War, the Holocaust and Stalinism

Shimon Redlich

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781134367177
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

First Published in 1995. The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee was an organization created by the Soviet authorities as a tool of Soviet war propaganda. However, the committee gradually assumed a Jewish identity and served as a focus for Jewish problems and concerns. Soviet Government, Party and Security began to view the committee with suspicion. Increasing conservatism and anti-Jewish policy rendered the existence of this Jewish organization precarious. War, Holocaust and Stalinism presents a documented history of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in the Soviet Union during the Second World War, the Holocaust and the immediate post-war years to the end of 1948. It centers upon the tragic fate of Soviet Jewry under both Hitler and Stalin during this most significant period in Jewish history. This is the first publication of documents from the newly opening Russian archives, primarily from the Russian State Archive and the former Archive of the Communist Party. Using previously unpublished material, this volume offers a new insight into Soviet and Stalinist policies towards Jews and the JAFC and the decision-making processes involved.

PART ONE

THE JEWISH ANTI-FASCIST COMMITTEE REVISITED

Introduction

This book deals with the most tragic period in the history of Soviet Jews, that of the Second World War, the Holocaust and postwar Stalinism.¹ The existence of a single Soviet Jewish institution, the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAFC), spanned most of those years. Since the JAFC was the the only central Jewish structure in Soviet Russia, it was inexorably connected to the fate of Soviet Jewry. The situation of Soviet Jews during that time could be examined, to a considerable extent, through the prism of this Committee.

My former study of the JAFC was based on every possible scrap of information available at the time.² However, one most significant and conventional source was missing — documents from Soviet archives. Any prospect for access to such documentation seemed far fetched a few years ago, and I wasn’t even sure whether documents concerning the JAFC had been preserved. It was only in 1989–1990, in the course of my first visits to Moscow, that I learned about the existence of the JAFC Archive.³ After more than two decades of studying and teaching Soviet history, and Soviet Jewry in particular, I stepped over the threshold of what had previously been beyond my reach. There is no need to dwell here on my personal and professional excitement. I would only mention that I had to take a tranquilizer when the first original JAFC files were brought to me at the Central Archives of the October Revolution. It was like facing, more directly and intimately than ever before, persons, events, and an atmosphere, which were all familiar to me from earlier encounters. Reading those documents not far from the actual site of the JAFC story, everything became somehow more real, more tangible.

My initial reaction to this exciting archival encounter was to begin writing, from scratch, a new, extensive history of the JAFC. However, after a detailed examination of the files, it seemed much more sensible simply to fill in the blank spaces in my former study, focusing on the new documentation. New information concerning the “inner life” of the Committee became available through the JAFC Archive. Another highly significant aspect of the Committee’s history, its relations with the higher echelons of the regime, became available from the former Party Archive. The most logical proposition seemed, therefore, to present the reader with a comprehensive collection of new JAFC-related documents and integrate them into the already known story of the Committee.

Hitler’s attack on Russia resulted in far-reaching changes in Soviet policy. Stalin and the Soviet leadership attempted to consolidate the support of its domestic population for the war effort, and to mobilize public opinion abroad for support of its foreign policy objectives. At home, it encouraged expressions of national and religious sentiments; abroad, it replaced communist-oriented propaganda by an emphasis on issues uniting the forces fighting fascism and Nazism. In addition to a massive appeal to Russian patriotism, an impressive campaign was launched to foster national sentiments among non-Russian nationalities in the USSR. A common feature of this campaign was the organization of meetings of “representatives” of various Soviet nationalities. A Slav rally took place in early August, 1941, and a meeting of “representatives” of Soviet Jews was held two weeks later. A Ukrainian rally followed in November, and meetings of other nationality groups took place throughout the following year.⁴ Most of the speakers at these rallies, and signatories to the appeals which followed, were not directly identified with the Party and Government; the emphasis was clearly on the representatives of the various national cultures. In order to gain support for war objectives, the leadership made use of additional population groups, such as women, young people, and scientists. Meetings of “representatives” of these categories were also organized in the early fall of 1941.⁵

The next step was the establishment of a number of anti-fascist committees, i.e., those of the Slavs, Jews, scientists, women, and youth. They were supervised by the Soviet Information Bureau (Sovinformburo). This top information and propaganda agency, acting under the aegis of the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, was set up on June 24, 1941, the third day of the German invasion. It received its directives from the Central Committee and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A leading Sovinformburo official, discussing its role and functions, remarked that “… major problems were decided by the Propaganda Department (of the CC), at times by the Politburo and the Secretariat (of the CC).”⁶ The Sovinformburo set up press conferences for foreign correspondents, which was a total reversal of former media policies in the USSR. It was responsible for the formulation and dissemination of official Soviet wartime information and propaganda for both domestic and foreign consumption. It issued official press and radio communiques on the military situation, produced leaflets which were dropped behind enemy lines, and, most important, supervised the flow of information and propaganda abroad. It maintained a net of representatives in all allied countries. In 1944 alone, the Sovinformburo submitted materials to 32 foreign telegraph and newspaper agencies, and to 18 radio stations abroad. It dispatched a total of 135,000 articles during the war.⁷ Its unique methods were pointed out in a Sovinformburo report which stated: “… our materials and articles are forwarded as objective information and are dispatched openly via official channels. Therefore, although they actually consist of propaganda material, they could not be easily listed as such.”⁸ The Sovinformburo recruited the most popular and prolific Soviet writers and journalists. The most popular of all, both inside the country and in the West, was Ilya Ehrenburg.⁹ Ehrenburg’s journalistic style and his profound knowledge of the West turned him into the most sought after Soviet author in British and American editorial circles. The United Press Agency alone submitted Ehrenburg’s articles to more than 1600 newspapers.¹⁰ From time to time, the Sovinformburo organized meetings with writers and journalists, at which current issues and problems were discussed.

The Bureau included regional departments, the most important of which were those responsible for the US and Britain. Editors, journalists, translators, and people with diplomatic experience were recruited to its staff. The Sovinformburo was headed by Aleksandr Shcherbakov,¹¹ one of the most significant and influential Soviet leaders during the war. His primary responsibility seemed to be in the sphere of ideology and propaganda. Unlike many on the Sovinformburo staff, Shcherbakov himself was completely unfamiliar with western culture and was considered by Western observers to be one of the most xenophobic and anti-semitic members of Stalin’s entourage. Khrushchev¹² remembered him as “… one of the most contemptible characters around Stalin during the War.”¹³ Stalin considered the work of the Sovinformburo to be extremely important for the Soviet war effort, and particularly appreciated the input of its Jewish Committee. Khrushchev testified that “… the Sovinformburo and its Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee were considered indispensable to the interests of our State, our policies and our Communist Party.”¹⁴ We may assume that because the Sovinformburo was oriented towards, and maintained contacts with the West, Shcherbakov, a particularly trusty watchdog, was appointed to supervise its activities.

Shcherbakov’s deputy was Solomon Lozovsky,¹⁵ a Jew, and a man who, unlike his boss, was quite familiar with the West. As a specialist on the West and the international workers movement, he seemed the right person to assist Shcherbakov. Those Western correspondents who met him during the war, testified that Lozovsky, with his “old world” charm, his knowledge of several European languages, and his witty manner of responding to journalists, was well suited to his job.

Soviet foreign wartime propaganda intensively used various pro-Soviet groups and front organizations abroad. Special efforts were directed toward cultural, religious and ethnic groups. Outstanding individuals, such as well-known writers and scientists, were also exploited for this purpose. This massive Soviet public relations offensive culminated in visits abroad by Soviet delegations. Pro-Soviet front organizations abroad were supported by local fellow travelers. The usefulness to Soviet wartime propaganda of both was their ability to provide points of contact with non-communist sectors of the society. The number of pro-Soviet friendship organizations in the West peaked after 1941, when Russia became particularly popular in intellectual and artistic circles. They conducted aid campaigns on behalf of the Soviet Union and mobilized the support of public opinion for Soviet wartime policies.¹⁶

Notes

1. For studies concerning this period. See: Schwarz, 1966; Redlich, 1968; Gilboa, 1972; Litvak, 1988; Levin, 1989; Pinchuk, 1990; Rapoport, 1990; Arad, 1991; Dobroszycki & Gurock, 1993; Borshchagovskii, 1993; Borshchagovskii, 1994; Vaksberg, 1992; Vaksberg, 1994; Naumov, 1994; Kostyrchenko, 1994; Liass, 1995.

2. Redlich, 1982; Redlich, 1990.

3. Redlich, 1992–1993.

4. Redlich, 1982: 180–181, n. 5–9.

5. Ibid.: 181, n. 12–14.

6. RTsKhIDNI, f. 17, op. 125, d. 385, 1. 40.

7. Nemzer, 1948: 348–360; Krasil’shchik, 1984, vol. 1: 5–15, vol. 2: 457–472.

8. GARF, f. 8581, op. 1, d. 97, 1. 20.

9. Ehrenburg, Ilya Grigoryevich (1891–1967), writer and journalist. Born in Kiev into a Jewish middle-class family, he became involved in revolutionary activity at an early age. In 1908, he left Russia for Paris, where he associated with local artists and writers and wrote his first poems. His journalistic career started during the First World War. Ehrenburg returned to Russia in the summer of 1917, and witnessed anti-Jewish pogroms during the Revolution and the Civil War. He wrote his first novels during those years. He left Russia again for Paris in 1921, and lived there most of the time until his final return to Moscow in 1940. Ehrenburg, besides being a prolific poet and novelist, served as a foreign correspondent for the Soviet press during his stay abroad. During the Second World War, he served as correspondent for the Soviet army newspaper Red Star. Jewish themes occupied an important place in Ehrenburg’s works. During the war he published numerous articles on Nazi atrocities against the Soviet population in general, and against the Jews, in particular. He was a member of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee and one of the initiators of the Black Book on the Holocaust of Soviet Jewry. He often condemned anti-semitic attitudes within the USSR. During the war years and afterwards, Ehrenburg received numerous letters and appeals from Soviet Jews who, in the absence of official Jewish institutions, considered Ehrenburg as an “address” for Jewish issues and problems. For years after the war, Ehrenburg was active in the Soviet-sponsored Peace Movement. During Khrushchev’s era, Ehrenburg identified with liberal minded Soviet intellectuals. His memoirs, which he started writing in the late fifties, had a significant impact upon them.

10. Krasil’shchik, 1984, vol. 2: 460.

11. Shcherbakov, Aleksandr Sergeyevich (1901–1945)...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• CONTENTS
• Abbreviations of Names of Archives
• List of Documents
• List of Illustrations (Between pages 162 and 163)
• Acknowledgements
• Editor’s Note
• PART ONE: THE JEWISH ANTI-FASCIST COMMITTEE REVISITED
• PART TWO: DOCUMENTS
• List of Document Sources
• Bibliography and Abbreviations
• Index