 Cover of Ukrainian first edition | |
| Author | Trofim Kichko [ru] |
|---|---|
| Original title | Ukrainian:Іудаїзм без прикрас,romanized: Iudaizm bez prikras |
| Language | Ukrainian, later other languages including French |
| Subject | Antisemiticconspiracy theory |
| Genre | Propaganda |
| Publisher | Ukrainian Academy of Sciences |
Publication date | October 1963 |
| Publication place | Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic,Soviet Union |
Judaism Without Embellishment (Ukrainian:Іудаїзм без прикрас,romanized: Iudaizm bez prikras) was anantisemitic book published in 1963 by theUkrainian Academy of Sciences. The book was written byTrofim Kichko [ru], who worked at the academy. The book argued that a worldwideJewish conspiracy existed, that the Jewish people were attempting to subvert theSoviet Union, and had played a role in the1941 Nazi-German invasion of the country. The book was illustrated throughout withcaricatures depicting Jewish people in a stereotypical and prejudicial manner, very similar to those that had been seen inNazi antisemitic propaganda.
While the work was initially hailed as scientific work of distinction in analyzing the Jewish population of the Soviet Union and distributed for educational purposes across the nation, it was met with hostility from the international community. The work was condemned across Europe and the United States, leading to protests inScandinavia whenGeneral SecretaryNikita Khrushchev toured the region. Communist parties in Europe and America also attacked the work and called for theSoviet government to withdraw its support for the work, and it from circulation. Under intense international pressure the Soviet government withdrew its support, and destroyed all copies. As a result, Kichko fell out of favor with the government. Although the book was destroyed, similar works continued to be published and several years later Kichko—having returned to grace—published a second antisemitic work.
Historians agree that Kichko was working under instructions of the central government[citation needed], and that his work was the beginning of a new wave of government-sponsored anti-Semitism within the larger structure of the Soviet Union'sattack on religion.
Under the rule ofJoseph Stalin, theSoviet Union exploited earlier traditions of antisemitism that existed in its territories. Official policy deemedJews to be foreign and traitorous elements. During theGreat Purge of the 1930s, leading Jewish figures and institutions were targeted. Between 1948 and 1953, antisemitism became official state policy. The murder ofSolomon Mikhoels, the director of theMoscow State Jewish Theater, was the start of a wave of antisemitism that aimed to destroy "all the Jewish cultural institutions that were left from the 1930s or that had been established during" theSecond World War.[1]
Following the death of Stalin, antisemitism waned allowing the Jewish population to live in fear no longer. However, antisemitism remained "invariably linked to the ideological and political concerns of theKremlin and enjoyed strong roots in popular attitudes and behavior." From the mid-1950s onwards, a new wave of antisemitism permeated the Soviet Union inspired byNikita Khrushchev andLeonid Brezhnev. This was further enhanced byKhrushchev's campaign against religion. The attack onJudaism "took on an antisemitic dimension."[2][3]Soviet propaganda began to push the idea that Jewish people veneratedcapitalism and promoted the economic exploitation of non-Jewish people.[2] Between 1959 and 1964, 1,847 anti-religious publications were printed. While only eight percent were focused solely on attacking Judaism, the vast majority included some form of attack. "The proportion of anti-Judaism titles was ... seven times larger than the proportion of Jews" in the Soviet Union. This was exacerbated by the number of copies of anti-Jewish work in circulation. On average 27,000 copies of any single piece ofanti-Christian material were printed and 6,000 copies ofanti-Islamic material, compared to the 46,000 copies of anti-Jewish publications. This amounted to 2.5 million anti-Jewish publications in print between 1959 and 1964.[4] By the early 1960s, 85 percent ofsynagogues had been closed. NoYiddish schools were permitted withinRussia, nor did any institutions within the Soviet Union provide courses in Yiddish,Hebrew orJewish history. Of the 110 death sentences promulgated during that period for economic crimes, over 70 of them were imposed on Jewish defendants.[5][6]
In October 1963, theKiev-basedUkrainian Academy of Sciences published an initial batch of 12,000 copies ofJudaism without Embellishment. This work was written byTrofim Kichko, a formerNazi German collaborator during the Second World War, a member of theCommunist Party and a protégé of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.[7][8][9][10] According to newly found research, Trofim Kichko was involved in theanti-fascist resistance in German occupied Ukraine.[11]
His work was "a reworking of the turn-of-the-centurytsarist police hoax known asProtocols of the Elders of Zion".[12] Kichko's work argued for "the existence of a universalJewish conspiracy involving Judaism, Jewish bankers,Zionism, and Western capitalism".[13] The Jewish population were depicted as beingreactionary andsubversive, all of which was based on a religious belief in "virtually every ... unattractive moral quality".[7] The text was supported throughout by "galling ...caricatures ... which [were] reminiscent ofNazi anti-Semitic propaganda",[14] the likes of which had been seen in the official Nazi party newspaperDer Stürmer ("the most viciously anti-Jewish Nazi publication").[7][15] The image on thebook cover was of a "hooked-noserabbinical figure, standing at hispulpit with a sack of overflowing gold coins in his clawlike hands."[16] While the work was similar to earlier literary attacks on Jews, Kichko went further, arguing that theGerman-led attack on the Soviet Union begun on 22 June 1941 was a joint affair between the Jewish people andNazi Germany.[17]
Within the Soviet Union,Judaism Without Embellishment was widely praised as a "scientific work of distinction".[7]Izvestia, the official newspaper of theSoviet government, praised Kichko's work for "us[ing] new material in analyzing the reactionary nature of Judaism as a form of religious ideology."[18] The work was extensively republished across the nation,[19] and was "widely distributed ... among party cadres and educators."[7]
On 24 February 1964,Morris B. Abram, the president of theAmerican Jewish Committee, supported by aUnited States representative to theUnited Nations'Commission on Human Rights, brought Kichko's work to worldwide attention by attacking the book during a press conference. Shortly afterwards, international criticism was leveled at Kichko and his book.[20] Communist parties worldwide condemned the work.[20][21] The French communist newspaperL'Humanité denounced the book and demanded that the Soviet Union disavow the work.[22]Gus Hall, thesecretary-general of theUnited States Communist Party, stated, "[T]here is no doubt in my mind about the anti-Semitic character of what I have seen. Such stereotyped, slanderous caricatures of the Jewish people must be unequivocally condemned."[20] To exploit this discontent with the Soviet Union, the AmericanCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) had the book translated into French to be distributed toleft-wing groups across Europe.[17] When Khrushchev touredScandinavia in the spring of 1964, demonstrations took place against the USSR's treatment of Jews, motivated in part by the publication ofJudaism without Embellishment.[23] InUkraine, reaction to the book was also negative. Ukrainian nationalistMykola Lebed saw the book "as a Soviet attempt to paint Ukrainians with a broad anti-Semitic brush". This resulted in Ukrainians, especially among the former supporters ofStepan Bandera, switching from using anti-Semitism as a weapon to use against the Soviet authorities to attacking the Soviet government for being anti-Semitic.[17]
Caving to international pressure, the Soviet government abandoned support for the book. On 4 April 1964, the Soviet newspaperPravda - the newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party - announced an official change in policy. The statement read, "The author of the book and the authors of the preface wrongly interpreted some questions concerning the emergence and development of this religion. ... [A] number of mistaken propositions and illustrations could insult the feelings of believers and might even be interpreted in the spirit of anti-Semitism." The paper continued "There is no such thing as anti-Semitism in the USSR and cannot be."[20][7] The Soviet Communist Party'sideological committee withdrew the work from circulation and destroyed all copies.[24] As a result, Kichko fell out of favor and "temporarily sank into obscurity."[7]
Despite the withdrawal of Kichko's work, it was soon replaced by similar works by other authors. On 4 October 1967, an article by Kichko was published inKomsomolskoye Znamya, a provincial newspaper in Ukraine. On 20 January 1968,Pravda Ukrainy, the central newspaper of Ukraine, "reported that Kichko was being rewarded with a scroll of honor for his 'services to atheist propaganda'". This was followed by the publication of his second work:Judaism and Zionism, an anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli work that reiterated the hoax of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy.[25][26]
Journalist Leonid Vladimirov asserted that information gleaned from friends in Kiev suggested that Kichko was able to overcome his background and rise to a position of authority within the Ukrainian scientific community owing to his devotion to anti-Semitic research. Vladimirov commented that "there are services in Russia for which even collaborators are pardoned".[27] Maurice Friedberg states that the publication ofJudaism without Embellishment was "a precursor of the resurgence of officially sponsored anti-Semitism".[10]
Stefan T. Possony asserts that Kichko "was ordered to write" his book and "his fabrications were ordered to be published in theUkrainian language" with the aim of embroiling "the Jews with the Ukrainians once again."[8] The Canadian-Ukrainian historians Ivan Katchanovski, Zenon E. Kohut, Bohdan Y. Nebesio and Myroslav Yurkevich are all in agreement. They argue that in an effort "to discreditUkrainian nationalism", the Soviet government was attempting to "associate Soviet Ukrainian institutions with anti-Semitic publications", and that the best-known example of this was Kichko's work.[28] Amir Weiner argues along similar lines, stating that Kichko's work was not an "accidental slip", as evidenced by the "belated Soviet reaction".[27]
