Were the Jews being persecuted in USSR during WW2?

Question

tks Oracle :) i will try to read his autobiography. i mean i notice one in the library few mths back but i am not sure if its his own writing. but let me finish stalin biography 1st :p still left last 150 pages.

Answer 1

Persecution of Jews in the USSR during WW2 cannot be compared in scale or violence with the simultaneous Nazi Holocaust. But, in less obvious ways, anti-Semitism was practiced on a wide scale, both officially and unofficially.

Stalin showed anti-Semitic tendencies from an early age, frequently referring to fellow-Communists as “filthy circumcised Jews”. But Stalin did not adopt openly harsh measures against Russian Jews until after WW2. This was because an anti-Jewish campaign would have: -

• increased national tensions in the Soviet Union at a time when enthusiastic unity and solidarity was crucial;

• created major problems with the Western Allies;

• brought criticism that Soviet anti-Semitism was no different to Nazi anti-Semitism.

So, instead of persecuting Russia’s Jews, Stalin put them to use. He allowed the formation of a state-sponsored Jewish organization in Russia (supervised by the secret police), the Jewish Antifascist Committee. This organization was tolerated by Stalin as long as it spread pro-Soviet propaganda and pumped aid for Russia from Western world sympathizers. But when its leaders mistook Stalin’s attitude for genuine goodwill, and began proposing plans to create a Jewish Soviet Republic in the Crimea, they were arrested, convicted of treason, and either executed or sentenced to the Gulag.

Answer 2

World War II brought a respite from repression for Jews, Ukrainians, and the other national minorities that aroused Stalin's suspicions during the 1930s. The nation was under attack and previously forbidden nationalistic themes were exploited to motivate a severely underequipped and outclassed army through the first couple years of the war.
As soon as the war was over, it was business as usual for repression through the end of Stalin's life in 1952 and thereafter into the 1970s and 1980s.

Answer 3

Are you KIDDING? Persecuting Jews in all of Eastern Europe has been a national sport for over 700 years. The Russians staged terrible pogroms before the war, and while they were part of the Axis Powers in the beginning, the Jews suffered terribly. When they became "allies", it may have eased up slightly, but Jewish partisans were not allowed to join with Russian groups...they were segregated and betrayed continually. That's what Russians do.

Answer 4

If you read Nikita Khruschev's autobiography, he mentions that it went on whilst the war was on.