THE ANTI-JEWISH POLICY OF THE USSR IN THE LAST DECADE OF STALIN'S RULE AND

ITS IMPACT ON THE EAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO

POLAND
Author(s): BOŻENA SZAYNOK
Source: Russian History , SUMMER-FALL-WINTER 2002 / ÉTÉ-AUTOMNE-HIVER 2002,
Vol. 29, No. 2/4, THE SOVIET GLOBAL IMPACT: 1945-1991 (SUMMER-FALL-WINTER 2002
/ ÉTÉ-AUTOMNE-HIVER 2002), pp. 301-315
Published by: Brill

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 Russian History/Histoire Russe, 29, Nos. 2-4 (Summer-Fall-Winter 2002), 301-15.

BOZENA SZAYNOK (Wroclaw, Poland)

THE ANTI-JEWISH POLICY OF THE USSR IN THE

LAST DECADE OF STALIN'S R ULE AND ITS
IMPACT ON THE EAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO POLAND

In the context of our conference the anti-Jewish policy of the USSR is only a
pretext for reflection on aspects of the subordination of the East European states to
the USSR after the Second World War. This policy of the USSR well illustrates
the dependence of Eastern Europe on the Soviet Union after 1945, one of the most
interesting issues in the postwar history of the region. We see here the interaction
between one particular Soviet policy and countries with different historical
experiences, economic structures, attitudes towards Russia and attitudes towards
the Jewish community.
In this issue we can see the origins of certain political activities, their
consequences and their transfer to other countries. Moreover, it is interesting to
observe the behavior of "local communists" in a situation not of their choosing:
from attitudes of total subordination to attempts to preserve some margin of their
own independence. It is also important to observe what was the reaction of
different societies to this policy. In this regard, it should be noted that this policy
did not concern society as whole but only a small part of it. We have to remember
that the East European societies had a variety of attitudes towards Jews, including
anti-Semitic attitudes.
After the Second World War the Jewish issue appeared in the Stalin's policies
in a new context. Internally, it was a significant part of the preparation for a new
purge. Internationally, the Jewish question became an aspect of the question of
Soviet influence in the Middle East. One should stress the circumstances that
made the Jewish issue dominant in Soviet policies in some periods. On the one
hand, we can see reasons that originated in the postwar political situation: the
growth of tension between Western countries, the US and the USSR or the con
flict over influence in the Middle East, where the creation of a Jewish state was
increasingly becoming a reality. On the other hand, anti-Jewish activities had their
basis in the essence of the communist state: looking for enemies to solve political
and other problems. One should emphasize that Jews were better suited to the role
of scapegoats than other nationalities because of their connections with Jewish or
ganizations in Western countries, the US and the Middle East. We also have to re
call that some Soviet policy makers were anti-Semites or were conscious of the
anti-Semitic mood in some groups of Soviet society.
A separate problem of anti-Semitism in Russia after the Second World War is
connected with Stalin. The manifestation of anti-Semitism in his activities had

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 302 Russian History/Histoire Russe

several sources. It is rather difficult to separa

Semitism and what was simple political calcula
alliances, Stalin's policies took into account th
world war. In this situation all "disloyal an
moved from political life. Society also had to
by capitalism was real and that it was only m
new enemies would commence.
The anti-Jewish policy included various elements: the liquidation of Jewish
institutions and organizations, persecution of the Jewish intellectual elite, purges
of some state institutions, reprisals against some Jewish activists. These elements
created a consistently anti-Jewish approach by the Soviet authorities. In every case
these activities were accompanied by virulent anti-Zionist propaganda, which in
its essence was simply anti-Semitic.
There were several fundamental political actions after the Second World War
in the USSR in which the Jewish issue played a significant role. And the policy
connected with them was played out on several levels: from direct persecution of
Jews and the Jewish community as whole to treating the Jewish issue as a pretext
for the achievement of certain political aims.
One of the first activities connected with Soviet Jews undertaken after the war
was the case of Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. Creation of this institution in
1942 was part of the Soviet effort to gain American military assistance. From the
beginning there were questions about the Committee's independence. The war
prevented actions directed against the Committee, but after 1945 they were
quickly initiated. They were also intensified by postwar political situation. Step by
step signals of changes became more apparent. At the end of 1946 the suggestion
appeared that the connections between the Committee and Zionism and world
Jewry were a threat to the USSR. Many accusations were leveled at the
Committee's activists, some of them as serious as charges of espionage or anti
state activity. The Committee was defined as "a center of anti-Soviet propaganda."
The accusations also included the absurd. A good example was the accusation that
leaders of the Committee were attempting to separate the Crimea from the USSR
to create an independent Jewish state.
The liquidation of Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee was preceded by the arrest
of some of its members and the murder of its head, Solomon Michoels in January
1948. The Committee was dissolved in November 1948, and four years later the
main trial of its members took place. There were thirteen death sentences
announced at trial but the number of victims of this political action was higher
(according to some estimates there were over then twenty death sentences and
almost a hundred were sent to labor camps). It has been confirmed that Stalin
personally supervised the all activities directed against JAC. Also the
investigation and the trial were carried out under his direction
Various other institutions connected with Jews were liquidated along with the
Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. At the end of 1948, the press organ of the Com
mittee, the Yiddish language newspaper Eynikeyt, was closed down.
The next attack was directed against Jewish intellectuals. A significant part of
the campaign called "the struggle against cosmopolitans" was to destroy the Jew

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Stalin's Post-World War П Anti-Jewish Policy with Special Reference to Poland 303

ish elite. It started in early 1949 as an anti-intellectual action but it gradually took
on an anti-Semitic character. As the Polish writer Andrzej Drawicz wrote in an es
say that "among [the guilty] were some who were more guilty ... a group of
names . . . clearly marked by their race."1 The basis of activities undertaken
against Jewish writers, scientists, and artists was the belief that they expressed
Jewish nationalism in their cultural endeavors. As 1 mentioned above, the anti
Semitic activities were only part of this campaign. Nevertheless the consequences
were significant. Once again anti-Semitism infiltrated political, cultural and social
life and created and reinforced nationalistic attitudes. And some practices used
during the "struggle against cosmopolitans," such as giving Jewish names in
brackets next to Russian names [skobariej], were repeated many times later.
Another Anti-Jewish action was the persecution conducted in the Jewish
Autonomous Region [JAR] in Birobidzhan. The repression of Birobidzhan activ
ists and the liquidation Jewish organizations took place parallel with the prepara
tion of the JAC trial. Except for one paper [Birobidzaner Stern] all Yiddish lan
guage papers and institutions were closed. In the Birobidzhan case as in the "Cri
mean affair" there was the accusation of attempting to separate the region from the
USSR. The purge of JAR leaders preceded trials against some of them. There
were death sentences and long terms in prison. The same accusations were re
peated in almost every case connected with the "Jewish issue": anti-state activity,
espionage and attempts to create a Jewish state in the USSR either in Birobidzhan
or in Crimea. The liquidation of the Jewish elite was only part of Stalin's anti
Semitic campaign. All signs of Jewish culture were destroyed as well. During the
campaign in Birobidzhan even Jewish letters in typewriters became the object of
hatred. The best illustration of this process is the changes introduced into Biro
bidzhan postmark. In the first from 1935 we can see some Yiddish inscriptions. In
1947 the name Birobdzhan still appeared in Yiddish, but in the center of the post
mark the Soviet star with the hammer and sickle appeared as if announcing further
changes. In the postmark from 1955 there are no Yiddish letters, only the Soviet
star and an inscription in Russian.
Anti-Jewish activities affected some state officials as well. Arrests and persecu
tion of the Party's Jewish activists and even people connected with Stalin's anti
Jewish policy constituted further steps in the purge. On July 12, 1951 Viktor Aba
kumov, the Security Minister was arrested. Nicolas Werth wrote in the Black Book
of Communism that the former minister was charged with "preventing the disclo
sure of a criminal group of Jewish nationalists who penetrated into the highest cir
cles of the Security Ministry (MGB)," and "several months later Abakumov him
self was presented as the 'brains' of a Jewish nationalistic plot."2 It is a paradox
that Abakumov was nominated by Stalin to begin the action against the Jewish
Anti-Fascist Committee at the end of 1947. As Vladimir Naumow wrote in his

1. Andrzej Drawicz, A/Kos czyli szkota podloici, in lysenko i kosmopolici (Warszawa: Niezaleina
Oficyna Wydawnicza, 1989), 40-41.
2. Stephane Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Jean Louis Panne, Andrzej Paczkowski, Karel Bartosek, Jean
Louis Margolin, Czarna ksiçga kominizmu. Zbrodnie, terror, przesladowania (Warszawa: Proszynski i
Sk-a., 1999), 237.

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 304 Russian History/Histoire Russe

book: "Instructions were issued that forme

were to be considered members of bourge
investigators were particularly tireless in a
that allegedly existed in the MGB between
zations and the JAC."3
Ihe anti-Jewish campaign occurred in o
book on the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee
members of "the organization of Jewish bo
ample, the Stalin Automobile Plant in Mo
Combine), in the mass media and in public
to prove that a "nationalistic Jewish plot" e
Israel occupied a separate place in the ant
titude of Russia towards the Jewish state c
for Israel, 1947-1948. Just after the war in
East was "not clear." But in May 1947, Gr
establishment of a Jewish state at the Un
policy the Soviet Union was the first to rec
iure and to establish mutual representation
Middle East by this means ended in failure.
ish state did not want to declare solely fo
the article of Il'ia Ehrenburg in Pravda the
Israel became clear. He wrote that Israel has
cording to him the Jewish problem concer
not exist in the Soviet Union. Ehrenburg's
was a signal of a new approach towards the
the Israeli diplomatic representation wrot
Jews of Moscow read this article. And like
between the lines, they understood what it
were being warned to keep away from us!"
recognize this political twist. They openly d
writings on this topic, mainy authors recal
festivities in Moscow in the autumn of 1
part in the celebration. Golda Meir was ent
to a synagogue. She described the event in
cle: "I couldn't talk, or smile, or wave my
without moving, with those thousands of e
Jewish people, Ehrenburg had written. Th
Jews of the USSR! But his warning had f
Soviet Jews towards Israel openly expressed
ened the impression of the disloyalty of thi

3. Stalin's Secret Pogrom: The Postwar Inquisition o

Joshua Rubenstein, and Vladimir P. Naumov (New H
XV.

4. Ibid.

5. Golda Meir, My life (Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv: Stematzky's Agency Ltd., 1975), 203.
6. Ibid., 206.

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Stalin's Post-World War II Anti-Jewish Policy with Special Reference to Poland 305

The winter of 1953 started with a new anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli campaign.
The best known was the announcement of "the discovery of the Kremlin doctors'
plot." On January 13, 1953 Pravda published a state communique "unmasking a
terroristic group of doctors." It was written that the activities of the accused led to
the death of high state officials, among others of Zhdanov and Sherbakov. Among
the charges were spying for Great Britain and the US. The Jewish nationality of
some of the accused reflected the Jewish aspect of the accusations. Also coopera
tion with Joint, the organization of American Jews, was interpreted as espionage.
The article in Pravda initiated a purge and a persecution of the Jews. Ewa Zarzy
cka-Berard mentions in her biography of Il'a Ehrenburg that even in March 1953
Stalin's envoys brought the writer a letter to sign, in which "the undersigned . . .
demand exemplary punishment of their ignominious people, who are responsible
for the crimes of the doctor-murderers, and the punishment should be collective
deportation to the Far East."7
On February 12, 1953 the Soviet Union broke diplomatic relations with Israel.
According to the Soviet government note, this was in response to an assault on the
Soviet embassy in Tel-Aviv. Undoubtedly, the event of February 9 was a pretext
to take action against the Jewish state. Today it is impossible to give a clear inter
pretation of that aspect of Soviet policy. However, we can state that a new purge
was being prepared and the Jewish population would play a part in it, and this ac
tion prevented the intervention of the Jewish state. We cannot today fully recon
struct these events, especially since their main actor - Stalin - died two months
after the publication of the communiqué in Pravda, on March 5, 1953.
As we can see the anti-Jewish actions took place according to various scenar
ios. But their basis and aims were the same. It is worth mentioning some of them:
getting rid of some politicians, maintaining an atmosphere of fear even in closest
circle of Stalin and among East European communists, pursuing influence in the
Middle East, destroying the Jewish community, but also preparing the ground for
a situation in which a war would seem to be the only political solution.
In keeping with the reality of the divided postwar world, the anti-Jewish cam
paign initiated by Stalin spread to the East European countries subordinated to the
Soviet Union after 1945. However, we have to remember that the policy of com
munist states towards the Jews in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Roma
nia and Poland differed. On the one hand, there were anti-Jewish activities in line
with the processes inspired by Moscow. Jews were the objects of political actions
precisely because of their nationality. On the other hand, restrictions,- repression,
and persecution affected the Jewish community without reference to its national
ity. During the political, economic and social changes carried out according to the
communist scenario, Jews were treated like other nationalities. It happened, how
ever, that some changes hit the Jewish population harder, e.g., due to their eco
nomic position, in some countries. But it should be noted that these changes had a
communist and not an anti-Jewish character. This happened, for example, in Hun

7. Ewa Zarzycka-Berard, Burzliwe zycie llii Ehrenburga (Warszawa: Iskry. 2002), 256.

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 306 Russian History/Histoire Russe

gary, where the chief victim of radical ec

tion,8 but nationalization was implemented
The policy against the Jews in Eastern Eu
executed in two stages. The first, which beg
erations, lasted until 1948. The next stage -
policy - was inspired by the Kremlin. To u
mode of the changes after 1948 we must ex
towards the Jews in this first period, influen
ent degree by the opposition. The main feat
build the political, economic and religious li
states allowed the establishment of Jewis
crucial place in the policy of those states
For most of the Jews who had survived
stay in the countries they had lived in bef
prevailed that "being simply a Jew" was
Holocaust experience shattered the possibili
first period the governments of Eastern Eu
Palestine. It was connected with Stalin's pol
war we can observe a new position of Stalin
Jewish state. Seeing in the unstable situat
Soviet influence there, Stalin decided to s
lishment a Jewish state in this territory. Dur
in the United Nations, the Soviet Union acc
and then, as noted above, recognized the
(Poland, Czechoslovakia) took a similar pos
ine acceptance 01 a policy 01 reouitaing me jewisn communities in Eastern
Europe after the war and the support for this activity, despite its compulsory char
acter as the official policy of the Eastern bloc, reflected the prevailing belief that
the Jews had the right to their own state. Even anti-Jewish outbursts in some states
did not change the general support for the idea of establishing a Jewish state.
The policy of East European governments towards the Jews in the years 1945
1948 was in line with the position of Moscow, but we have to remember that it did
not run counter to the tendency which originated in the tradition or history of Jew
ish communities in those countries. In my view the same is true of anti-Semitism.
It has been suggested that this phenomenon was inspired by Soviet advisers. There
is not sufficient evidence to support this thesis, although in several cases there is
room for such an explanation. Nevertheless, anti-Semitism resulted also from the
character of relations of a given society with Jews and their experience of living in
that country.
Interesting for our consideration is not only the process of the changes signaled
by Moscow. We should take a closer look at the manner of its implementation and
the reaction of political decision makers. The actions took different forms in each
country, depending on the history of relations with the Jewish population in those

8. Peter Meyer, and Bernard D. Weinryb, Eugene Duschinsky, Nicolas Sylvian, The Jews in Soviet
Satellites (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse Univ. Press, 1953), 453.

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Stalin's Post-World War П Anti-Jewish Policy with Special Reference to Poland 307

countries, the size of the Jewish population, anti-Semitism, the degree of engage
ment in the problem of the Jewish State in the years 1945-1948, the positions held
by Jewish communists, and the readiness of local leaders to carry out a purge.
In the East European countries - Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria
and the German Democratic Republic (DDR) - the anti-Jewish policy took differ
ent forms. The realization of this policy in Poland will be examined separately.
The turning point was the liquidation of existing Jewish institutions that had been
allowed to function for several years. The subsidy to the Jewish community was
decreased and the Jewish political scene consolidated. Jewish activists who coop
erated with the Zionist movement or international Jewish organizations suffered
repression.
The next step was the liquidation of foreign representation of Jewish organiza
tions that organized emigration or supported local communities in rebuilding their
lives after the Holocaust. The representatives of Joint and the Jewish Agency in
Czechoslovakia and Hungary were expelled and their offices closed down.
Important in those activities was the change of attitude towards Jewish emigra
tion. In some countries, for example in Hungary, emigration to Israel was prohib
ited, in others drastically limited. Another action was travel restrictions on indi
viduals involved in religious life or the Zionist movement.
An important element was also a new approach towards the Jewish State. The
establishment of Israel was seen as the victory of anti-imperialism - this referred
above all to the fight of the Jews against the British in Palestine. In this way the
significance of Zionism or its contribution to the establishment of the Jewish State
was minimized.
These activities were accompanied by propaganda. The article on Slansky in
Rude Pravo is a good illustration. We find here such statements as "mortal ene
mies of our country . . . corrupt monsters ... a whole gallery of criminals . . .
Trotskyites, Zionists, bourgeois nationalists." An article entitled "Judas" stated:
"Under the red crop of hair in a network of wrinkles the restless eyes of a villain .
. . emotionless ... he starts to speak about his horrible crimes, which the scoun
drel committed, alone doing more evil than hundreds of great villains."9
Another problem was the use of the Jewish issue to carry out political purges in
each country. The pretext for such purges was defined not as a Jewish problem but
portrayed as a "struggle against the Zionism." Already during the trial of Laszlo
Rajk in September 1949 a new approach to Zionism turned up. Christopher An
drew and Oleg Gordijewski wrote in their book about the KGB: . . the an
nouncement of a new, anti-Zionist line at first caused some trouble at Headquar
ters. When colonel Otraszczenko instructed the Middle and Far East personnel at a
meeting in KI10 that Zionism is linked with imperialism, some officers obviously
did not understand what it was about. A deserter from the KGB Ilja Dzhirkvelov

9. Josefa Slanska, "Raport о moim mçzu," Kwarlalnik Polityczny Krytyka, 16 (1983): 190-91.
10. Information Committee - the Soviet Intelligence service was created by combining the foreign
intelligence section of the Ministry of State Security and the Intelligence Administration of the Army
General Staff ( Glavnoe razvedyvatel'noe upravlenie or GRU) in the years 1947-1951. Christopher
Andrew, and Oleg Gordijewski, KGB (Warszawa: Bellona, 1997), 8,9.

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 308 Russian History/Histoire Russe

was one of the first who found the right key

fit into Marxism-Leninism, thus it must be cl
an enemy."11
The policy reached its apogee in Eastern Eu
namely the purge in the Czech Communist Pa
members and their trials. The most significan
Among the accused were the Secretary Gen
Rudolf Slansky; his deputies Bedrich Gemind
eral of the Czech Communist Party in Brno
fairs Vladimir dementis; vice-ministers of For
Hajdu), Foreign Trade (Rudolf Margolius, E
Defense (Bedrich Reicin), National Security
Economic Department in the President's Offic
A Jewish note appeared in all aspects of the
accused, among whom eleven had Jewish ro
tude of the leaders of the investigation left no d
anti-Jewish policy of Stalin. One of the accuse
oirs I Was a Member of the Slansky Gang:

In the beginning of my imprisonment, f

Semitism, I could think that it was a questio
individuals. . . . Now I know that this spiri
radically during the hearings - is a manifest
[party] line. Whenever a new name is men
ately want to know if he is not a Jew.... If t
origin, they look for any pretext to put his o
he or she has nothing to do with the case. Be
ual epithet: "Zionist". They want to include
possible.. .. one has the impression that the
with Jews or at least with a great number of
Jews. . . . whenever I mention a name the
know if her or she is a Jew. But, every time
He was just ordered to write. The term "Z
men and women who had never in their li
12
ism.

Similar attitudes were manifested during a trial that started on November 20

1952: the Jewish origin of several of the accused was pointed out; they were
cused of spying for the Zionist movement and the state of Israel.
The Slansky trial, which ended on November 27, 1952, did not terminate t
purge within the communist parties in Eastern Europe. With the publication

11. Ilya Dzhirkvelov, Secret Servant: My Life with the KGB and the Soviet Elite ( London: Collins,
1987), 250, quoted ibid., 366.
12. Arthur London, Bylem czlonkiem bandy Slanskiego (Warszawa: Niezalezna Oficyn
Wydawnicza, 1987), 95.

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Stalin's Post-World War П Anti-Jewish Policy with Special Reference to Poland 309

Pravda in January 1953 of discovery of the Kremlin "doctors' plot," the "struggle
against Zionism" entered a new stage. Gabor Peter - Chief of the National Secu
rity in Hungary - was arrested and imprisoned "as a Zionist conspirator."13 Simi
lar actions were also undertaken in Romania and Poland. In the DDR persecution
of Jews, members of the SED, took place in the winter of 1952/1953, clearly in
imitation of what had happened in the Soviet Union. Some of the endangered es
caped to the West, but the others were arrested.14 Slansky's case and the trials
prepared in other East European countries were in line with the character of com
munist states, but to fill them with the anti-Semitic content needed a decision from
Stalin.
The policy, composed to a high degree of anti-Semitic actions, was imple
mented in countries where Jews constituted a relatively low percentage of the
whole population. But it has to be remembered that Jewish communist activists
were quite visible in the power structure. There are several reasons for this. One of
them was that during heated discussions about the future of the diaspora at the
turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, part of the Jewish population was
convinced that only Communism was able to solve the Jewish problem. However,
we should remember that Jewish communists in high positions in Communist par
ties were a minority in their community, outcasts from traditional Jewish institu
tions.

One of the aspects of the issue difficult to reconstruct is the activities of Soviet
special forces and their agents in Eastern Europe. Karel Bartosek wrote in The
Black Book of Communism: "Events happening in Moscow at that time - a deep
restructuring of security forces, the arrest of their chief Abakumov in 1951 - led to
the formulation of... a hypothesis. It proposes that in-fighting inside the Soviet
security forces most probably decided both the final selection of victims, who un
til then had cooperated with those forces, and the level of punishment."15 Abaku
mov's successor, Semën Denisovich Ignat'ev, and his deputy M. D. Riumin, were
to be the guarantors of the execution of Stalin's policy.
The implementation of decisions taken in Moscow was carried out by Soviet
advisors in communist countries. The policy was to be executed by functionaries
known for their anti-Semitism: Viktor Komarov, Mikhail Likhachev, Vladimir
Boiarskii, Aleksiej Dymitriewicz Bieszczastnow. In some countries anti-Semitic
sympathies were a criterion for nomination to some positions. It was, e.g., in
Czechoslovakia, where the director of the StB [Czech security forces] responsible
for the pursuit of enemies of the state was Andriej Keppert, a known anti
Semite.16
Interesting is the reaction of communist leaders in East European countries to
the unleashing of a new campaign (at first, anti-Tito and then anti-Zionist). In
Czechoslovakia the future victims of the most famous show trial, for example,

13. Courtois, Werth, Panne, Paczkowski, Bartosek, Margolin, Czarna ksiçga komunizmu, 405.
14. Andrzej Matkiewicz, and KrzysztofRuchniewicz, Pierwszy znak solidarno&ci. Polskie odglosy
powslania ludowego wNRD w 1953 r. (Wroclaw: Arboretum, 1998), 53.
15. Courtois, Werth, Panne, Paczkowski, Bartosek, Margolin, Czarna ksiçga komunizmu, 406.
16. Andrew, and Gordijewski, KGB, 366.

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 310 Russian History/Histoire Russe

Rudolf Slansky, were still in positions of

Czech Rajk." When the victims had bee
supposedly resisted the arrest of Slansky
that Stalin insisted on the imprisonment of
At the beginning of Moscow's anti-Je
Poland. It was a mere handful of the 3,00
of Eastern Europe, Poland had a special p
land for centuries, organizing there one o
cultural Jewish communities in the world. Before the Second World War Jews liv
ing in Poland constituted the largest Jewish community in Europe. The war also
saw the writing of several important chapters in Polish-Jewish history with the
Nazis organizing the Holocaust on Polish territory. The best illustration of what
had happened with Polish Jews during the war is a comparison of the number of
Jews living in Poland before 1939 and after 1945. From a community of almost
3,000,000, only 10 percent survived the Holocaust.
Those who survived were divided into three different tendencies. The first and
also the smallest was the group that decided to rebuild Jewish life in the postwar
Polish reality. The second group preferred assimilation and this was a strong trend
in the postwar Jewish community in Poland. The third and largest group was made
up of Zionists demanding emigration to Palestine from a country that was seen as
a huge Jewish cemetery. All three tendencies were supported by communist deci
sion-makers but at different times and to different degrees.
The communist policy in Poland towards the Jewish problem from 1948 to
1953 consisted of several elements. There were activities directed against Jews in
Poland, their organizations and institutions; fights within the party due to "interna
tional plot of Trotskyite-Tito-Zionists"; relations with the Jewish state and its rep
resentatives in Warsaw; and propaganda accompanying each of these activities.
Signals of a change were visible already in the summer of 1948. A new attitude
toward the Jewish issue showed up not only in the activities of the leadership but
also in the acceptance as the dominant force in the Jewish political scene of Jew
ish communists gathered in the Frakcja Polskiej Partii Robotniczej. The influence
of other parties in the Jewish community was drastically reduced. Jewish socialists
from the Bund and Zionists were suppressed. Bund and Zionist activists were re
moved from Jewish institutions and organizations, and the social and educational
centers run by the parties were closed or nationalized; In early 1949 the Bund,
which had existed in Poland for over fifty years, was dissolved. Zionists from dif
ferent parties were forced to stop their activity at the turn of 1949/1950.
Although these actions were fully in conformity with Moscow's policy, Jewish
communists saw this as an opportunity to realize their own policies, for example,
to restrict the emigration of the Jewish population.
The changes also affected religious life. In 1952 the rabbinate of the Polish
Armed Forces was liquidated, and the representatives of religious Jews were
forced to make servile declarations to the authorities or to protest against Israel's
policies.
As in other East European countries, the representatives of foreign Jewish or
ganizations Joint and the Jewish Agency were forced to end their activities.

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Stalin's Post-World War П Anti-Jewish Policy with Special Reference to Poland 311

The liquidation of the diversified political, social and cultural scene of the Jews
in Poland was only an introduction to more radical actions. The Jewish issue be
came the object of the activity of the security forces. In September 1949 an in
struction of the MBP (Ministry of Public Security) recommended surveillance of
those Zionists who decided to go to Israel and as well as those staying in Poland.
Apart from the Zionists the MBP intended to focus on the Jewish community and
the diplomatic representatives of Israel in Poland.
The next stages of Stalin's anti-Jewish policy also found reflection in the ac
tivities of the Polish security forces. At the beginning of 1952 suggestions of es
pionage on the part of Zionists and the diplomatic representatives of Israel became
more and more frequent.
As in the soviet union, tne campaign against Zionism in roiana oecame an in
strument of political struggle. This is apparent in the purge of the Ministry of For
eign Affairs and of the Polish army.
One of the elements of the Soviet policy towards the Jews was the earlier accu
sation against members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee and activists in Bi
robidzhan of attempting to secede some territories from the Soviet Union. It
seemed that it would not be possible to transfer such absurd accusations to Eastern
Europe. But it turned out that a "Polish version of the Crimea case" was prepared.
The role of Crimea was to be played by Lower Silesia, where almost half of the
Jews who survived the Holocaust lived. Here among Jewish activists was bom the
idea of establishing "an autonomous district" or "Jewish Region"17 in this area.
In the autumn of 1949 the chairman of the local Jewish Committee - Jakub
Egit was accused of "building and organizing a national Jewish settlement."18 In
February 1953 he was arrested and accused of "trying to separate Lower Silesia
from Poland with the help of Joint and other American organizations. He was
supposed to plan to hand over Lower Silesia to the Israeli government and build a
Jewish nationalist state in this region."19 He was also accused of organizing a Jew
ish army in Lower Silesia, which had the support of Israel. This was a reference to
the camp of Haganah volunteers that existed in one of the towns.
The arrest of Egit was supposed to initiate the repression of Jewish activists. It
was only a matter of time before the arrest of members of the Central Jewish
Committee, which after the war was the basic organization of the Jewish popula
tion in Poland and represented it inside and outside the country.20 The scope of the
planned repression of the Jewish community must have been quite large because
the authorities were thinking of establishing a camp for cosmopolitans, Zionists
and other hostile elements.21
As in other East European countries "the struggle against Zionism" was a pre
text for a party purge. According to some documents "Hungarian and Polish func

17. Archiwum Paristwowe we Wroctawiu, zespol: Wojewôdzki Komitet Zydôw na Dolnym Sl^sku,
1, p. 22. Archiwum Diaspory w Tel-Avivie, Diaspora Center. 255.3. II, 24.
18. Jakub Egit, Grand Illusion (Toronto: Lugus production Ltd., 1991), 98-99.
19. Ibid., 108.
20. Ibid, 111.
21. Michat Chçciriski, Poland. Communism. Nationalism. Anti-Semitism (New York: Karz-Cohl
Publishing, 1982), 41-42; Teresa Toranska, Oni (Warszawa: Agencja Omnipress, 1989), 140.

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 312 Russian History/Histoire Russe

tionaries of the party and security insi

mutual interest, to arrest suspects as
bring danger not only for Czechoslov
gary. They pointed out that there is n
the goal is to be reached through inves
quickly as possible."22
Among the Polish comrades mention
high security functionaries - colonels J
ister of Public Security Stanistaw Rad
secretaries of the Central Committeee of PZPR Roman Zambrowski and Jakub
Berman. Among them Jakub Berman was the most likely candidate for a "Polish
Slansky." Apart from him there was the former party secretary Wladyslaw
Gomulka, removed from power in the autumn of 1948. But Jakub Berman was in
greater danger because of his Jewish origins. In the early 1950s he had many func
tions in the party's apparatus, and he also belonged to the highest leadership to
gether with President Boleslaw Bierut and Minister of Economy Hilary Mine. He
was regarded as a "gray eminence" of the political life in that period. But he was
the target of a comment of the Minister of Defence Konstanty Rokossowski: "the
time is over when all Jews were treated as reliable people."23 Berman himself
stated clearly in an interview given in the 1980s: "I became an ideal candidate to
be Slansky and all preparations were aimed at this. Nobody knows how it would
have ended if Stalin had not died. The direct link was the case of the Fields. Bierut
then showed his true character, toughness and loyalty towards me. He did not give
in to pressure and defended me against the accusation to the end, although Stalin
tried to break him."24
It is impossible to reconstruct today all the elements of this diabolical puzzle,
the more so that the witnesses also provide contradictory information, for exam
ple, about Bierut's behavior. However, it is a fact that the trial of a "Polish
Slansky" did not take place. It is difficult to state clearly how the activities of the
security forces would have ended, who was to play the role of the principal ac
cused. One of the high security functionaries involved in the investigation men
tioned that a plan was prepared which included all the necessary elements from
"American intelligence through Jewish organizations, ... the Field case and the
problem of Jewish nationalism."25 The project was rejected by Bierut. The key
person in this plot was too closely tied to Bierut. The behavior of the key decision
makers in this case, and Bierut was certainly among them, was connected with a
sense of their own jeopardy. The Slansky trial had shown that anyone could be
charged.
The situation I have described lacks one element that was especially apparent
in the preparations of the Slansky trial. There is no information about the influ

22. Zatajony dokument. Raport Komisji КС KPCz о procesach politycznych i rehabilitacjach, ed.
by Pawet Hartman (Warszawa: Krytyka, 1984), 24.
23. Tadeusz Marczak, Granica zachodnia w pohkiej polityce zagranicznej w latach 1944-1950
(Wroclaw: Uniwersytet Wroctawski, 1995), 213.
24. Toranska, Oni, 41.
25. Zbigniew Btaiyriski, Mowi Jozef Swiatlo (Londyn: Polska Fundacja Kulturalna, 1986), 146.

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Stalin's Post-World War H Anti-Jewish Policy with Special Reference to Poland 313

ence of Soviet advisers in the Polish reports. They only mention the pressure from
Moscow and Soviet advisers to conduct trials in Poland similar to those that took
place in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, but those who carried out the actions were
officials of the Ministry of Public Security [MBP] in Poland. Among the Polish
functionaries involved in the above mentioned preparations were Radkiewicz,
Romkowski, Swiatlo and Fejgin, the last three of whom had Jewish roots. A ques
tion arises if the people working on the case were aware of the danger, as in the
Soviet Union, that the purges would also swallow those who carried out the
purges? I mentioned before that it is impossible today to reconstruct all the mo
ments of the reality of that time, including the Jewish aspect. Fragmentary mem
oirs and incomplete documents from that period mean we are often confined to the
realms of interpretation and speculation.
The Jewish state played an important role in the activities portrayed here. As
with the Soviet Union, Poland was among the first to recognize Israel de iure.
During the declaration about the future of Palestine at the United Nations, the Pol
ish delegation supported the establishment of a Jewish State. One can find per
sonal engagement in the statements of the Polish representatives, independent of
Moscow's simultaneously executed instructions. In articles on this issue we find a
tone of understanding for Jewish demands. Poland's position was certainly influ
enced to some degree by the common history of Poles and Jews throughout the
centuries. Important also was the fact that the Poles like the Jews historically ex
perienced the lack of their own state.
Diplomatic relations inaugurated with the recognition of Israel in May 1948
and the establishment of Israel's representation in Warsaw in September 1948
were initially correct. But early in 1949 the first signals came of a change of War
saw's attitude towards Israel: the postponement of raising Polish diplomatic repre
sentation in Israel to the rank of an embassy as well as the government's position
on emigration. At the same time the security forces began undercover operations
against representatives of the Jewish State. The best information about the direc
tion of these activities comes from a fragment of a note from the Public Security
Ministry in 1950 dealing with counter-espionage: "There are probably few socie
ties in the world, which by their character, origins, international ties, knowledge of
different countries and languages and connections with those countries, as suitable
to be used by foreign intelligence as the society of the state of Israel."26
Specific operations followed the suggestion to direct activity against the Israeli
Embassy in Warsaw to prove that Arie Kubovy, the ambassador of Israel in Po
land, engaged in espionage. In November 1952 an employee of the Israeli Em
bassy in Warsaw was arrested. During the investigation agents tried to collect evi
dence of espionage activity on the part of members of the Israeli Embassy in Po
land. It should be pointed out that security officers took an interest in Jewish
communists as well. No doubt these activities were a prelude to next the anti
Semitic campaign, initiated officially by Pravda in the communiqué of January
1953.

26. Ibid., 7-9.

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 314 Russian History/Histoire Russe

Apart from the Israeli diplomats in Po

focused on persons maintaining any con
ish state. In 1952 there were arrests of p
Warsaw. People who applied for emigr
ment of Polish citizens of Jewish origin
in a complaint of one employee of th
abused .. . with the epithet 'rotten Jew
raeli representative, that bandit, that t
cent women stay in Poland, only pros
was kicked by the head of the Foreign P
Apart from the atmosphere of unfriend
or actions undertaken by the security f
State also took shape in the diplomati
Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued four
saw, expressing its disapproval of its "e
removal of Arie Kubovy as extraordin
cause his misuse of diplomatic privilege
An anti-Israel campaign in the Polish
formed the backdrop of these activities
to show how they were ordered to "se
the Pattern of the SS" [February 195
strengthen racial hatred in the Middle E
catastrophe" [September 1950]; "The M
Wall Street, Марат dances around Map
people gets worse" [September 1950]; "
Nazism" [October 1950]; "Poverty, spec
tion" [November 1950]; "Kinship of th
temlvr 1QS91 28

As in other East European countries,

fact anti-Semitic campaign was halted a
ion the new leadership quickly manifest
ready in April a communiqué about lega
doctor's issue" was published, and some
found themselves on trial. In July 1953,
Soviet Union were reestablished.
After Stalin's death a new policy towards the Jewish community and Israel was
initiated in Eastern Europe. However, the dynamics of moving away from anti
Jewish activities differed. In Poland the case of the employee of the Israeli diplo
matic representation arrested in November 1952 continued until the beginning of
1955. Although most of the mentioned activities stopped, the consequences of the
anti-Jewish policy in the years 1948-1953 had a significant impact on the societies
that endured it. Several years of intensive actions against the Jewish population

27. Archiwum Ministerstwa Spraw Zagranicznych w Warszawie, 11. 328.18, 28.

28. Bozena Szaynok, Walka z syjonizmem w Polsce, in Komunizm. Ideologia, System, Ludzie, ed.
byTomasz Szarota (Warszawa: Neriton, 2001), 269-70.

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Stalin's Post-World War П Anti-Jewish Policy with Special Reference to Poland 315

and virulent anti-Israeli or anti-Semitic propaganda had a certain long-term im

pact. Despite the thaw and correct relations with communist countries in the sec
ond half of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s, the Jews and the Israeli state
remained suspect in the eyes of the special forces. But for some party decision
makers, e.g., in Poland, the lesson of solving party problems through reference to
anti-Semitism turned out helpful later as well. The repetition of "the struggle
against Zionism" would take place in the Soviet Union and other communist
countries in the summer of 1967; in Poland it would also used to solve a political
crisis a year later, in March 1968.

University of Wroclaw

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