Notes, Jews in the USSR, 1917-2000 (0)

Jonathan Dekel- Chen lectures, Jews in the USSR, 1917-2000
1937 census didn’t get published. 1939, pretty accurate for Js. 3.1 mill Js in pre- Molotov -Ribbentrop area. 1939, 2.2 mill. Js not shy about declaring Jewishness. Inherits 1.3 mill in Poland . Similar # annexed by Germ . 250,000 in Lithuania . 330,000 Bessarabia. Back to pre-1917 #s of Sov Jewry . 5 ½ mill of pre-war levels. Pre-mature deaths during famine of ’21-’22, ’31-’33, 7 years of war, emigration up to 1924 (vast majority to West , 3rd and 4th aliyahs). J pop growth still significant, high birth rates, but pop static. Grows more in SU than anywhere else – few leaving, pop growth significant. Vast majority in W borderlands. Very few emigrate during year and a half from annexed areas .
Germans occupied Leningrad - Moscow - Stalingrad , all and more of former Pale . 1939, started evacuating. Stalin thought 43-44, war. Purges, Winter War, military needed improvement, military industrial complex and factories and personnel moved E. Disassemble, move by rail beginning 1939. They know what happened in Spain, total war. Disproportionate # of Js in SU industry, moved E. Js involved in evacuation because of potential for betraying, wealthy capitalists? Crimean factories moved on kurdish straits. Uk factories not moved, Ger war too fast . Month and a half, most J kolkhozes moved. Also evacuated govt officials, those at risk. Also unorganized evacuation, not govt sponsored, those who had feeling , foot, train , cart, sometimes on own, sometimes sponsored by local or abroad org, hundreds of thousands. Many also leaving from C and W Europe . Hundreds of thousands E of Urals where almost no Js were before 1941, not GULag inmates, free SU citizens, living marginally, some employed. During war, major food and housing shortages, no infrastructure. Exiled suspect pops, class , natl enemies, tens of thousands from Crimean, Germans, Bulgarians, Tatars, once war started 41. Nationalist, including Zionist, leaders sent E as chauvinists, more efficient sovietization, 5th column potentiality, 50-60,000 Js, most survived the war. Factory owners, bank managers, large shopowners, ideological enemies. Also religious enemies, rabbis, cultural leaders, writers . Another group rounded up were refugees from Germ-occupied Poland, tens of thousands of mostly young Js. Couldn’t go S, Czechoslovakia annexed, Romania fascist and anti-Semitic, sea lanes closed, mostly E. SU identifies as suspect, could be a spy. J identity very different from SU J, more use of Yiddish, more traditional , state of mind diff . Germs had dumped Js on the border, green border policy . Registered as they came over the border, porous. 6 mill SU citizens deported internally, 1920-1952, policy for suspect groups.
What about everybody else? Sovietization mostly on urban centers, more keenly felt than on periphery. Farmers in Bessarabia, barely felt Sovietization, have a talk, mainly to get wine , gratice. 60,000 Polish Js removed, 39-41. 150,000 Js from annexed territories arrive in unoccupied parts. Birobidzhan? Political theater . Where to resettle millions of Js? Esp Ger, Romanian, Pol Js. No thought to SU Js. Birobidzhan bubbled up, some infrastructure, autonomous region to 36, benign. JDC, presence, resettling Js, feelers to SU, knows not ideal . Phillipines, Ghiana, Madagascar, not a lot of viable options. Not mentioned in Evian, under League of Nations, all about Js though not said. SU not interested in Ger/Pol Js, SU knows there will be war against capitalist world, Ger/Pol capitalists sort of. Dominican Republic the answer , 400-500 in 1940, never goes anywhere. Highest rate of Aliyah from former SU from Birobidzhan.
Holocaust – Erad’s book changed the face of research and teaching Holocaust in IL, Heb, not a whole lot in synthetic way in other langs. 2004, much less conjecture. Rev in 1960s -70s about Eur, not SU. Everywhere but SU, records about ind Js on pathways, ghettoization, labor , murder. SU, no Ger records, system fundamentally diff. Still probs w #s. 2/3 killing in camps, ghettos. 2 mill SU Js. Slave labor complex not known until recently, extensive throughout Europe. Not a straightforward subject, several subjects intertwined, SU Holocaust. Js dying en masse certainly at top. Context of total national mobilization for defeat of fascism. Unthinkable human suffering. Tens of mill SU citizens died, many more suffered. Yet regime would never admit, defeat of Germany meant taking up cause of Js. Rise in popular anti-Semitism, as Red Army losing battle , turns around 42-43. Decrease in anti-antisemitism. Dramatic shifts in J demography, not just deaths; color map, location of Js will change , no longer in Eur Russia .
What is written about first year or two of war? Why so hard to find info about what happened? Friendship of nations, collaboration? Wanted to demonize nationalist movements, wrote about this. Utter chaos, almost no SU records, infrastructure in free fall , continuous retreat, killed , captured. Front lines thousands of miles . Napoleon 600,000 troops, Dnieper, beeline for Moscow. Wehrmacht on 3 fronts. Winter of 42. Turnover of personnel. More interested in food, fuel, housing, incapable even of this. Germans did keep records, seemed to be invincible, records shipped back to Berlin , archives sacked. Zones of occupation, military and state archives in London, Moscow, Washington. Freedom of information acts filed, 1990s in Washington.
#s of Js – SU comm, asked locals, took samples by digging. Wanted to be able to tell citizens what fascists had done . Who were the victims? SU citizens, monuments, many in Yiddish.
25 February 2014
Trim down sources . Not a book report . Trim down topic. Take out Bartal. Edited volumes out, articles instead.
400,000 J soldiers in Imperial Russian Army WWI, also many Js in German Army. 450,000 J in Red Army, disproportionate, about 250,000 killed or seriously injured, 40% casualty rate amongst J soldiers, 25% in Red Army. Why higher ? Banal explanation, not conspiratorial answer usually right. Drafting begins after debacle after Winter War in Finland (win war at huge losses). Known that war will be on mainland. Mainly European Russia call-up. Js still in former Pale, European Russia. At front during first months and year of war w/o much training. Wehrmacht greatest fight force to time. Doesn’t matter if great fighter , won’t make it past first few months. Red Army gets better, more proficient, conscription beyond Urals, industrialization. Photography, first few months of war = Europeans. Then you see more Caucasians, East Asians. Not many more j recruits after 1st year.
4 March 2014 –
Memorialization of Holocaust. Last week, rise of pop anti-Semitism. Causes ? Nazi occ did something , efficiently disseminated targeted anti-Semitism in local langs. Tatars couldn’t read Ger, but Tat and Russ . Crafted to local sensitivities. J land -grabbing as part of Judeo-Bolshevik theory, dispossessed Tatars and others of natl land through collectivization. Hungary only occ for a year. W Uk, over 2 years, latently anti-Semitic to begin w, pogroms 1919, 1940-41 before Nazi troops even arrive. Sovs had allowed for greater Rus, Orthodox natlism, which opened up antisem can of worms ; but not antisem. Incubator of antisem, Red Army, rumor . Dispropor # Js killed at beginning, so not as many Js. Pop antisem, J draft-dodging. Not necessarily running away from front, but to E. Most prevalent rumor, part of Tashkent partisans (Uzbekistan). Js disprop among evacuees and refugees beyond Urals. How many? 10-15% SU J. “Js abandoned war effort, while we are fighting on their behalf.” Stalin knows country is not enamored of him. National pride, yes; became more robust country, education, minorities rising. Purges had been horrific. Ukrainians still furious after famines 31-33. Old pat and natl imagery , calling to flag, not just hammer and sickle, Great Russian patriotism, Ortho Christian imagery. Old explanations for bad times .
Following Battle of Kursk, Ger Army rolled back, 43. SU acquiring old SU territories and more, some rife w antisem, fanned esp by Polish and Romanian interwar regimes. Now have under belts 20 yrs fascism, hyper -natlism, Nazi propaganda . Borders porous. Rebirth of anti-Semitism, almost entirely w/o help from above . Js 10% civilian casualties, 2 mill. SU citizens not in DP camps, mostly killed. Survivors in Auschwitz from all over, but not from SU. SU citizens also spread out over. Some Js survived as partisans, some forged identities as Christians.
Major redist in J demo . W lands now emptied, in major cities, Moscow, Leningrad, Rostov , Donetsk, or much further to E, either never occupied or briefly occupied. Ashkenazis where no or few Js were living before, or where Sephardic. Now 10s of 1000s in Tashken, Tajikistan, Bishkek (Frunzen) Dushanbei (Lanenobad), Tabilsi. Also Samara (Kuibishev). Hundreds of thousands. SU hadn’t been keeping recs of evacuation. Travel docs, but no central recs.
Censuses, 1939 and 1959 . Majority of Js who evacuated went back to former home repubs. Didn’t go back to shtetl, in ruins or occupied by others. Went to nearby cities. J comm in Uzbekistan grew 80%. Small families in comm prior to. 51,000 Js, Bukharins, now 95,000 in 1959. Same growth in almost every SU area of Central Asia and Caucasus, doubling local pop. Who are these ? Skilled workers , accountants, doctors . Continued in this trajectory in Tashkent. In contrast, Sephardi Js less educated, menial labor, shop keepers . 2 J communities, distinct ethnically, denominationally, class (esp), basic identity. See selves as SU Js. Bukharin, Georgian, mtn Js see themselves as Js; conn to SU regime is looser, haven ’t benefitted from SU authority. Live in diff parts of city or outside of it. Almost no contact, no friction. Ashkenazis, like going to zoo to see Bukharin Js. Bukharins see as uppity, not going to marry.
Effect – Js cease to be factor in policy decisions . Js had been near other Euro powers. Not as important . Important for policy from 45 onwards in terms of domestic needs. Extremely critical 1990s. Changed demo landscape Caucasus, Far East, Central Asia. Not just Js relocated to these areas. Do we go back to familiarity (likely unfamiliar) or stay where advancement is much more likely in SU heartland, periphery? Regime reach much lighter. Took several months-1 ½ yr for infrastructure in cities. Some went out to kolkhozes, where there was food. Not a lot of high culture, but you could develop your own theater company. Practical , not about ideology. Europeans living in Asian lands. Begin to be seen by local pops not so much as Js, but as Russian Euros, came to our autonomous republics and have taken over in work place , SU admin. Begins to become a larger issue for local pops, esp when SU begins to decline 1980s. White, represent SU, colonial power. Js from these areas disprop from Caucasus ? in IL. Uncomfortable for IL, do we really want these Js?
Lev Ovshchitza – b Moscow, studied elite engineering school, air force academy, navigator in defense of Moscow. Wounded Stalingrad, fights all the way to Berlin. Squadron commander, political officer. Believed Stalin was guiding country in right direction, even though J soldier was not awarded, even though at least if not more heroic than others. Awards had financial implications. Moscow under sort of siege, not as bad as Leningrad, family ok. Postmodern fertility rates – economic reasons .
WWII becomes unifying epos of SU regime, not industrialization, collectivization, even Rev. Banned pub of black book, J suffering during war, compiled by Ilya Ehrenburg, Vassily Grossberg[?]. J suffering not highlighted in same way that Ukrainian, Est suffering was not raised up. Group effort. SU very heartily went after collaborators, lynched. Diff between knowing and publishing. Censored Black Book.
Comparative victimization in Euro. Sure the Js suffered, but so did we. No less than what Js suffered. Makes Russ appear genocidal.
Russia or SU, interior provinces 9/10 X just in Euro Russ, Tambov , Kazan, Nizhni Novgorod, Rostov.
Oil from Baku before, Rothschilds. E of Urals, eksotic, unimportant until 60s and 70s, start hitting oil. Russia today couldn’t survive w/o E oil and minerals, like magnesium , titanium.
Were Russians in living in Ukraine , Caucasus, other areas before SU?
11 March
Js in Crimea, more interested in Russia. Some for Russia, but don’t want annexation. Diplomatic solution. Many sides. Propaganda – Ukrainian roots to village . Current female leader , hair style. 1950s, Khrushchev granted Criemea to Ukraine. Social -demo reasons, not political? W Ukrainians started to flow to Crim , judeo-phobes. 1833 – colonization, Tatars fleeing. Many other nationalities coming , including Estonians , Shveitzarim, Bulgars, Germans, Russ, Js, others. Part of New Russia, invited by govt. Crimea became a sort of Riviera . Great writers wrote about it; became place everybody wants.
J Anti-fascist comm – 42, est. by the govt., for other groups. Propagandaic purposes for Sovs. Increase motivation to fight, funds from Js of world. David Bergelson, MIkhoels (one of most famous actors , both Russ and Yiddish), Ilya Ehrenburg, Pinya. Journalists, mid-level clerks. Evsektsia end 30. Komzet, Ozet – agricultural, end 37, 38. Committee didn’t replace any others. Rep for Js in SU. After WWII, committee continued, culture. Memorialization. 43 – Mikihoels and other, trip to US to raise $, met Einstein . Rehabilitation aid after war.
During war, regime lets reins go of nationalities, lets them work more to gain support for war. Committee – Einkeit, culture, identity. After war, awful conditions. Depression , famines, 46-47, millions of people w/o place to live. Receives govt $ to establish edu in Yiddish. Pre-war, no reason for parents to send to Yiddish schools , like Belarussians to send to Belarussian schools. Committee’s project doomed from beginning. Nothing to do with, hard to find teacher . Places in former Pale, destroyed, communities destroyed if houses still there. Golkom, municipality, didn’t help. No one to write to except for J anti-fascist committee, tens of thousands of petitions. High clerks, should be able to help, and they did help some. Vasily Groisman, Ehrenburg, big party members . Groisman from Berdichev, destroyed. Began to collect stories , testimonies, for black book 46. Gathering from 44. Govt didn’t allow because of collaboration, friendship of peoples . Staloin began to rein in. 46-47, war w partisans in Ukraine. Oprression from above, better day that they had awaited for. Glue, that Sovs had defeated Ger as one. Black Book, some of most well-known authors in SU. Still, Black Book hid, sent to W, published in middle of 60s, Unknown Black Book. Original in Russ, 87. Other book not allowed by Groisman, something about Js.
Babi, silence until then. 64? Silence in IL too. Continue w life, traumatic for many. Wasn’t spoken about in public, but private yes. In Germany, didn’t deal w 3rd Reich hist. Other J communities didn’t know what to do w/Hol survivors, refugees, issues . Political aspirations?
July 48, Mikhoels killed. From top, put end to Committee. Liquidated others from Committee. Rubinstein, Stalin’s Secret Program , try to understand Sov context, what they wanted todo.
Doctors Plot , Zhdanov died from heart problems. Pravda, Izvestia, 53, guilty are J doctors in Kremlin, disproportional. From above. Jan-Mar, scary period for Js in high occuptions. Stalin died. Look in context of other peoples, nations, to understand J minority. Js fully integrated in interior until 48. Now it begins to seem that will not be, not equal. All Js, certain type of Js? Relation to IL, influence on what happens on SU Js.
18 Mar
Stalin’s secret pogrom: the postwar inquisition of the j anti-fascist committee - %party members? Indicted late ? Office of security . Struggle for/against nationalism. Anti soviet vs anti-Semitic. Tied to Il, raising army, intl Js. Yiddish dying, need preserve culture. Nation wo territory, autonomous rights . From ghetto? P 104. Not enough evidence for show trial . Scared of betrayal. Scare Lithuanians, Ukrainians, still fighting. MBG found file. $ from Joint, build settlements in Crimea, letter in 1944. 48, Cold War 2 yrs, W vs SU nearly fighting. Connection to Joint, CIA, bourgeois J plot. Why didn’t use as a show trial? Needed confessions. Heroes of SU, will they actually confess? 49, give up on show trial. Quiet , military trial. Didn’t know what happened until 55-56, rehabilitations. Benefits, work for family. These were some of the highest people in the SU. Other anti-fascist committees stopped functioning, while J committee kept receiving letters . People thought, well we’ve suffered so much country, now country will give us.
Stalin’s Last Crime : the plot against the J doctors, 1948-1953. Murdering and spying bourgeois nationalism, Joint. Doc assistant gulag, head doc order of Lenin . Interrogations, admissions. Kholin first, then Kazakov endocrine. No bolt from blue. Levin no sign death Stalin’s wife ’s death. Stalin sick, hypertension, arteries hardening, blood flow to brain, 1952. Dr Vinogradov says rest , throw in chains says Stalin. Med men, political aims. Like blood libel . Stalin died.
Beilis Trial, 1911-13. Craftsman in Kiev. Country-wide debate, did he really do it? Is it possible? Did this really happen in the past. Intl debate. Russia takes the case . Czar saw that it could be possible. Sanctions from intl community. Innocent, but dark powers participated. Child really died. Found killer, a woman .
High Stalinism – many others, not Js, in GULag. Show trials teach public. What is danger ? Wanted to quell nationalism. Many Js wanted to leave to fight in IL. Land to live, Crimea. Local people in Crimea wanted to secede at this time.
25 Mar 14 – Grey Years? Khrushchev-start of pink years, Gorbachev. Ambivalence, from bottom and from top, confusing stance towards Js. Institute of Psychiatry, about as many Js as Russ, 1945-48, decreased by half 48-49. Less than 2% of pop, much more involved than other ethnic groups. At Inst Psychiatry, very senior , edu 30s. 50s and onward, Js avoided politically-charged occupations, like geography . Natural gas discovered end of 70s. DIdn’t have means to exploit it before. Western companies in the area, less since 2000, P. Putin decreasing.
Pinkus’ book, not narrative , simply what happened. Data, more or less accurate. Other sources, be careful. Lack of sources, still perhaps the best overview, from old gen at least. Revolution, Repression , and Revival, uses many archival sources. Barnai’s article, Khrushchev ‘til ’65, let go quietly, retired in Crimea. Brezhnev’s time, no terrors, wars , purges. Beria liquidated in Khrushchev’s time, not others. Middle of night , won’t take husband. Khrushchev, Malenkov, Beria three main candidates. USSR broke up, 16 states , still hard to get into archives in R, sources still in place. From HQ to periphery. Barnai mostly in Vilna. Docs an asset. What actually happened? More affected , more concerned than Asian republics.
20s, 30s, Js between village and city. Becomes most urbanized of all ethnic groups. Try to return to villages, go to cities. Preserving J ID? Lip service , learning Marxism-Leninism in school. At home, may have read about Js. Intermarriage, if J movement and em wouldn’t have happened, wouldn’t have been Js in 2, 3 gens. 70% born to ½ pair Js, wouldn’t have been Js in USSR. Barriers dropping also for non-Js. Not just Js intermarrying. Coming to IL, don’t really care how J you are until life events , going through rabbinate.
How did govt relate to Js? Less concerned w/private lives. Oxymoron – wanted them to be integrated, but discrimination caused preservation. Until 67, mostly like other people. 66, foreign minister[?] in France , 66 will let family reunions take place in 2 years or so, when requests rise. Weren’t many requests. 1000 a year. Let leaders leave, movement won’t last. Then tens of thousands, surprise . Govt not ready , slow.
1 April – Transition from Stalin to Stagnation , Khrushchev and the Thaw
Babi Yar poem [?], Yevtushenko, shook govt to core . Avant garde . Shostakovich involved. Trying to keep things open . Trying to cope with past. Babi Yar – kolmkend neli. Töötasid koos? Dimensions big. Shastakovich, symphony 34.
From above vs below . SU – whatever state says, goes; monolithic. This, however, is nonsensical. Beria, KGB head, repudiated Doctor ’s Plot. Beria the one political victim of this period. July 53. Diplomatic relations w IL reinstated. Cut off Feb 53, bomb in SU Embassy, Tel Aviv (no one arrested, charged). SU begins to remove censorship between SU Js and Js abroad. Over course of 50s, Js returned to political or professional posts, as anti-cosmopolitan campaign winding down. Anti-cos, mostly anti-J campaign in Pravda, against political and prof posts; people w dual -loyalties, more to world, too many contacts w people outside SU. Question loyalty to socialism. Vast disproportion w J-sounding names . Ended 50s. Mid-50s, almost complete cessation of anti-Semitic statements from above. Resurrection of state Yiddish Theatre, 55, network . Birobidzhan, Chernowitz, Minsk. Doesn’t look like it used to in hey-day, biggest figures were gone. Audience disappearing. Cultural platform, in true market economy may not have survived, SU propping up.
Counterbalance, easing of pressures. Political prisoners freed. Antisemitism grew more from below. Minor pogroms in EE, Czechoslovakia and Romania. Farther E, less anti-Semitism – fewer Js, less history. Islam there more tolerant. W Ukraine, perhaps always will be anti-Semitism.
Protests in Maidan? Putin called protests in Ukraine pogroms. Fascist, may not mean intellectual offspring of Hitler. More way of life or rule, mob forcibly overthrowing elected governments. Threat of perpretual war, such people never satisfied. Yanukovich was democratically elected. Mob was not homogenous, was majority of young, liberal people. But people doing hard works, beating and shooting at Ukrainian policemen. Putin pragmatic, brutal, but not crazy . Are we looking through ideological lens? Putin not a cold warrior, does not want to reconstruct SU; more in Washington. Lithuanians not afraid of Russia coming in; more afraid of gas prices through roof . Deft statesmanship, got exactly what he wanted, Russia’s vital interests in Crimean. Trampled on intl law. Thing of beauty pre-20th century . Plebescite. Country never stopped seeing self as major world power. Nobody asked them what country they wanted to be a part of 1991. We tend to have unrealistic ideas of what is right and wrong regarding intl relations. 1991 also a violation of people’s right to self-determination. Georgia provoked war 2008(?), thought US would come to aid. Russia not overextended; wont allow another Afghanistan. Want to make sure that there are no impending threats in near abroad, countries that used to be part of SU. Cleptocracies? Afraid of countries becoming liberal.
Ukraine – 17th century, Chmelnickov giving swords. Natl movements coming out of closet. Liberal movements mucked up opportunity to govern country, EE (Muslim countries worked differently). Econ catastrophes, not able to bring out, more conservative people. Riots come out of econ catastrophe. Good -thinking people willing to compromise some freedom for stability, have trains run on time, less crime on streets, mafia . Not happening under Yeltsin. Runaway inflation. Edu for civil society takes generation. Baltics and Poland had liberal past to cling to, crawl back on. Remittances brought hard currency in, natl and household economies . Belarus - $ coming from Russia. Hungary big on farming.
SU not doing anything about anti-Semitism from below. Bigger fish to fry. Relaxation of censors, also relaxation of anti-Semitic publications. 56, de-Stalin speech . No mention of Stalin’s anti-J repression. Would be hard to expect people to feel individual guilt for anti-Semitism. 61-63, new wave of subtle anti-Sem from above. Economic trials. Two economies, one that is centrally planned, other the black market. Black market grew so large that it began to take toll on productivity of SU economy. Battle, show trials. Misappropriating funds, stealing products , assets, fruits of central econ system, funneling into pockets. Managing to acquire goods from abroad. Newspapers , disproportionate # of Jewish sounding names, many convicted, some killed.
Was Khrushchev antisem? Not in classic way, but a boy from the village. Had absorbed at church a certain deg of judeophobia. Possibly antisem, but not his driving force. Party slogans. Absolutely refused to recognize J suffering. Ukraine today demanding recognition of genocide , famine of 30s, millions died, wanting indemnities, etc. New Uk govt see SU past as kind of bad dream to genocide. Disconcerting to Ru.
Pop rel begins to bubble up again , esp Islam and Orthodoxy. Islamic fundamentalism didn’t really exist outside of Egypt in this time. Concerned about dual loyalties. Ambivalence on part of many, animosity on other parts. W religion come all sorts of things. Synagogue becomes again a problematic place. Restriction on J rituals, from matzah to circumcision. State more actively recruits informers w/in rel communities throughout Ru. Again, more concerned w Islam and Orthodoxy. “Mood of people.” Conducting services w/o priest. Weddings, burials had been conducted under state, doing more under rel ritual. Aware and reacting. Govt in J case, forcibly trying to break up minyanim. Yeshivot in SU throughout, perhaps only for show, but do train rabbis, etc. Not many, mostly in major cities. Restricting travel for studies . Synagogues existed, could go freely, but stopped using by 50s, understood being watched . State houses, certain things can be done, under certain conditions, 3 people max.
Babi Yar – singling out Js, insult to mem of non-Js. 10% Sov citizens killed. What is ok to memorialize? What is not ok? Pointing question at solidarity. Local collaboration. Hanging people left and right in 45 for collaboration. Topic for public debate, very sensitive. Liberal democracies can handle better than quasi-dictatorships. Holland most volunteers to SS.
29 April – Jacob Schiff, tried to dry up anti-Semitic tsarist Russia, turn of century, not give loans. Failed, European banks kept giving loans, profit . More connected to Europe than Russia. Jackson -Vannick laws , 70s. Commerce, twist arm to allow Js, also Ger and Armenians, to leave. Could buy everything from Canada , Australia, etc., that could have got from US. Declarative level. What was actually done.
Europe has economic potential to influence Russia. Germany, France biggest consumers. US could sell energy to Europeans for cheap ? There’s an ocean . Trade or human rights.
Gates open at end of 80s, many reasons, not just J Movement.
Antisemtism in Ukraine today? Information, not facts. Chaos. Chabad rabbi, not accepted by R Js. In Put’s pocket; flattering. Neo- Nats in Uk? Chmelnicki, Bandera on currency. Only non-good choices for Js in Uk. Not many Js there anymore . Many young former SU Israelis have returned to former SU, mostly R and Uk. R and Uk nationalists; transnationalism. Migration tied to economy.
Back to Babi Yar memorials. 61, poem published. Literaturnaya Gazeta , very popular among educated. Says there is anti-Semitism in SU, Uk collaborators. Pogrom in Malakhovka, Dagestan, 59. Poem declared that WWII J suffering was unique . Mentions Anna Frank (censored), SU version of Anna Frank happened here too. Govt reacts harshly in newspapers, until end of 62? Shastakovich’s symphony. Couldn’t react harshly to Shastakovich, famous. Changed some text in the symphony? More
13 May 2014
48-67 SU relations w IL. Lukewarm IL relying on France? France diff role. IL not all that socialist. Refugees from SU, see SU as sort of homeland, not devil . 2nd, 3rd aliyahs, changed name, lang, ID. Million + from SU didn’t change ID, preserved R lang, culture. Few hundred thousand returned to former SU, 70s-today.
Bad things happened to Js in this period, but they did to the rest of the pop as well. Downs perhaps a little worse , but ups a little better. More or less normal life. Crying when Stalin died, afraid of what will happen, who will protect us? Khrushchev capricious, people breathed when he was dismissed. Brezhnev, stability.
Rumors, 52-53, Js driven to Far E. No proof . More or less as normal. How can you measure normal life? Anachronisms, comparisons w life in W. Compare w/ neighbors. J masses were living just great. Changes 80s, early 90s. Cossacks persecuting? No, econ became worse in 80s and 90s, but now they had a place to go.
SU and US, proxy wars many places. United Arab Republic, backed by SU? Didn’t want war. Not calling all shots . Latakia.
49 – Tsahal further than UN agreement of 47? SU finds that not fitting as socialist partner . Korean War –all nations, what to vote in UN? UN going to war? IL required to vote. SU supported IL in UN, sent weapons. SU expected IL to support SU. IL deliberated, absented. Bomb in Ramat Gan. Stalin dies, 53. Sinai Campaign. Hungarian uprising? IL collaborating w postcolonials. Stalin didn’t support Arabs? Khrushchev decided to support 3rd world countries, influence, including Arab world. Russia still feels it has historic responsibility in the world, not sending weapons, but other ways.
20 May 2014 – post-67
Life pretty good for Js, but not for Judaism . Mostly econ reasons for leaving.
88-89 KGB not tracking people so much, don’t need to be so quiet. Ro’I and Beker’s book, 91, archives not open so much, but people yes. Researchers went to activists. Picture of awful life. Ro’I, Jewish Movement in the Soviet Union, 2012, more archival sources. Regular people. Kulturniks, wanted to open synagogues. Political dissidents, wanted to change the system.
Before reading article – background and footnotes.
27 May
Evan’s presentation on passportization - Lenin and Stalin, not a separate nation, not having a territory. Lenin wavered on this. Stalin’s statement in Marxism and Natl Question, 1914. Natl territories in Crimea and Birobidzhan. After Rev, labeled a nation. Jewish Commissariate, Evsektsia. Koronizatsia, J schools, institutions. Retreat. Jewishness a nationality or a religion? Religious books not allowed.
5th paragraph – nationality ?. 16 years old, could decide if parents of diff nationalities. Dec 27 1932. Basis for unofficial discrimination of Js. Not directed towards J. Cities crowded? Stop moving around, anonymity. Affect on Js during Holocaust. ID, ability to succeed, edu and employment . Other nationalities encouraged to increase #s in universities . Take from other.
Sources? Proximity in time, books for issuing passports, esp in Baltics, etc. Nationality not listed in intl passports. IL just removed nationality from internal passports. DK – party archives, municipal archives – propiski, what’s approved, what’s denied.
Tsvi’s presentation – was the USSR an anti-Semitic regime? Complexity . Not the same as 1881. Suffered along w many other nationalities in USSR. Arbitrariness, repression, etc. Govt saw some things as threat. Gitelman – never a regime that tried to combat anti-Semitism more than early Bolsheviks. Antisemitism at odds w Communist ideals . Tried to distance self from tsarist regime. Lenin – 1919, not Js who are enemy of working people, but capitalists. Among Js and Rs, kulaks and others. Stalin, ’31.
J schools and synagogues shut down. Trying to eliminate organized religion. Cohesion to distinctive entity. Catholicism most bitter enemy of SU, Bolshaya Sovietskaya Entsiklopedia. Stalin more anti-Semitic in 30s. Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky all Js. Purges, affected all people, as did deportations at start of WWII. Gauge – compare to other nationalities.
Naomi – Riga, 45, J edu system, better living conditions? Star of David hanging, ulpans, prayers, bball, etc.
17 June – Levis broke the SU. If standard of living would have been better, would there have been a J movement? Gma, waiting in lines. Stagnation, great gaps. Command economy. Lack of incentive , too much emphasis on heavy industry, poor distribution of resources.
How to define J community? Synagogues? Institutions? Most important – population. IN SU, by definition of govt. As historians, focus more on collective ID than personal ID, though also significant. There were yeshivas in late SU, though not many. Forests. H clubs . J culture, rel, hist clubs. Neighborhoods. Places of work, even if unconsciously; pushed out of applied sciences. Section 5[?] forced Jews to survive as Jews. Pew Report – Less than ½ of US belong to any sort of institution, even regular life cycle stuff . ,
Js living just fine compared to other ethnic groups. Like others, standing in food lines, integrating, getting into big universities (though not in certain areas).
End of SU, hyper-nationalism, first time since Civil War, Panyat (Memory), violent antisemtism in the street . Pensions disappeared in a day. Where no govt, perhaps pogroms. Violence turned out to be more against people with darker skin.
Still coming from SU. Should be 0 according to census from 70s[?]. 70s and 80s, Js to US as refugees. No longer in 1989. No longer political danger, just like others from political perspective. Long wait, $. Many didn’t want to wait, most to il. 92-94, Ger opened doors. Gave pensions, socialist. Some coming to Il who aren ’t Js, even by Law of Return.