Language:
English
Year of publication:
2008
Titel der Quelle:
Pro Memoria
Angaben zur Quelle:
28 (2008) 4-17
Keywords:
Stalin, Joseph,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Antisemitism
Abstract:
Discusses Soviet official policies regarding the Nazi murder of the Jews, contending that not all decisions ignored or exacerbated the plight of the Soviet Union’s Jewish inhabitants, and that what transpired was more complicated. True, most Soviet accounts of World War II did not mention the Holocaust as a uniquely Jewish phenomenon. Referring to the French edition of the memoirs of the Soviet general Vasilii Petrenko, "Avant et après Auschwitz" (2008), as well as other publications, relates when and why the Soviets downplayed the Jewish character of the Nazi genocide. Stalin’s antisemitism and broader Soviet antisemitism is only a partial explanation of the Soviet policies. From the late 1930s on, Soviet propaganda was not totally silent on the Nazi anti-Jewish policies. At the early stage of the war, the Soviet leadership allowed information on the Nazi murder of Jews to be published. Later, it found these publications inexpedient for the aims of warfare and mobilization.The failure of a mass Jewish evacuation from the Western Soviet territories in 1941-42 can be explained by various factors (the Jews' distrust of the Soviet regime, the regime's political considerations and its deep disregard of human life, etc.) rather than by Jewish ignorance of the Nazis' policies. Also, the Soviet leadership had to take into account Russian, Ukrainian, and other popular anti-Jewish sentiments. Calls for a balanced view on Soviet policies vis-à-vis the Holocaust: they should be compared to similar policies of the Western Allies, and examined in the context of the Kremlin's nationalities policy. Notes, too, that the Soviets, just like the Western Allies, never contemplated bombing Auschwitz-Birkenau. Ends that, nowadays, commemoration of the Holocaust encounters difficulties in the former USSR.
Note:
Appeared previously in "Kritika" 4,4 (2003) 886-912, and later in "The Holocaust in the East" (2014) 29-50. Appeared as "The Holocaust and the USSR" in "Lessons and Legacies" VII (2006) 253-268.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink
