“For us, it is important that the revised history textbooks, which glorify Russian imperialism, both tsarist and soviet, with anti-Semitic features, but also the expansionist Putinist one, reached schools in Transnistria. Respectively, while on the right bank of the Nistru citizens hope that the Republic of Moldova can be reunited, on the left bank of the Nistru the younger generations are instructed to wait for an eventual restoration of the Russian empire – “the only liberating empire, unlike all other invading ones”...
---
Ordinary Antisemitism
On January 13, it was the 76th anniversary of the planned killing by agents of the USSR Ministry of State Security (called KGB until March 1954) of the people’s artist, actor, director, artistic director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater, and chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAFC), Solomon Mikhoels. The murder was sanctioned by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin himself. So as not to arouse suspicion, the murder was committed at the villa of the security chief of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR), where Mikhoels and a colleague of his, who maintained relations with the Soviet intelligence services, had been invited. The latter was liquidated together with Mikhoels to avoid possible leaks of information about the planning of the special operation. The bodies of the two, crushed under the wheels of a truck, were dumped on the outskirts of Minsk, thus staging a road accident that allegedly resulted in the death of two inebriated persons. Details of the planning of the murder of people who were inconvenient to the Soviet regime, including of Solomon Mikhoels, can be found in the memoir book Espionage and the Kremlin. The memoirs of an unwanted witness by Soviet diversionist Pavel Sudoplatov, who coordinated, by Stalin’s order, the murder of Leon Trotsky in August 1940.
Solomon Mikhoels was murdered after he had become very popular in the USSR, daring to periodically remind Stalin of the promise to form a Soviet republic for citizens of Jewish ethnic origin. The Soviet tyrant made such a promise after the Nazi invasion of the USSR, when he needed the support of highly influential Jewish communities in various states, especially in the U.S., to provide military, technical and other aid to the USSR. To this end, in August 1941, a forum of representatives of the Jewish people was convened and this was attended by a number of highly influential people in the fields of culture and science, including Solomon Mikhoels. The forum called on the Jewish brothers around the world to come to the aid of the USSR and had great resonance in Western countries, especially in the U.S. where the Jewish Council for Support of Russia was created and was led by Nobel laureate Albert Einstein himself.
Accordingly, in the USSR the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee was created on April 7, 1942, supervised by the NKVD, like any other public organization. Control over the work of the JAFC became a problem in the competition of various Soviet bodies, such as, for example, the international department (Sovinformbiuro) of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and other bodies interested in collecting information from diverse sources. However, the JAFC’s work was a real success as the Committee managed to collect huge amounts of money in support of the USSR, but especially to convince the governments of democratic states to support the USSR. Thus, in 1943, at the invitation of Albert Einstein, Mikhoels made a triumphant trip to the UK, Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, where committees were set up to help the USSR. And after Mikhoels’ speech at a huge rally in New York, the mayor of the megalopolis urged the U.S. president to speed up the opening of the second front in Europe. Therefore, immediately after the end of the war, the prestige of the JAFC proved to be a big problem for the Soviet authorities and personally for Joseph Stalin, who had to honor his promises.
The outbreak of the Cold War in 1946 turned the JAFC into an extremely inconvenient body which, due to its international prestige, could not simply be transformed into an obedient organization, but neither could it be liquidated after it had become useless and even dangerous for the Soviet system. Under such circumstances, the senior leadership of the USSR initially decided to behead the JAFC by killing its chairman, Solomon Mikhoels and then launched a smear campaign against the organization, accusing it of spying for foreign states, and finally accusing members of the JAFC leadership of links with Jewish nationalist organizations in America. For this fact in 1949, all the leaders of the organization were arrested. The tragic end of the JAFC occurred in 1952, when all members of the leadership – 15 notable persons in the field of science and culture - were convicted and executed, except for Lina Stern, the first female tenured member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union.
Samples of anti-Semitism elevated to rank of state ideology
The JAFC case was not a single manifestation of anti-Semitism, which had long since become a systemic phenomenon in the USSR. The vast collective scientific research, materialized in the work State Antisemitism in the USSR: 1938 - 1953 served as a proof of this. It is noteworthy that among the authors of this study that was published in 2005 are, for example, academicians Yevgeny Primakov and Aleksandr Chubaryan, who enjoy great popularity among Russian nationalists. Based on official documents from Soviet archives, a number of accusations were identified, which were gradually transformed into ideological clichés for their use for propaganda purposes against ethnic Jews. The given research notes the following concrete, well-documented methods of attributing negative characteristics to Jews and accusing them of:
- Elimination of representatives of other nationalities, primarily Russians, from certain spheres of activity: the time is already coming when a Russian professor can be exhibited only for public viewing, while Russian leaders in health institutions can still be found at the museum. Pharmaceutical jobs are 100% in Jewish hands;
- exaggeration of the role of Jews in the life and activities of the USSR, in the Great Patriotic War: In many materials prepared or sent abroad, the role of Jews in the Patriotic War, in industry, science and culture is particularly emphasized, and in a number of cases the impression is created that the USSR owes its victory mainly to Jews;
- Undermining of the Soviet ideal: the Jews influence the psychology of the Soviet people, distancing them from the communist ideal. They introduce into all areas of our lives the spirit of mercantilism, personal gain, lack of principle, hypocrisy, etc.
Soviet state anti-Semitism did not appear groundlessly. It is an extension of Russian anti-Semitism of imperialist origin. In this sense, it is enough to remember the fate of Jews in the Tsarist empire – the prison of peoples: discrimination against them through the so-called zone of settlement; the series of pogroms against Jewish communities, inspired by the so-called black hundreds, the case of the communist anarchist Dmitry Bogrov – the assassin of Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin, who was used to trigger a real anti-Semitic hysteria, as if Russian history did not know the phenomenon of terrorism practiced by the People’s Will, etc.
Justification of Russian imperialism and revision of history
The aforementioned is important to highlight an extremely curious phenomenon. The point is one of the authors of the study State Antisemitism in the USSR: 1938 – 1953, Aleksandr Chubaryan is currently a great supporter of Vladimir Putin and of the policies to revise history inspired by this. As president of the Russian State Academic University for the Humanities, Chubaryan is also one of the authors of the revised history textbooks for V-XI grades, in which the concept of “empire” is explained. The subject is very important in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
So, today students in Russia are taught that all empires that ever existed had negative roles, exploiting and suppressing other peoples, except for the Russian empire. According to the textbook edited by Chubaryan, this is because “all the empires in the world were overseas territories. In the case of the Russian empire, there was a common space. Therefore, when the modern CIS countries were part of Russia, they were objectively included in this common economic space and became a single unit with Russia.” It can be seen that academician Chubaryan forgot that the Tsarist empire was the prison of peoples, but even more curious is that he forgot what happened, for example, to the leaders of the JAFC about whom he wrote a study, who had the misfortune to remind Stalin of the made promises regarding the creation of a Jewish republic in the USSR. In fact, as early as in 1934, a supposedly Jewish region was created in the Far East, in which Jews now make up less than 1% of the inhabitants.
For us, it is important that the revised history textbooks, which glorify Russian imperialism, both tsarist and soviet, with anti-Semitic features, but also the expansionist Putinist one, reached schools in Transnistria. Respectively, while on the right bank of the Nistru citizens hope that the Republic of Moldova can be reunited, on the left bank of the Nistru the younger generations are instructed to wait for an eventual restoration of the Russian empire – “the only liberating empire, unlike all other invading ones”.
Victor Pelin
See related articles:
- Common candidate, slightly independent... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Prospects of battle of Pobeda bloc. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Conduct of 2024 census. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Presidential amnesia syndrome. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Impact of setting of date of presidential election and constitutional referendum. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Communist-Socialist gorillas against Victory. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Ex-premier Vasile Tarlev’s fourth attempt to return to politics. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Day of victory over fascism against the background of its reanimation. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- About constitutional referendum. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Manipulation by omission and shifting of emphasis. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Thoughts on 15th anniversary of April 7-8, 2009 events... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Referendum inflation. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Thoughts generated by Moscow terrorist attack. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Intrigue of Russia presidential election. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Guțul eclipsed Vlah? Op-ed by Victor Pelin
- Why does Irina Vlah’s platform risk not enjoying support? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- What is at stake in presidential election. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Danger of fifth column and reaction of society. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Consequences of Yalta Conference: liberators vs. occupiers. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Sample of plagiarism and manipulation by omission. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Who won the elections yet? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- About author of transformation of utopia into antiutopia. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- About miracles and winter holidays... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Longest war of Soviet imperialism. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Origin of culture of denouncements and informers. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Story of white bull is not most boring one... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Choice of Bessarabians... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Reanimation of propaganda reflexes. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- About memorable dates and undelivered promises... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Loss and reassertion of identity... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- On brink of eternity... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Interpretation of polls by politicians. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Glorification of Soviet-Nazi victory. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Choice imposed by two symbolic events. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Many mobilized, few elected... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Threats and intimidation on Independence Day. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- The impossibility of communism with a human face. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Second attempt to step into same river. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Gagauz crisis – developer of moral decadence. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Inauguration of governor of Dreamland... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Carthage must be destroyed! Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Ace of spades and resuscitation of success story. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Forcing doors open... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Special civil military operation. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- While waiting for Constitutional Court judgment... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Electoral prelude... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Dreamland of political adventurists... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Habit cures habit? Op-Ed de Victor Pelin
- Ultima ratio. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Fair of Communist-Socialist generosity. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Without MIR, for peace between nations, against aggression... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Silence kept by wedding party guests and deception of Shor’s victim... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Echo of April 7 events… Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Justifying rhetoric for eventual Russian aggression. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Exaggerated capacities of Maia Sandu... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Igor Dodon’s premonitions and its effects. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Communists make call for terror? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- How long will we remain caught in the toils of falsehoods? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Subversive actions – Russia relapses? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Critics of Gavrilița Government... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Apostles of war. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Times of Natashas have come? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Traditional values... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Black swan, the last hope... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Regime of Putin declared terrorist. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Lost letters. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- The European alternative of Mayor Ion Ceban. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- When hounds growls, puppies also bark... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Devastating potential of powerful Putinist ideas. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- The crab, the frog and a pike... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Europeanization of Gagauzia. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Cooperation with NATO and complementation of 3C strategy. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- About benefits of occupation... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Geopolitical alternative, stake of opposition. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Wormhole and end of Moldovan geopolitics... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Half-truths more dangerous than lies... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- 3D – Despair, Demagogy, Deja-vu – strategy. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Natalia beating round the bush in Big House. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Weak government challenged by discredited and confused opposition. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- End of post-Soviet transition. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Misanthrope atavism. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- May! Labor! Peace? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Spring fever and opium for people. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- What purpose do opinion polls serve? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Hybrid warfare of government and opposition. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Invitation to aggression ... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Maia Sandu and PAS – beneficiaries of special operation... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Kaa and hypnotized monkeys. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Russian or Arab spring? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Russia builds a new world order... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Crocodile will not pull back... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- The powder keg. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Multipolar world after 15 years of pretensions... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Like it or not, country will rebuild itself. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Socialists oscillating between three models. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- What is permissible for Jupiter is not permissible for ... Op-Ed by VictorPelin
- Between hammer and anvil. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- 2022, year of geopolitical crises. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- “Congress of winners” or Parallels between Igor Dodon and Mahtama Gandhi. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Enigma shrouded in mystery... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Revolt of Ilan Șor’s company... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Pension system and politicians’ speculations. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- What is good and what is bad... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- How to fight hatred and foolishness? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Maia Sandu’s one year of presidency. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Gerontocracy in action. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- We do not surrender country to foreigners? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- First electoral test for new government. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Năstase, Filip, Dodon... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Cases of Stoianoglo and Gațcan. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Yellow and maroon bullshit. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Charm of electronic voting. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Moldova, Moldovans, Moldovan? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Lustration. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Waiting for good times... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Similar steps in foreign policy... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
-
- Stepping on rakes. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Power and opposition... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Vote of Transnistrians. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Electoral confusions. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Danger of disappearance of Moldova. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Lack of discernment. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Futuristic reflections. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Electoral fibs. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Voronin’s panegyric. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Speculative geopolitics. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Turns of political weathervanes. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Assimilators and pretenders to Plahotniuc’s inheritance. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Does Moldova have a future? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Communists’ amnesia. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Who divides society? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- About electoral blocs. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Joint effort of parties of the left... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- About constitutional aberrations. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Usurpations of usurped power… Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Danger of regional war... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Bafflement of Socialists. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Competition of Igor Dodon vs. Maia Sandu. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Enigma of April 7, 2009 events. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Zinaida Grechanyi complains to Council of Europe. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Vaccination and political games. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Why is Maia Sandu more dangerous than Vlad Plahotniuc? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Institutional memory of Moldova’s presidential administration. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Coalition of the brazen. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Steps towards Union... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Troublesome decree. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Success of failure... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Balance of accomplishments of Presidents elected by general vote... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Orthodox Church in danger... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- PSRM, QUO VADIS? Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Confrontation between Mentor and Tester. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Russia confirms high quality of Moldovan wine. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- “List of sins” of Maia Sandu. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Maia Sandu’s “taburetka”. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Delayed actions of Maia Sandu. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Socialists’ departures and decline. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Inevitability of snap elections. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Boomerang. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- In Moscow, after directives... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Unfavorable inheritance. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Danger of Igor Dodon’s opportunism. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Preparations for snap elections. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Electoral performance of unionists. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Grimaces of neo-paganism. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Socialists’ dilemma. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- From defeat to defeat up to victory... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- National consensus and division of society. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Imperialist movement vs. NGOs. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Paganism vs. Christian values. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Renato Usatyi versus Igor Dodon. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Ana Guțu and watchdogs. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Splendor and misery... of propagandists. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- About lackeys and sons of a bitch. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Bifurcated candidates. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- The discrepancy between words and deeds. Op-Ed byVictor Pelin
- Coincidence? I don’t think so! Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Moldovan political fauna, Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- It looks uglier in reality than from afar, Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- “Russian people’s present”, Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Independence Day. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Commemoration of victims of totalitarian regimes. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Vaccination and chipping of Moldovans. Pamphlet by Victor Pelin
- Balanced foreign policy. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Solution: Annulment of presidential elections! Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- Beam in Maia’s eye… Op-Ed by Victor Pelin
- A new attack with gases, Op-Ed
- Renato Usatyi – President Dodon’s Furgal, Op-Ed
- While waiting for... Patriarch Kirill, Op-Ed
- President Dodon’s change of orientation, Op-Ed
- Where is the money, Ștefănică? Op-Ed