JBC Book Clubs Discussion Guide Created in Partnership with Picador Jewishbookcouncil.Org
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JBC Book Clubs Discussion Guide Created in partnership with Picador Jewishbookcouncil.org Jewish Book Council Contents: 20th Century Russia: In Brief 3 A Glossary of Cultural References 7 JBC Book Clubs Discussion Questions 16 Recipes Inspired by The Yid 20 Articles of Interest and Related Media 25 Paul Goldberg’s JBC Visiting Scribe Blog Posts 26 20th Century Russia: In Brief After the Russian Revolution of 1917 ended the Czar- Stalin and the Jews ist autocracy, Russia’s future was uncertain, with At the start of the Russian Revolution, though reli- many political groups vying for power and ideolog- gion and religiosity was considered outdated and su- ical dominance. This led to the Russian Civil War perstitious, anti-Semitism was officially renounced (1917-1922), which was primarily a war between the by Lenin’s soviet (council) and the Bolsheviks. Bolsheviks (the Red Army) and those who opposed During this time, the State sanctioned institutions of them. The opposing White Army was a loose collec- Yiddish culture, like GOSET, as a way of connecting tion of Russian political groups and foreign nations. with the people and bringing them into the Commu- Lenin’s Bolsheviks eventually defeated the Whites nist ideology. and established Soviet rule through all of Russia un- der the Russian Communist Party. Following Lenin’s Though Stalin was personally an anti-Semite who death in 1924, Joseph Stalin, the Secretary General of hated “yids” and considered the enemy Menshevik the RCP, assumed leadership of the Soviet Union. Party an organization of Jews (as opposed to the Bolsheviks which he considered to be Russian), as Under Stalin, the country underwent a period of late as 1931, he continued to condemn anti-Semitism. intense and rapid industrialization. To assist with the Though the Great Purges of 1936-1937 saw the deaths growth, Stalin created joint ventures with American of many Jews, they were not specifically targeted for companies who helped set up the basis of industrial being Jewish. The rise of Nazi Germany, however, led growth. Meanwhile, personal and political freedoms to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in which Stalin, to withered. The State controlled what people read, appease the Nazis and avoid war, agreed to “purge heard, and created, mandating that anything that the ministry of Jews” and plans were made to relo- was produced promoted the state and glorified Stalin. cate Jews to regions of Siberia. The Nazi invasion of In 1928, Stalin banished Leon Trotsky, and by the the USSR broke this pact, and even into the 1940s, 1930s, Stalin had removed much of the opposition though Jews were increasingly less involved in with his Great Purge and consolidated his power. positions of power, Stalin sponsored the migration Through a reign of terror that included random of Jewish refugees to Birobidzan, the Jewish Autono- arrests, sham trials and confessions, gulags (forced mous Oblast that he had set up a few years before. labor camps), executions and assassinations, Stalin kept a firm grip on his dictatorship. It is estimated After World War II, however, Stalin’s personal feel- that nearly 700,000 people were executed during ings against Jews—that they were not assimilable this time, with that number increasing over the and were secretly capitalists—became more public, course of Stalin’s time in power. Stalin died in 1953, and his Russian nationalism increased. In the fall and his successor, Nikita Khrushchev, rescinded of 1948, Golda Meir was welcomed to Moscow by many of the Stalinist policies huge crowds of Jews; an event which demonstrated to Stalin and his government the strong current of 3 Jewish Book Council Zionism among Soviet Jews. One month later, a full- scale ongoing campaign against Jewish culture and Zionism was launched. This included smears in the press against the “rootless cosmopolitans”, shutting down museums, theaters and other cultural insti- tutions, and the arrests or assassinations of leading Jewish activists and writers. Jews were accused of being traitors, spies for the Americans, dangers to the Soviet Union, and bourgeois cosmopolitans. On the night of August 12, 1952, the Night of the Mur- dered Poets saw the deaths of thirteen of the most prominent Yiddish writers, and from 1952-1953, Jews in power were removed from their positions and many were arrested. At the start of 1953, Stalin devised his own Final Solu- tion to rid the Soviet Union of all of those of “Jewish ethnicity”, a massive pogrom that would relocate 2-4 million Jews to Siberia and annihilate them. It is believed that the “Doctors’ Plot” was the initial action of this campaign. In January, 1953, it was announced that Soviet of- ficials had uncovered a conspiracy amongst senior doctors, most of them Jewish, to poison highranking members of the government. Following the arrests of these doctors, the anti-Semitic press ran rampant, with widespread character assassinations and accu- sations against Jews in general, and many doctors with Jewish names were dismissed and arrested. Nine days before the doctors’ trial was to begin, Sta- lin died suddenly. Stalin’s successors dismissed the charges on lack of evidence, and it was later discov- ered that the whole conspiracy was a fabrication. Note: The day that Stalin died, March 5, 1953, happened to fall on the holiday of Purim. Some communities celebrate Stalin’s death as a “Little Purim”, a day when Jews were saved from annihilation at the hands of evil. 4 Jewish Book Council Glossary of Cultural References Anna Akhmatova cuted the Jews and sold many into slavery. The Bar Anna Andreyevna Gorenko (1889-1966), known Kokhba rebellion (the third Jewish revolt against as Anna Akhmatova, was a modernist poet who is the Romans) was led by Shimon Bar Kokhba. He considered to be one of Russia’s greatest. Her work was regarded by some Jews as a messiah who would and life were greatly affected by the political climates lead the Jews to a victory and a homeland. Under his and shifts of the first half of the twentieth century. command, the Judean fighters won significant land, Her writing was immensely popular—her second but were ultimately crushed by the Romans, and book influenced thousands of women to write poems thousands of Jews were killed. After the rebellion, in her style—but was out of political favor for periods the persecution of the Jews was increased with Torah of time, first from the Bolsheviks and then under the study, synagogue attendance and rituals forbidden, Stalinist regime. many sages and rabbis killed, and Jews banned from Jerusalem. Stalin’s ban on her work post-WWII led to her being expelled from the Writer’s Union, with the Secretary GOSET calling her “half-nun, half-harlot.” One of her most The Moscow State Yiddish Theater (Gosudarstven- famous works is a long form poem, “Requiem,” that nyi Evreiskii Teatr) was one of the most famous and was dedicated to the vic- tims of Stalin’s terror. successful Yiddish-language theaters in the world, Though her popularity kept her from being arrest- and was often considered one of the best theaters in ed, her son was jailed for many years. Unlike many the Soviet Union at the time. GOSET was established artists, Akhmatova remained in the country to bear in 1920, at a time when the Soviet government fos- witness to what was happening, a stance that further tered Yiddish culture in an attempt to influence Jews endeared her to the Russian people. and gain their support. Marc Chagall GOSET’s leading actors, Solomon Mikhailovich A Russian-French artist (1887-1985) who was one Mikhoels and Venyamin Zuskin, were so popular of the most popular and internationally recognized that they became national celebrities, and many of modernists. He was also considered one of the the most famous Jewish artists were involved in its world’s most preeminent Jewish artists. productions (for example, the sets were designed by Marc Chagall). Many of the shows were interpreta- Bar Kokba Rebellion tions of pre-revolutionary Yiddish works—by Sholem The Bar Kokhba rebellion began in 123 C.E. in Judea. Aleichem, I.L Peretz, Mendele Mocher Seforim, The Jews, who were subjects of the Roman Empire etc—that expressed the themes and ideals of the at the time, had been promised land and a chance Soviet Union. GOSET was known for modernist to rebuild the Temple. Emperor Hadrian, however, productions that emphasized class struggle and changed his mind and issued decrees that perse- anti-religious rebellion. 5 Jewish Book Council The theater was directed by Alexander Granovsky King Lear until 1928 when he defected while on a European tour, King Lear, one of Shakespeare’s tragedies, was origi- leaving Mikhoels as the new director. Under Mikhoe- nally written around 1605. The play was performed ls, GOSET staged a production of King Lear, which by GOSET to great success and critical acclaim in was widely considered the theater’s greatest moment. 1935. It starred Solomon Mikhoels as the King and After WWII, however, the Soviet political climate Venyamin Zuskin as the Fool, and was translated into was hostile to Jews (among others). Stalin’s an- Yiddish by Shmuel Halkin. ti-cosmopolitan campaign turned into a new wave A summary of the play follows: of violence in 1948, with the assassination (under the guise of a truck accident) of Solomon Mikhoels and King Lear, the King of England, is retiring and wants the arrest of many of the theater’s leading writers to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters. and artists. Zuskin took over for Mikhoels, but was He devises a competition whereby his daughters must arrested later that same year.