Jewish Citizens in the Totalitarian State

On this day, August 12, a series of memorial events marks the 70th anniversary of the brutal execution of members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC). Today, we cannot afford to forget this harrowing historical lesson.

“In January 1949, it became clear that Russian Jews would pay dearly for the reception they had given us,” Golda Meir wrote in her autobiography, describing her first visit to Moscow as Israel's official representative.

“For the Soviet government, the joy with which they welcomed us was equated to 'treason' against communist ideals,” she continued. “The Jewish theater in Moscow was closed. The Jewish newspaper ‘Eynikeyt’ was shut down. The Jewish publishing house 'Emes' was closed. What did it matter that they were all loyal to the party line? Russian Jewry showed too much interest in Israel and Israelis for the Kremlin's liking. Within five months, not a single Jewish organization remained in Russia, and Jews made sure to keep their distance from us.”

This took place one year after the brutal murder of Solomon Mikhoels, the renowned Jewish actor and director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater. Other members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee — poets, actors, and writers — were subjected to judicial prosecution, which culminated in their execution three years later on August 12, 1952. These events, occurring 70 years ago, would later be commemorated as the “Night of the Murdered Poets.”

Memorial events designed to preserve and pass on the history of this tragedy have become symbols of the revival of Jewish life in the countries of the former USSR, and the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress organizes them with profound dedication. For the second consecutive year, the ANU – Museum of the Jewish People holds a series of such events on this day.

In the early Soviet years, Jewish culture was forcibly segregated and purged of any “Zionist sentiments.” In contrast to wider Jewish culture, Yiddish culture was granted the right to exist by the ruling party, stimulating a true renaissance in the years that followed. By the outbreak of World War II, Soviet citizens were well-acquainted with prominent Jewish cultural figures such as Solomon Mikhoels, Itzik Feffer, Benjamin Zuskin, Peretz Markish, and others.

The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee was established in 1941 as an alliance of prominent Jewish public figures — politicians, writers, actors, and scientists — to shape public opinion, secure political support for the Soviet regime, and raise funds for the USSR's fight against Nazi Germany. Members of the Committee were permitted to travel abroad, visiting the US, Mexico, Canada, and the UK. Throughout their “pro-Soviet tour,” they met with Albert Einstein, Chaim Weizmann, Marc Chagall, and many others. The leaders of the JAC succeeded in raising significant funds and other material aid for the Red Army.

Beyond their primary mission, the leaders of the JAC became informal but widely recognized representatives of the scattered and leaderless Soviet Jewry, a role that became especially clear after the war. This development was clearly outside their intended mandate — and the Kremlin's plans. It was then that their close ties with the West, which had greatly assisted the USSR during the war, ultimately backfired: the JAC leaders were branded as traitors and foreign spies engaged in anti-Soviet activities.

The allegations against them were absurd. Jewish theater actor and director Benjamin Zuskin was sentenced to death for “directing plays that glorify Jewish antiquity, depict shtetl traditions, and portray the tragic demise of the Jewish people, thereby awakening nationalist sentiments among Jewish audiences.” Journalist and literary critic Miriam Eisenstadt was executed for publishing a list of 135 Jewish war heroes in the “Eynikeyt” newspaper, accompanied by essays about some of them. In a note left to her husband and daughter, she wrote: “The charges against me are monstrous. I will sign nothing, which means we will never see each other again.”

In a totalitarian state where the law is distorted and weaponized, individuals have no defense against a ruthless state machinery once they are targeted.

Such political regimes inevitably raise the question of loyalty to the state, which rapidly becomes the ultimate pretext to justify all methods of combating perceived threats. Regarding the Jewish population, the notorious anti-Semitic accusation of “double loyalty” — which suggests that Jewish interest in Israel and the global Jewish community somehow renders a person disloyal to their own state — creates a trap of values. It is very easy to fall into. According to a 2019 survey by the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, half of the respondents believe that a Jew should be equally patriotic toward their country of residence and the State of Israel. This data can easily be misinterpreted and weaponized by those with malicious intent.

Throughout the decades of the communist regime, the world watched from the sidelines as the anti-Semitic state apparatus oppressed Soviet Jews. The authorities effectively barred Jews from returning to their historic homeland. Today, it is clear that no one wants a new “Iron Curtain.”

The consolidated Jewish world advocates for the unconditional and indisputable right of all Jews to repatriate to Israel whenever they need to. The dark pages of the past century's history must never be repeated.