Language:
English
Year of publication:
2009
Titel der Quelle:
Journal of Genocide Research
Angaben zur Quelle:
11,2-3 (2009) 355-379
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Antisemitism
Abstract:
Notes the widespread existence, after the liberation of the western part of the USSR from the Germans, of popular antisemitism in the form of collective violence both in Ukraine (especially Kiev) and far to the east (e.g. in Rubtsovsk in the Altai district). There was a dramatic increase in anti-Jewish violence in comparison to the prewar period. Earlier antisemitic stereotypes of Jews as immoral upstarts or careerists were transformed to Jews as shirkers and betrayers of national interests. This situation continued after the war, with the government taking a passive position in regard to anti-Jewish discrimination and violence. In 1948-49 the Stalin regime began to repress Jews, including in the fields of culture, education, and science. This culimiated in the anti-cosmopolitan campaign, the trials of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, and the "Doctors' Plot". During the latter, especially, antisemitic government propaganda led to popular antisemitic hysteria. Points out the paradox of antisemitism as being for some an expression of opposition to the regime, while for others it reflected support for the regime by focusing on the Jews as alleged threats to it. Concludes that, despite widespead antisemitism, one cannot determine whether it should be defined as "mass violence" due to the difficulty of separating popular violence from government policy.
DOI:
10.1080/14623520903119043
URL:
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