Army of General Denikin. These units fully re-established the previous social order, including the property rights of numerous Jews who lived in Kiev.
After a few months units of the Twelfth Red Army broke through into the suburbs of Kiev. The threat arose that the whole city might be occupied by the Reds. The Kievites, who had already undergone Red rule once before, rushed by the thousands over the bridge (on Dnieper) to the left shore, which was under the control of the Volunteer Army. There were many thousands of Kievites of all ages and all social positions who crossed the bridge at that time. But among them there was not a single Jew, although Kiev at that time was full of rich Jews who were quite far from being sympathetic with the
{p. 177} communist-socialist undertakings proclaimed by the new power.
This absence of Jews among the refugees attracted general attention. And it came to mind that only two months ago the lists of those Kievites who were executed on the order of "Red terror", as well as the listings of Cheka members who carried out these executions were made public. Among the former there was not a single Jew; among the latter, they were in overwhelming majority.
{p. 183} And when the work on disorganizing the army was completed in the name of Russia, four Jews went to Brest-Litovsk to conclude a shameful and humiliating peace treaty. These Jews were Trotsky, Joffe, Karakhan and Kamenev. And no one of their fellow tribesmen, who made up the majority at that time of the Soviet Deputies, noticed the somewhat peculiar composition of the delegation.
{p. 203} Ardently guarding their Jewish originality and purity of race, inseparably linked with religion, Jews do not admit strangers into their midst. But they themselves, Jews of Diaspora, strive to penetrate into all branches of the life of those foreign people among whom they live, and if there is an opportunity to occupy leading positions, they will do so. In countries and states with highly developed patriotic and national feelings and populations of homogeneous tribal composition, this is much more difficult to achieve and provokes a rebuff of the native population, which regards itself as a widened family of descendents of the same forefathers. It is much easier for them to achieve their ends in countries with a multitribal population, bound only by territorial unity and supreme power, or in states in which, for some reasons, patriotic feelings are suppressed and brought into latency.
In countries with a multitribal population unlimited possibilities are open for Jews to penetrate into the ruling class, without any opposition from the native population.
{p. 250} The ruling class caused further damage to themselves and to the Russian people. This damage resulted from their very existence and from their unpunished destructive work wrought on the historical past of the great nation. By doing this the new ruling class gave Hitler and his followers an enticing example of how an insignificant alien minority can control and rule a huge country, disregarding everyone and everything.
This argument was often used by the German National Socialists in their propaganda. "Replace three million Jews, who are rulers of Russia, by three million Germans, and everything will be in order". Such thoughts were not once expressed by German propagandists in their psychological preparation to master Russia. These thoughts, of course, were addressed to Germans.
The propaganda that poured from Germany into the USSR tirelessly repeated again and again that the "Jews rule Russia", and gave a great many names and facts. It is impossible not to acknowledge that this propaganda found attentive listeners in the USSR and had a definite influence on the attitudes of the national masses.
{p. 251} The ruling class of the USSR, however, in its propaganda, operated more with proletarian, international slogans, which quite sufficiently set people's teeth on edge during the last quarter century and did not have much effect on the masses. This is exactly what came to light during the first months of the war.
The "war for the proletariat" and the "Third International" did not inspire anyone, and bragging of the ruling class about the "complete military readiness" of the USSR was not convincing.
Moreover, what should not be lost sight of is that fresh memories were still alive and harbored within the people about those periods, when the whole population was starving and experiencing acute need in everything, while at the same time the Jews were receiving help from their fellow tribesmen abroad, and were in an immeasurably better situation than all the non-Jews. If the people did not protest and did not commit mutiny, it does not mean that they did nor see, or did not understand, or did not take notice of what was happening.
Millions of those who were "repressed" and dispossessed as kulaks were still alive while members of their families, relatives, and even friends, were interned in camps, which, as was well known to all, were managed almost exclusively by the Jews.
True, these "unreliable" elements, from a political point of view, were not in the regular units of the Red Army, but in case of war and general mobilization it was impossible to prevent their penetration into the ranks of the army. This without any doubt could well have affected the spirit and moral of the army in the case of a big war.
It must be assumed that, taking this into account, the USSR tried in every possible way to avoid a clash with Germany or even to postpone it as long as possible.
The agreement with Germany in the summer of 1939 was accepted by all the ruling class of USSR without protest and objection, even though this agreement was with the most wicked enemy of Jewry, with German anti-Semites, although the ruling class of USSR was entirely under the influence of Jews who comprised its most sizeable and influential part. This agreement was also approved by the Comintern, also consisting mainly of Jews.
Huge trains, loaded with raw materials needed to conduct the war, started to roll from USSR into Germany. The ruling class was buying time with this from the aggressive
{p. 252} German Nazism, if not finally, at least for the time being. This calculation, it must be acknowledged, was right, if the Germans had stuck in the West. But an unforeseen and unprovided for event occurred. The bloodless German victory over all its enemies in Europe freed the powerful German war machine, and it rushed on Russia and the Second World War began.
Still, before it began, for almost two years the Germans were in command in Poland. There, the Germans showed with the utmost clarity what sort of treatment the Jewish citizens of the USSR could expect in case of war with Germany and occupation by its army, even temporarily, of the Soviet territory where the Jews lived.
The Government of USSR and its whole ruling class knew this very well, and nevertheless, when the war started, it turned out that no necessary measures were taken in time to save the Jews. At that time, if they so desired, the Jews could have taken the necessary measures in advance. It is, therefore, not the fault of the Russian people that a certain number of Jews, citizens of the USSR, were destroyed by the Germans. The blame for this lies on that ruling class that is the Jews, who did not take the necessary measures in time.
It is difficult to understand the indifference that Soviet diplomats showed toward Jewish destiny in Poland during the conclusion of the agreement with the Germans in August 1939, when the destiny of the Polish Jews was actually predetermined. Yet, had the Soviet diplomats shown during the talks even the slightest desire to accept, as immigrants into USSR, all the Jews from that part of Poland occupied by the Germans, the Germans would not have protested against it, but would have welcomed it in every possible way. It is also logical, because the three million Polish Jews were neither needed nor useful to the Germans, but were considered only unnecessary ballast.
During the talks, before signing the agreement, repatriation of the Ukrainians and the Byelorussians was discussed. The question was solved by mutual agreement, allowing those who would wish to repatriate themselves on the Soviet side to cross the USSR-German demarcation line. The Germans were not against this repatriation, if they so desired, of insignificant Ukrainian and Byelorussian groups from the territories falling under their administration.
After the question dealing with Ukrainians and Byelorussians was settled, Ribbentrop proposed to Molotov: "Would you like to take three million Jews?" In reply there was dead
{p. 253} silence from the Soviet delegation. The question about the Jews was "isolated" for discussion afterwards, but was never discussed. Neither the Germans, who stood by their proposal, nor the Soviet Government raised this question again.
{p. 254} Stalin, without a doubt, was well-informed about the anti-Jewish feelings of the broad national masses of USSR. He took into account that an appearance of three million Jews, accustomed to the Polish conditions of life, quite different from those of the USSR, inevitably would lead to many conflicts, which would not bring any benefits either to the country or to the regime. On the other hand, leaving them in the grace or disgrace of the Germans (at that time the shooting and burning had not yet taken place) more than probably would provoke intensification of anti-German sentiments in the USA, which in fact did happen. This was due to the fact that there was hardly any Jew in Poland that did not have relatives in USA. It is impossible to deny that Stalin was capable of grasping the situation. Indeed, for him personally, and for the whole Government of USSR "it was not worth it" to show humanity and to save the Polish Jews. Regardless of this fact, already indicated above, at that time the Jews in the USSR occupied leading positions in all the spheres of life, and especially in diplomatic circles. But in this case they were compelled to subordinate their pro-Jewish sympathies to the pitiless dogma of the Communist International and silently follow Stalin's instructions in this matter without question.
{p. 256} We find the answer to this question in one of the articles in the "Socialist Herald" which gave the account of Krushchov's purported statement made at the beginning of 1944, in Kiev, after its liberation by the Soviet Army: "They (the Jews) were unwilling to help, because the population would identify Soviet power with the Jews". One Jewess, Ruzha Godes, who succeeded in camouflaging herself under the Russian nationality and survived the occupation in Kiev, complained to Krushchov that she was refused employment in a government department just because she was Jewess. To this Krushchov said the following: "I understand that you, as a Jewess, look at this question from a subjective point of view, but we are objective. Jews in the past have committed many sins against the Ukrainian people. The people hate them for this. In our Ukraine we do not need the Jews. And, I think that for the Ukrainian Jews who survived Hitler's attempts to destroy them, it would be better if they did not try to return here. It would be better for them to go to the Birobidzhan. You see, here we are in the Ukraine. Do you understand? This is the Ukraine. And we are not interested that the Ukrainian people would interpret the return of Soviet power as the return of the Jews". He stated this with the utmost clarity and precision. (See the article in Part II of L this work.)
And without any doubt, what Krushchov said in 1944, Stalin knew perfectly well in 1939, when he turned down the German suggestion that the USSR take all the Polish Jews. Although he was a dictator, he could not ignore the feeling of the population, and if to the three million Soviet Jews were added three million Polish Jews, this could provoke consequences undesirable not only to Stalin himself but also to the Jewish ruling class as well. This probably was the cause of the indifferent attitude to the fate of the Polish Jews.
{p. 257} True, no "persecution" against the Jews had ever occurred in the USSR, but the feeling of the population was taken into account and to avoid the possibility of the occurrence of great disturbances and dissatisfaction, that were especially dangerous in view of possible war, the Jews were thus "quietly" removed from the most obvious and responsible positions and replaced with representatives of the other nationalities of the country.
{p. 258} The War Years
Was the war with Germany unexpected for the ruling class of the USSR or was it foreseen and expected? Up to now it is still not established with certainty. ...
The war put the question pointblank before the Russian Jewry, subjects of the USSR, regarding their total physical extermination if the Germans were not defeated or repulsed.
{p. 260} No one disputes the presence of the Jews in the Red Army in different ranks, up to and including the rank of general. It is true, that, at the beginning of the revolution, a Jew, Bronstein, known as Trotsky, commanded the whole armed forces of the country, and the political part was also in the hands of the Jew named Gamarnik, but this was not during the Second World War. Neither were there Jews among the commanders of the fronts nor army groups, individual armies or even corps commanders. The Jewish generals were more in the home front departments, military technical units and military medical units, to name only few. But there were Jews, of course, in combat units, some of whom were also killed and wounded. There were even generals in the engineer-technical service, for example, General Naftaly Aronovich Frenkel, or General Iakov Danilovich Rapoport, who were preoccupied with concentration camps and maintaining order in them.
But all of them, on the front as well as behind, on the home front, made every effort not to fall into German hands, which was for them certain death.
For a Jew, regardless of his rank, if he fell prisoner, there was no possibility of surviving and ending the war alive. That kind of possibility existed and was used by the Jews in the First World War, but not in the Second World War. Owing to this, Jews who were in the ranks of the Red Army did not display any defeatist feelings and fought for conscience and for fear, if they could not obtain their release from the front. (This was a reserved warrant against the military draft, given to those whose profession was deemed necessary to the war industry).
A great number of the Soviet Jews had such reserved warrants. This was noticed by the whole country and provoked
{p. 261} feelings far from friendly toward the Jews. ...
The Government of the USSR, taking into consideration the danger for the Jews of falling into German hands, endeavored on its own part to evacuate the Jews first. ...
An evacuation of the Jews in the face of the attacking Germans went not only by railroad, trucks and automobiles, overloaded by the Jews and their moveable possessions, (frequently including furniture and even pianos) but also on horses harnessed to carriages and carts. The Germans bombed railway lines and big highways, but it was comparatively safe to travel on the country roads. This is why many Jews preferred this method of evacuation: although it was slow, it was safe. The Jews, when evacuating, received written directions from
{p. 262} city councils to the chairmen of collective farms and state farms, and upon presentation of the directions, they got a pair of horses with a buggy and required fodder. With such directions the Soviet Jews travelled during their evacuation by the country roads changing their horses and replenishing fodder on the way until they could reach a railway station safe from German bombers, to embark on trains to go on further to the land behind the Ural Mountains. At such railway stations the escaping Jews left their horses and buggies to the mercy of fate.
[...] It is necessary to take into consideration that the Germans used to destroy not only the Jews, by mass shooting, as it was at the Baby Yar. They also destroyed many other nationalities by mass starvation in the prisoner of war camps, as happened in the Darnitz, only a few kilometers from the Baby Yar. ...
{p. 263} In the war years, and also in the first years after the end of the war, the fact that the Soviet power helped to save the Jews in all possible ways was considered beyond any doubt. Much of this was written in the periodical press, both Jewish and non-Jewish, outside of the USSR.
{p. 264} And up to the year 1948, when the sharp turnabout came in Jewish relations with the USSR, no one raised this question again. But as soon as it became known that the Jews in the USSR had begun to lose their monopolistic right in ruling the country, everything sharply changed and became subject to reappraisal. Everything was studied, including the question of whether the Soviet Government helped to save the Jews during the war or was indifferent to their fate.
[...] S. Schwartz doubts all that was previously stated and printed about this question ... for the simple reason that nowhere in the Soviet press and the Government orders could he find written
{p. 265} confirmations that the Jews had to be evacuated in the first place, or that priority had to be given to them.
[...] That, which S. Schwartz was looking for in the Soviet press and could not find, was not printed for a reason obvious to each objective investigator. This reason was the unwillingness to aggravate the sharply negative attitude of the whole population of the country on account of the privileged position which the Jews occupied in the USSR up to the moment when the war began. But to make up for it, those undertakings were strictly carried out and due to this fact hundreds of thousands of Jews were able to escape German massacre and were able to safely and happily sit out the war behind the Ural Mountains. The Soviet power can be reproached for other things, but not for its unwillingness to save the Jews.
One does not have to possess a great imagination in order to have an idea of what would have happened, for example in Kiev, during the month of August of 1941 if an order was printed and proclaimed by the authorities concerning the
{p. 266} giving of means of transportation for the evacuation of the Jews "to be sent before others". How would the non-Jewish Kievites have reacted to this edict once it was proclaimed? Would they not have had grounds for a mutiny, the reason for which they had already been ripening for two decades?
"Why was it not printed? Why was it not underlined? Why was it not mentioned? Why was it not noted? Why did they not erect a monument for the Jews at the Baby Yar?" S. Schwartz repeats these questions in all manners in his bulky book of four hundred and twenty five pages entitled "Jews in the Soviet Union from the Beginning of the Second World War". The whole population of the USSR, and any investigator who is able to be objective without examining everything from the exclusively subjective Jewish point of view, can give the answer at once to all these questions.
There can be only one answer: "in order not to provoke the irritation and the indignation of the whole population of the country by making out the Jews as the only once who suffered from Germans, while at the same time immeasurably more non-Jews perished than Jews. In order not to arouse memories of the many million non-Jews who perished in the years of terror and artificial famine, when the country was ruled by the Jews. In order not to resurrect in the people memories of that time when the Jews were ruling Russia, and humiliated its historic past by abolishing and destroying the monuments of its past."
If that is not clear to Mr. Schwartz, who throws the accusation at the whole population of the USSR that they are lacking respect for the perished Jews, it is quite clear to those who now hold the power of the USSR. It is clear and understandable to them and this is why they do not erect SPECIAL monuments for the Jews.
The demand to erect such monuments, which is presented not solely by Mr. Schwartz, only provokes the reverse reaction throughout the whole of the USSR.
This reaction might easily pour out into a demand for the exact calculation of how many lives it cost the whole population of the USSR during the thirty years of oppression when the Jewish class ruled the USSR. This calculation will hardly be profitable for the Jews.
If the Jews are constantly occupied in calculating and recalculating the number of Jews that perished at the hands of the Germans, then it is quite possible that some day the Russian people will take to calculation also. The living memories of the millions who perished from the artificially created famine, when Kaganovich ruled everything in the Ukraine, and the millions who perished in the concentration camps will never disappear from the memories of the nation!
Considering the conditions and the national feelings, it is possible to state with conviction that the return of the Jewish ethnic group to the position of the ruling class in Russia or in the USSR, as long as this name chooses to remain, is impossible.
These feelings by the end of the war were such that they could easily have ended in an outburst, during which even the government probably would not have survived. Only by taking measures at the proper time and by the gradual removal, without any commotion or newspaper publicity, of the Jews from the ruling posts was this explosion averted.
{p. 269} The Post-War Period (1946-1966)
{p. 270} Since the war the feelings of the broad Soviet masses have changed. Many revelations which had been seen during the war years were endured silently by the masses, as they endured the Jewish dominance before in their own country. The broad masses were no longer inclined to accept what was revealed more than twice in the war years, and especially after the end of the war. The government took these feelings into consideration and, as said above, more and more non-Jews gradually began to appear in the leading administrative positions. These positions were occupied now by the representatives of the native population of the country: the Great-Russians, the Byelorussians, the Ukrainians and the representatives of the other national minorities, who had their own national territories. The same occurrence was also observed among the Soviet Ambassadorial and Trade Delegation positions, which in the pre-war years were almost completely filled by the Jews.
{p. 271} The political direction of the country ceased to coincide with the interests and longings of all the Jewry of the Diaspora, as it was before, during the thirty-year period. In the USSR itself the Jewish ethnic group started gradually to lose its privileged position and to get equal rights and opportunities with the rest of the population. This was interpreted by the Jewry of whole Diaspora as "discrimination". The awakening of the national self-consciousness of the Russian people and, if not the cessation then the considerable curtailment of the ridiculing of its historic past, was interpreted by the Jewry as a revival of, if not "anti- Semitism" and "blackhundredism", then, in any case, of "Russian patriotism". This occurrence from the point of view of Jewry was undesirable and dangerous. And the larger part of the world's Jewry changed from advocates of the USSR to its opponents. The striving of all the Jewry, including those who were the citizens of USSR, in every possible way to support the demands concerning the creation of the State of Israel, regardless of whether these demands met the requirements and the interests of the State of the USSR, brought internal conflict between the Jews and the non-Jews of the Soviet Union. This conflict raised, not without reason, the question of their loyalty to the country, in which for thirty years they had occupied privileged positions.
In the critical months of the war the USSR propaganda machinery, which was almost entirely in Jewish hands, served to raise the army's spirit, an army on which international slogans and appeals used at that time did not have much
{p. 272} effect. This propaganda machinery turned then to Russia's past. The medals of Alexander Nevsky, Suvorov and Kutuzov were instituted, and, soon after, titles that were known in pre-revolutionary Russia and golden shoulder straps which were so much hated by those who created the USSR, were also introduced.
The international-Cosmopolitan mist had disappeared and in its place life had returned to the seemingly dead patriotism of the Russian people and the patriotism of the whole population of the USSR, people who realized their own strength and their right to rule their own country.
{p. 274} Addressing the general meeting of the Jewish Federation in Cleveland, in January of 1943, and rejecting the presence of even a hint of "anti-Semitism" in the USSR Government, Vishniak hardly could have supposed that in only three years the very same Government of the USSR would approve and support the statement made by Zhdanov, who raised the problem of "Cosmopolitan without kith or kin" and started the struggle against their dominance in the cultural life of the country.
It is impossible to establish whether Zhdanov hit upon this idea himself or whether M. Vishniak helped him with his wide notification of the concealed thoughts of Andre Gide, who had
{p. 275} written them in his diary. It is unimportant and insignificant. What is important is how it was welcomed by the men of culture in the USSR and that it was the beginning of the new policy of the government in dealing with the Jewish question, policy that was directed to the actual equalization, in word and deed, of the Jews with the rest of the population. This equalization inevitably led to the loss by the Jews of that privileged position which they had in the USSR for thirty years.
It is not surprising then that this new political course of the government was interpreted by the whole Jewry of Diaspora as 'anti-Semitic'. It invariably averted a favorable Jewish attitude to everything which took place in the USSR and put Jewry on the way toward the active support of the powers and movements hostile not only to the system but also to the social order of the USSR. This course also put the Jewry on the side of those who aimed to liquidate, by means of dismemberment, the united country that was previously called Russia, and renamed the USSR during the rule of the Jewish ethnic group.
It is precisely in this change in the politics of the USSR Government, it is to be supposed, that one must look for the causes of the special sympathies shown by the Jewish Diaspora towards all kinds of separatist groupings of the individual nationalities of the USSR, which were not noticeable in the pre-war years.
The new course in the Jewish question, however, was interpreted quite differently by those cultural personalities who were not Jewish. Nothing was written about this in the newspapers, nor was it discussed at gatherings and meetings, but it definitely was felt that this new course showed the approval and gave hope to Russians that they actually would get equal rights and opportunities with Jews who up to that time had the monopoly in the sphere of culture in the USSR in general, and in propaganda in particular.
Zhdanov's statement and its support by the government did not result in an immediate removal of Jews from literary and propaganda activities. Very many, even disproportionately many Jews remained at their posts in literature, art, critics and propaganda and no one displaced or removed them. Erenburg, Zaslavsky, Vera Inber, Pasternak, Marshak and a great many others remained on the literary Olympus. Their number has not declined even now in the year 1967. Jews, for example Nickulin, Kozakov and many others, belong to the Union of Writers of the USSR. To speak
{p. 276} about the complete dismissal of the Jews from participation in the cultural life of the USSR, of course, is impossible.
The fact that they had lost their previous monopolistic position and the leading role is obvious. It is precisely this circumstance that irritates the world Jewry.
Characteristic and deserving of special attention are the words that were said by Zhdanov, who laid the foundation of the recognition that the culture must be national in its own very essence and that its roots must be firmly implanted in the far past of the nation. And when Zhdanov, the communist and follower of the Third International, said, "Cosmopolitans without kith or kin", no one, besides the foreign Jews, protested against these words.
All the population of the country still well remembered the millions of sacrifices during the collectivization, famine and camps in which no Jews were seen. Moreover, these sacrifices were not the result of brutality inflicted by some
{p. 277} invading enemy, but were inflicted by the ruling class which consisted mainly of the Jewish ethnic group.
In such a psychological circumstance, in circles of the "Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee", and among Jews in general, a thought occurred to turn the whole Crimea, which had been devastated during the war, into a Jewish national province or republic.
This venture, the so-called "Crimean Affair", entailed serious consequences. 'The "Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee" was disbanded and its organizers, the numerous Soviet personalities of Jewish origin, were repressed, among them Solomon Lozovsky (Drizdo), who was the head of the committee.
The population of the country knew nothing of this plan, and it was not discussed anywhere, neither in the press nor at gatherings. But the Central Committee of the party intercepted and suppressed the plan because it realized the potential of it.
The details of the "Crimean Affair" are still awaiting the objective investigator, because the time has not yet come for such historical investigation. There is still too much that is dark and unknown about this "Affair". But the Soviet Government's lightning reaction to the plan shows what importance was attached to it.
Turning the whole Crimea, with its natural wealth, harbors and sea fortress, Sevastopol, into a Jewish province or even a republic, would have been a "military risk" for the Soviet Union, in the opinion of the Government of the USSR. Krushchov was also in agreement with this government's opinion, as he confirmed in August 1956, calling this thought "monstrous". This was reported by P. Abramovich in the "Socialist Herald", in May 1957.
We will not judge how "monstrous" the thought is. But if we can conceive really how the realization of the "Crimean Plan" would have ended, then it is not so incredible that there was apprehension of the "military risk", expressed by Stalin and repeated by Krushchov.
In the atmosphere of the Cold War, with whole of Jewry on side of the Soviet enemies, the presence of a "Jewish state" in Crimea was indeed a "military risk".
And if this military risk was envisaged and prevented in the proper time, then from the point of view of the Soviet State it is difficult not to approve of the fact that such an "Affair" did not come about.
Even if P. Abramovich and his fellow tribesmen do not
{p. 278} approve of this, the whole population of Russia-USSR adheres to the contrary opinion to make up for it. There can be no doubt whatsoever about this. It is also doubtful that the whole population of the USSR would be in grief if every last representative of the Jewish ethnic group abandoned the country forever. That is my opinion; there was no debate about that.
Furthermore, one more fact must also be taken into consideration that at that time, when the plan concerning the creation of the Jewish national republic in Crimea was in its fostering stage, there already existed in the Constitution of the USSR the provision for the Union and the autonomous republics of the Soviet Union to "enter into direct relationship with foreign countries, concluding with them agreements and exchanging with them diplomatic and consular representatives...", "to have its own republic military formations". And "for each union republic the right is reserved to leave the USSR freely", (Articles 18,18-a, and 18-b).
And if the plan of creating the Jewish republic in the Crimea was realized, what guarantee was there that, with help and support from the whole Jewish Diaspora, the Crimea would not have seceded? It is also unknown whether this state would have been friendly or hostile to the USSR. And how would the rest of the two hundred million people of the USSR have regarded this venture?
{p. 280} In October 1948 Golda Myrson (now Golda Meir) arrived in Moscow as the appointed ambassador of Israel to the USSR.
At that time more than half a million Jews lived in Moscow. Upon her arrival in Moscow, the Israeli Ambassador went to the synagogue where she was enthusiastically welcomed, and at once many thousands of Muscovite Jews applied to emigrate to Israel.
Iossif Vissarionovitch Stalin and the government drew a
{p. 281} conclusion from this. After the welcoming demonstration of the Jews given to Golda Myrson there immediately followed a whole range of limitations ordered by the government, concerning the "personal-national" cultural activity of the Jewish ethnic group dispersed throughout the country. The Jewish newspaper "Der Ernes" in Moscow was closed, as well as the Jewish theatres. Also in Moscow the teachings of 'Yiddish' were stopped. Quite a few of Jewish activists in the sphere of their national culture were forced to leave Moscow, and some were even arrested. All the "Muscovites" that applied to leave the USSR and settle in Israel were deported into far-off provinces of the USSR.
"The government sensed the unreliability of the Jews" writes the Muscovite, David Burg, who left USSR in 1956, and published an extensive article, "The Jewish Question in Soviet Union", in the German language in the Magazine "Anti-communist" (No. 12,1957). (The article is given in full in Part II of this work.)
This sensation of the "unreliability of the Jews" corresponded to the same sensation of the whole population of the country, which, in general, looked at Jews as an element "newly arrived, strange and alien".
However, it must be acknowledged that there were no mass dismissals from work nor were other repressive measures taken against the Jews just because they were Jews. They held their positions, which were neither the best nor the worst, and were not dismissed or deprived of the possibilities of work.
But the previous confidence they held disappeared. The previous positions of the mighty ruling class were shaken, and possibilities of attaining the leading roles in all spheres of life were considerably shortened and hampered. This especially pertained to those positions and professions in which complete reliance in loyalty was required, such as diplomatic affairs, external politics and the defense of the country.
Although the word "Jew" was never written and mentioned in these new measures the whole population of the USSR, and the Jews above all, distinctly sensed the new course of the government in the Jewish question.
The population met this new course with their full approval, however silent, because in the USSR the Government does not tolerate either approvals or disapprovals.
All the same, the Jewry in the USSR, as well as in other countries, saw in this new course "discrimination and perse-
{p. 282} cution" toward Jews in the USSR, and the whole force of their indignation and resentment was directed in the first place at the dictator Stalin. Of course, there were many Soviet Jews who were aware of many valid reasons for the government to doubt Jewish reliability in the case of conflict with Israel, or its protectors and allies. But the fear of being accused of acting "against Jewry" in breaking the thousand-year tradition of racial-religious solidarity forced them to be silent. It forced even the staunch advocates of the communist theory and of Stalin's tactics and practice to keep silent.
Among the Jews, dispersed throughout a huge country, dissatisfaction with the new course in the Jewish question grew. The main culprit was considered to be Stalin who without nise {sic - should be 'noise'} and publicity steadfastly implemented his line.
The feelings of the Jewish ethnic group in the USSR were shared by the Jewry of the whole world and were reflected in the hostile attitude not only to Stalin and his regime but also to the entire Russian populace, considering them to be the culprits in the "persecution" of the Jews.
So it went on until the second half of 1952 when a group of doctors were accused of an attempt to poison Stalin by means of improper treatment. The doctors, closest to the Kremlin heads, were, in the majority, Jews. How and why the care of Stalin and his collaborators was entrusted to the Jews scarcely requires explanation. They had remained there from those times when the Jews high and low occupied responsible positions. And they were not replaced by anyone, even after the sudden change in the year 1948.
The accusation brought forward against the Jews, and the corresponding campaign in the Soviet press was interpreted in a widely spread way by the population, especially the Jewish section, as sympathy to those who were confronted with the accusation, Moscow was full of rumors about approaching repressions against the Jews and about their exile to the Far East.
"They started to pack suitcases, to sell furniture cheaply and went to bed with thoughts that probably at night they will be arrested..." In this manner David Burg, in his article mentioned above, described the feeling of the Moscow Jews.
From October 1952 until the death of Stalin, the feeling of more than half a million Moscow Jews was characterized by panic. No one was in doubt that, as at the beginning of the war whole nationalities were exiled from the Crimea, Caucasus and Volga region, so too the Jews would be exiled, and
{p. 283} not only from Moscow but also from the rest of the places where they lived.
Stalin's sudden death changed everything. The "doctors' plot" was declared to be a forgery. A calm ensued among the Jews.
However, there was no use even considering the return of the Jewish ethnic group to its previous position as the ruling class.
{p. 297} SUPPLEMENT II
{This material is presented in tables; I have presented it in text. - Peter Myers}
THE RULING CLASS OF USSR BEFORE WORLD WAR II (years: 1936-1939)
SECRETARIATE OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE CPSU (b)
2 members, of whom 1 Jewish (L. M. Kaganovich), and 1 non-Jewish (I. V. Stalin)
ORGANIZATION BUREAU OF CENTRAL COMMITTEE CPSU (b)
5 members, of whom 3 Jewish (N. M. Shvernik, Y. B. Gamarnik, and L. M. Kaganovich), and 2 non-Jewish (I. V. Stalin and N. I. Ezhov)
{p. 298} CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF CPSU (b)
59 members in all, of whom 40 were Jewish
Jewish members: K.Y. Bauman , Y.B. Gamarnik , D. S. Baika , Zifrinovich , Trakhter , I. D. Kabakov (Rosenfeld) , F. P. Griadinsky , Y.A. Iakovlev (Epshtein) , G. N. Kaminsky , Bitner , L. M. Kaganovich , G. Kaner , M. M. Kaganovich , V. G. Knorin , L. Krishman , I. E. Yakir , A.K. Lepa , S.A. Lozovsky (Dridzov) , I. E. Lubimov (Kozlevsky) , T.D. Deribas , V.V. Osinsky , I. A. Piatnitsky (Blumberg) , M.O. Razumov (Sagovich) , S. Schwarts , E. I. Veger , M. L. Rukhimovich , A.P. Rosenholts , L.Z. Mekhlis , A. P. Serebrovsky , A.M. Shteinhart , I. P. Pavlunovsky , M.M. Khataevich , G.Y. Sokolnikov (Brilliant) , M.S. Chudov (Askov) , G. I. Broido , V. I. Polonsky , R. I. Aikhe , G.D. Vainberg , G.G. Yagoda , M.M. Litvinov (Finkelshtein)
Non-Jewish members: ('?' = ethnicity unknown, assumed non-Jewish):
V. A. Balitsky, I. s. Unshlikht, AS. Bulin ?, I. M. Varaikis, M. I. Kalmanovich, N. I. Ezhov, I. A. Zelensky, S. S. Lobov, B. P. Pozern, D. Z. Manuilsky, I. P. Nosov, U. L. Piatakov, K.K. Strievsky, N. N. Popov, A. I. Ougarov, G. I. Blagonravov, K.V. Ryndin, I.V. Stalin, A.M. Shvernik
CENTRAL INSPECTION COMMITTEE UNDER THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF CPSU (b)
11 members, of whom 8 Jewish
Jewish members: E. S. Kohan, I. S. Shelekhes, Y. A. Popo, P. M. Pevzniak, Y. S. Agranov (Sorenzov), S. F. Redens, Y.G. Soifer, L. N. Aronshtam
non-Jewish members: M. F. Vladimirovsky, V. V. Adoratsky ?, N. M. Yanson ?
('?' = ethnicity unknown, assumed non-Jewish)
{p. 299} SOVIET CONTROL COMMISSION UNDER THE SOVIET PEOPLE'S COMMISSARS OF USSR
Jewish:
Z. M. Belenky, B. Gay, N. M. Antselovich, .M. Gladshtein, A. I. Gaister, E. Goldich, I. S. Zemliachka, M.A. Daich, B. A. Roizenma, A. I. Karlik, Y. Y. Bauer (Baier) , R. Y. Kissis, L.P. Bogat, L. Soms, E.I. Vainbaum, P. S. Vengerova (Jewess), G. Melamed, M. I. Gemmervert, .N. Gussev (Fridkin), Y. I. Gindin, A.P. Rosit , V.G. Faigin
non-Jewish: I. M. Moskvich, N.I. Ilin, S. Y. Manfred (?)
PARTY CONTROL COMMISSION UNDER THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF CPSU (b)
Jewish: L.M. Kaganovich, A. Paparde, A. N. Petrovsky (Birkman), E. Yaroslavsky, D.A. Bulatov, E. I. Yurevich, I. M. Bekker, N.S. Berezin, R. G. Rubinov, M. I. Rubinshtein, E. B. Genkin (Rosental), V. P. Stavsky, M. L. Granovsky, M. M. Temkin, V. Y. Grosman, A.A. Frenkel, P. E. Davidson, S. T. Khavkin, B. A. Dvinsky
non-Jewish: N. I. Ezhove, S.K. Brikke (?), M. L. Sorokin
{p. 300} COMMISSARIAT OF HEAVY INDUSTRY
COMMISSAR: G. K. Ordzhonikidze (non-Jewish)
HIS DEPUTIES:
Jewish: M. M. Kaganovich, M. L. Rukhimovich, A. I. Gurevich
non-Jewish: G. L. Piatakov, A. P. Serebrovsky, A. M. Pitersky, A. V. Vinter
MEMBERS OF THE BOARD:
All Jewish: Birman, V. Grosman, Shtern, Y. Gugel, Y. B. Shumiatsky, Erman, I. Andraunas, Israilovich, A. A. Sokolenko, Figatner, S. Ginsburg, Shtein, A. I. Dubrovitsky
{p. 301} COMMISSARIAT OF FINANCE
COMMISSAR: G. F. GRINKO non-Jewish
Jewish: R.Y. Levin, E. B. Genkin (Rosental), Y. A. Teumin
Keeper of valuables and manager of external trade departm,ent: O. I. Kanan Jewish
Jewish: Malakhovsky, Naifeld, Tamarkin. L. Shanin, A. A. Khatskevich, I. V. Blink
non-Jewish: A. A. Pekis
Chairman of Central Committee of Finance and Bank Employees: D. Zaslavsky Jewish
{p. 302} STATE BANK
Chairman: L. E. Mariazin Jewish
Deputy: G. M. Arkus Jewish
COMMISSARIAT OF EXTERNAL TRADE
COMMISSAR: A. P. Rosenholts Jewish
Jewish: I. Y. Veinzer, M. I. Frumkin
non-Jewish: A. B. Ozersky
Jewish: B. S. Belenky, S. G. Bron, S. M. Dvoilatsky, Y. A. Sokolin, M. G. Gurevich, M. L. Sorokin, Y. D. Yanson, A.M. Tamarin, M. A. Kattel, S. B. Zhukovsky, I.I. Flior, AA. Kisin, I. M. Katsnelson, B. I. Kraevsky, B. I. Plavnik, F. Y. Rabinovich
non-Jewish: M. G. Bronsky, S. A. Mesing, N.N. Romm, L.H. Fridrikhson, F. F. Kilevets
{p. 303} COMMISSARIAT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
COMMISSAR: M. M. Litvinov (Finkelsthain) Jewish
All Jewish: G. Y. Sokolnikov-Brilliant, N. N. Krestinsky, L. M. Karakhan
Secretary of People's Commissariat: P. P. Otlichin non-Jewish
{p. 304} Secretaries:
All Jewish: B. I. Shmokh-Bronskaia (Jewess), S. B. Epshtein, M. S. Morshtiner, V. I. Dyment
PROTOCOL DEPARTMENT:
Chief: Y. A. Rothstein Jewish
Secretary: B. G. Burstein Jewish
POLITICAL ARCHIVES:
Chief: I. S. Yakubovich Jewish
DEPARTMENT OF DIPLOMATIC COURIERS:
Chief: F. K. Grikman Jewish
1st WESTERN DEPARTMENT: Chief: (Poland, Scandinavia, Baltic.)
L. E. Berezov Jewish
Assistant: L. Y. Gaidis Jewish
Referent on Poland: E. L. Kontis Jewish
2nd WESTERN DEPARTMENT: (Central Europe, Balkans.)
Chief: D. G. Shtern Jewish
Assistant: F. V. Linde Jewish
Referent on Czechs and Balkans: M. S. Shapiro Jewish
Referent on Germany, Switzerland & Holland: V. L. Levin Jewish
Referents on Austria & Hungary: M. I. Rossovsky Jewish S. P. Ranter Jewish
3rd WESTERN DEPARTMENT:
Chief: (Anglo-Roman countries.) E. V. Rubinin Jewish
Assistant: H. S. Veinberg Jewish
Referent on USA: S. L. Stoler Jewish
Referent on England: K. Y. Lelians non-Jewish
== and there are many more positions, nearly all Jewish ==
{p. 331} EPILOGUE
The age old conflict between the native population of various countries and states and the Jewish ethnic groups finding themselves in the territories of these nations is well known.
Until the middle of the Nineteenth Century, this conflict was called "Judaeophobia" (now "anti-Semitism"), which hindered and is still hindering a peaceful and fruitful co-existence between Jews and non-Jews. This conflict used to manifest itself with special distinction in the countries and states where a considerable Jewish population resided Ñ nations in which Jews were considered "subjects".
At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, Russia had within its borders six million Jews whose views and values, sense of justice and their concept were alien to the native population. The Jewish group lived its own secluded life, unwilling to assimilate with the surrounding population in spite of any possibilities created by the Russian Government to achieve this end, as stated in this sketch.
It is this isolationist Jewish tendency, interwoven with their "spiritual aspect" that has given the impetus to this conflict. The entire blame for this is placed successfully upon the Russian people and all its governments and regimes, accusing them of "anti-Semitism". How valid these accusations are is explained to a sufficient degree in this sketch.
This, however, does not prevent the spread of the calumny of oppression and persecution of the Jews in Russia-USSR. This in turn, stirs up sharp negative attitudes toward the Russian people in the rest of the world, creating and feeding anti-Russian feelings in international relations.
Calumny bears its fruits. It is believed without proven evidence or even an effort to verify them, how just and valid these accusations are. Without proof or trial, the entire Russian population is blamed and condemned. Not only the Russians but also other nationalities and tribes native to that country are accused of this "oppression and persecution" of the Jews. Few took the trouble to listen to the accused, a practice elementary to any court of law, even in the most oppressed societies.
How did the accused respond to this condemnation without trial? The accused is the entire population of Russia Ñ USSR, represented at present by the party and the Government of the USSR, as well as the "Foreign Russians" with numerous national and patriotic church organizations leaders. Did the accused respond in any way? No! It remained silent.
{p. 332} There is no secret why this silence exists in response to e calumny.
The USSR does not involve itself in this question, because such involvement inevitably would lead to the resounding revelation of the role the Jewish people played in creating the framework of Soviet Power which liquidated the cultural elite of pre-revolutionary Russia; the conclusion of the shameful Brest-Litovsk Treaty; the organization of concentration camps and "Red terror", and subsequent Jewish dominance in all spheres of life for thirty-five years.
Even the Russian emigrants do not involve themselves with, or even broach this subject, fearing to be accused of "anti-Semitism". This is an all- consuming dread that almost every Russian emigrant fears.
As a result, the calumny, without being counteracted, feeds and grows strong.
The silence of those who should refute this injustice gives food to all the enemies of multinational Russia. Their silence is acknowledged as an admission of guilt and confirmation of these accusations.
To break the silence, "to rub salt into the wound", and truthfully elucidate the ticklish question of the Jewish condition and their role in Russia and in USSR, is the purpose of this sketch. To answer the distortions of truth made and the perversions indulged in by one party and contributed to by the blatant silence of the other is my aim.
As a son of the Triune Russian people, Ukrainian-Malorussian by origin, representative of that generation which had the destiny to participate in these events, these upheavals, and to witness the indignation suffered by all silent partners to this injustice, I consider it my duty and obligation to the future to reveal the truth, as I have done in this book.
I firmly believe that the time will come when impartial researchers, free from fear of being accused of "anti-Semitism", will be able to give a much more complete and detailed account of the life of the Jewish ethnic group in Russia, and the USSR, and of its influence on all spheres of life of that great power created by the Russian people. When this occurs, I hope my modest, far from complete sketch, will prove useful. * * *
In conclusion, I offer my thanks to all those Russian emigrants who responded to my article, "Calumny About Our People"1, published in 1964 in the several emigre organs of the press, and who sent me valuable advice,
{p. 333} suggestions, documents and data, and upheld me morally and materially in my endeavors.
In the event a second edition of this book is published, which, at present, due to lack of means is printed in limited numbers, and also in the event of the translation of this work, in full or in part, in any foreign language, I appeal to the readers to send me their opinions on the content and validity of my account, as well as any suggestions for additions, omissions, or more precise elucidation, on any aspect of this effort.
Audrey Diky
Write to me at contact.html.