Night of the Murdered Poets
The Night of the Murdered Poets (
Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee
The threat of an attack on Soviet Russia by
Once the
Interrogation and indictment
The charges filed against the accused included mentions of "counterrevolutionary crimes" and organized action meant to "topple, undermine, or weaken the Soviet Union."[5] Additionally, the inculpation revealed that the investigation uncovered evidence that the accused had used the JAC as a means for spying and promoting anti-government sentiment. The indictment went on to assert that the accused had been enemies of the government prior to their involvement with the JAC, and that the JAC served as their international network for communicating anti-Soviet views.[5]
Overemphasis on exchanges of relatively innocuous information between the JAC leadership and Jews in other countries, particularly American journalists, augmented accusations of espionage.[5] Another piece of evidence supporting the indictment was a letter that the leadership of the JAC wrote as a formal request for Crimea to become the new Jewish homeland.[6]
All of the defendants endured incessant interrogations which, for everyone except Itzik Fefer, were coupled with beatings and torture. Eventually, these tactics led to forced, false confessions. One defendant, Joseph Yuzefovich, told the court at the trial, "I was ready to confess that I was the pope's own nephew and that I was acting on his direct personal orders" after a beating. Another defendant, Boris Shimeliovich, said he had counted over two thousand blows to his buttocks and heels, but he was the only member of the accused who refused to confess to any crimes.[7]
Victims
- Peretz Markish[8][9] (1895–1952), Yiddish poet, co-founder of the School of Writers, a Yiddish literary school in Soviet Russia
- Dovid Hofshteyn[10] (1889–1952), Yiddish poet
- Itzik Feffer[11] (1900–1952), Yiddish poet, an informer for the Ministry of Internal Affairs
- Leib Kvitko[12] (1890–1952), Yiddish poet and children's writer
- David Bergelson[13] (1884–1952), a distinguished novelist
- Solomon Lozovsky[14] (1878–1952), Director of Soviet Information Bureau, Deputy Commissar of Foreign Affairs, vigorously denounced accusations against himself and others
- Boris Shimeliovich[15] (1892–1952), medical director of the Botkin Clinical Hospital, Moscow
- Moscow State Jewish Theater
- Soviet Academy of Sciences, trade union leader
- Leon Talmy[18] (1893–1952), translator, journalist, a former member of the Communist Party USA
- Labor Zionistleader in Austria and the U.S. before returning to the USSR in 1933
- Chaika Vatenberg-Ostrovskaya[20] (1901–1952), wife of Ilya Vatenberg, a translator at JAC.
- Emilia Teumin[21] (1905–1952), deputy editor of the Diplomatic Dictionary; editor, International Division, Soviet Information Bureau
- Solomon Bregman[22] (1895–1953), Deputy Commissar of Foreign Affairs. Fell into a coma after denouncing the trial, and died in prison five months after the executions
- Lina Stern[23] (or Shtern) (1878–1968), a biochemist, physiologist and humanist and the first female academician in the Russian Academy of Sciences and is best known for her pioneering work on the blood–brain barrier. She was the only survivor out of the fifteen defendants.
Some who were either directly or indirectly connected to the JAC at the time were also arrested in the years surrounding the trial. Although Solomon Mikhoels was not arrested, his death was ordered by Stalin in 1948. Der Nister, another Yiddish writer, was arrested in 1949, and died in a labour camp in 1950. Literary critic Yitzhak Nusinov died in prison, and journalists Shmuel Persov and Miriam Zheleznova were shot – all in 1950.[24]
Trial
The trial began on 8 May 1952 and lasted until the sentencing on 18 July. The structure of the trial was peculiar due to the fact that there were no prosecutors or defence attorneys, simply three military judges. This was in accordance with Soviet law at the time, but is characterized by historian
With extensive statements, arguments, and inconsistencies between the defendants, the trial lasted much longer than the government had desired. On 26 June, experts were called to give testimony about the issues of treason, but they ultimately acknowledged that "their judgment was incomplete and insufficient."[25] It became clear that some pieces of evidence had been tremendously exaggerated. For example, a statement by Leon Talmy that a particular Russian village was "not as pretty" as a certain Kan village was used as evidence of his nationalist tendencies.[25] Alexander Cheptsov, the lead judge of the trial, confronted with such a great number of discrepancies and contradictions, twice made attempts to appeal to the Soviet leadership to reopen the investigation and was denied both times.[26] Even after sentencing the defendants, Cheptsov attempted to lengthen the process by declining to immediately execute the defendants.
Sentence
The sentence stated that the defendants would receive "the severest measure of punishment for the crimes committed by them jointly: execution, with all of their property to be confiscated."[27] The court also stripped the men of their medals and made petitions to remove military commendations such as the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. On 12 August 1952, thirteen of the defendants (excluding Lina Stern and Solomon Bregman) were executed in the basement of Lubyanka Prison.[28] After the execution of the defendants, the trial and its results were kept secret. There was not a single reference to the trial or the execution in Soviet newspapers. Defendants' families were charged with "being relatives of traitors to the motherland" and exiled in December 1952. They did not learn about the fates of their family members until November 1955, when the case was reopened.[26]
The defendant Lina Stern was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in a correctional labour camp, followed by five years of exile; however, after Stalin's death, she was able to return to her home and continue her studies. During the trial, she was determined to be "no less guilty" than the other defendants but was considered important to the state because of her research; she, therefore, received a lesser sentence than the others. Officials counted her time spent in prison before the sentencing towards her labour camp term, so she went into exile immediately after the sentencing.[29]
During his imprisonment, Solomon Bregman collapsed and was placed in the prison infirmary. He remained unconscious until his death on 23 January 1953.[30]
Aftermath
Stalin continued his oppression of Jews with the
Many of the surviving members of the JAC emigrated to Israel in the 1970s. A memorial for the JAC victims was dedicated in Jerusalem in 1977, on the 25th anniversary of the Night of the Murdered Poets.[31]
The anniversary of the murders was commemorated by the activists of the
See also
- Doctors' plot, an alleged post-war conspiracy by Jewish doctors to murder Stalinist officials, later proved fictitious.
- Nathan Englander, whose short story "The Twenty-seventh Man" is an allusion to this event.[33]
- Holocaust through the War Refugee Board, was possibly also killed in the Lubyanka Building.
Notes
- ^ ISBN 9780300129397. p. 504.
- ^ Redlich, Shimon. "Anti-Fascist Committee, Jewish." Jewish Virtual Library. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2010. Web. 4 Feb. 2010.
- ^ Rubenstein, Joshua. "The Night of the Murdered Poets." The New Republic 25 Aug. 1997: Research Library, ProQuest. Web. 2 Feb. 2010.
- ^ Redlich, Shimon (1995). War, the Holocaust, and Stalinism. p. 123.
- ^ a b c Lustiger, Arno, Stalin and the Jews (New York: Enigma Books, 2003) p. 222.
- ^ Rapoport, Louis, Stalin's War Against the Jews. (New York: The Free Press, 1990) p. 122.
- ^ Rubenstein, 2001, p. 51
- ^ "Poetry of the Holocaust." The Last Lullaby. Ed. and trans. Aaron Kramer. First Paperback ed. N.p.: Dora Teitelboim Foundation, Inc., 1998. 251. Google Books Search. Web. 4 Feb. 2010.
- ^ "Маркиш Перец Давидович" Memorial (society) Victims of Political Terror in the USSR Database
- ^ "Гофштейн Давид Наумович" Memorial (society) Victims of Political Terror in the USSR Database
- ^ "Фефер Исаак (Ицик) Соломонович" Memorial (society) Victims of Political Terror in the USSR Database
- ^ "Квитко Лев (Лейба) Моисеевич" Memorial (society) Victims of Political Terror in the USSR Database
- ^ "Бергельсон Давид Рафаилович" Memorial (society) Victims of Political Terror in the USSR Database
- ^ "Лозовский (Дридзо) Соломон Абрамович" Memorial (society) Victims of Political Terror in the USSR Database
- ^ "Шимелиович Борис Абрамович" Memorial (society) Victims of Political Terror in the USSR Database
- ^ Slutsky, Yehuda; Shmuel Spector, Shmuel (2007). "Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee". Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2nd ed. Via Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
- ^ "Юзефович (Шпинак) Иосиф Сигизмундович" Memorial (society) Victims of Political Terror in the USSR Database
- ^ "Тальми Леон Яковлевич" Memorial (society) Victims of Political Terror in the USSR Database
- ^ "Ватенберг Илья Семенович" Memorial (society) Victims of Political Terror in the USSR Database
- ^ "Ватенберг-Островская Чайка Семеновна" Memorial (society) Victims of Political Terror in the USSR Database
- ^ "Теумин Эмилия Исааковна" Memorial (society) Victims of Political Terror in the USSR Database
- ^ "Брегман Сололомон Леонтьевич" Memorial (society) Victims of Political Terror in the USSR Database
- ^ "Штерн Лина Соломоновна" Memorial (society) Victims of Political Terror in the USSR Database
- ^ a b c Rubenstein, 2001 pp. 53–56
- ^ a b Lustiger 2003, p. 236
- ^ a b c Rubenstein, 2001 p. 59–62
- ^ Rubenstein, 2001 p. 492
- ^ Talya Zax (August 12, 2017). "65 Years Ago, The USSR Murdered Its Greatest Jewish Poets. What's Left Of Their Legacy?". The Forward. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
...they...were executed in the [Lubyanka Prison]'s basement.
- ^ Lustiger 2003, p. 243
- ^ Lustiger 2003, p. 349
- ^ Lustiger 2003, p. 246
- ^ "The Night of the Murdered Poets" (PDF). National Conference on Soviet Jewry. 1973. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- ISBN 0-375-40492-9.
External links
- 50 Years After The Night of the Murdered Poets By Shai Franklin
- 50th anniversary of the Night of the Murdered Poets National Coalition Supporting Soviet Jewry August 12, 2002, Letter from President Bush, links
- Stalin's Secret Pogrom: The Postwar Inquisition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (introduction) by Joshua Rubenstein
- Seven-fold Betrayal: The Murder of Soviet Yiddish by Joseph Sherman
- Unknown History, Unheroic Martyrs by Jonathan Tobin
- Shneiderman, S.L. "Yiddish in the USSR". New York Times Book Review. Archived from the original on 16 Mar 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
- Photographs of a 1986 Night of the Murdered Poets vigil at the American Jewish Historical Society, New York, NY