Supported by the EAJC, the Hebrew translation of David Markish's book 'From the Border to the Border' has been published

Recently, the hakibbutz Hameuchad publishing house, with the support of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, released the Hebrew translation of "From Boundary to Boundary" (Ot Mi-Kav El-Kav) by David Markish, son of the late Peretz Markish. Peretz Markish was a Soviet Yiddish poet and writer, and in 1939 became the only Soviet Jewish writer to be awarded the Order of Lenin. He was arrested in 1949 as a member of the presidium of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC). Following torture, abuse, and a secret trial, he was executed by firing squad on August 12, 1952. Markish was posthumously rehabilitated on November 22, 1955.

"From Boundary to Boundary" spans a period significantly longer than the history of the JAC itself, from its formation to its liquidation (1942–1948). It opens with a prologue dedicated to the 1791 decree by Empress Catherine the Great establishing the Jewish Pale of Settlement (the so-called "Yiddishland"), detailing the lifestyle, social, and political foundations of this unique territorial entity on the western fringes of the Empire, from which the key figures of the future "JAC Case" emerged.

The chapters of the book cover the emigration (1922–1926) of the Jewish writers who later became victims of the "JAC Case," as well as the history of the "Crimea Project"—Stalin's promises to transfer the Crimean Peninsula to the Jewish population to establish a national republic. It also covers the most prominent episode in the history of the JAC: the 1943 trip by Solomon Mikhoels and Itzik Feffer (undercover codename "Zorin") to the United States at the invitation of Albert Einstein, the subsequent suppression of the JAC, the arrest of its leadership, and the secret trial of the Committee's executive board, which concluded with death sentences. The book concludes with an epilogue on the proposed but unimplemented deportation of urban Jews to Siberia, the Far East, and the Far North (Operation "White Partridge").

The book presents several lesser-known or entirely unknown facts from the history of the JAC. Examples include Feffer arranging a meeting between NKVD officer Elizaveta Rosenzweig-Zarubina and the scientific directors of the Manhattan Project, a proposal by the Soviet UN representative to admit three hundred thousand Palestinian refugees to the USSR to establish a Soviet Socialist Republic for them in Uzbekistan, and Stalin's winter 1953 plan to deport Soviet Jews to Siberia and the Far North.

It is noteworthy that on August 12, 2020, EAJC, in cooperation with the "Last Address" project, installed two memorial plaques in Moscow to commemorate the members of the JAC.

One plaque was installed at 13 Leninsky Prospekt in memory of the prominent Jewish biochemist, Academician Jakub Oskar Parnas. Arrested in late January 1949 on charges of "conducting espionage against the USSR on behalf of a foreign power," Parnas died in prison. He was rehabilitated in 1954 "due to the absence of a crime in his actions." The second plaque was installed at 36 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street in memory of Peretz Markish.

In addition, early last year, the International Memorial in Moscow hosted the premiere screening of the documentary film "The Markish Case," a unique six-part documentary project by the "Babel" bookstore (Tel Aviv) and the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.

All episodes of the film are available on the EAJC YouTube channel.