Repressions Against the Jews in Chernivtsi Region in 1948–1953
Main Article Content
Abstract
The article analyzes the causes, nature and methods of repressions against the Jewish population of Chernivtsi region in the last years of I. V. Stalin’s ruling.
The cases of well-known Jewish poets Naphtali-Hertz Kon (Ya. I. Serf) and M. Kh. Harac, a lawyer M. D. Feldman, who were convicted of «Jewish bourgeois nationalism» (Zionism), were revealing. V. Sh. Pecheniuk, a head of the Jewish community in Chernivtsi, Yu. I. David, a rabbi of the local choral synagogue, V. F. Epelboim, a former translator of the headquarters of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, accused of Zionist activity with good reason, were subject to repression. At the end of 1946, the mass exodus of the Jews to Romania was completed, and all attempts by the Jews to cross the Romanian-Soviet border illegally were severely punished. On such charges D. I. Volokh, Z. P. Sobelman, B. A. Shornik and others were convicted up to 10 years in prison. Given the intensification of repressions in 1949–1952, even the personal opinions of the Soviet citizens became dangerous. The party organizations in the city and region periodically called for an intensification of the ideological struggle against «Ukrainian and Jewish bourgeois nationalism», for conducting internal party personnel purges in order to get rid of unwanted communists who tarnished their reputations with the dubious ties and lack of reputation. Instead, many cases against the Jews were overtly criminal. Thus, on the basis of the archival material the author proved that repressions against Bukovyna Jewry was made possible by the atmosphere of general xenophobia in the USSR in 1948–1953, the struggle of the Stalinist leadership against nationalism, as well as by the national uplift of the Jews in the early post-war years. The repressions were conditioned by the peculiarities of I. V. Stalin’s totalitarian regime and were embodied in the numerous acts of criminal and administrative persecution of the Jews of Northern Bukovyna by the Soviet authorities.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
B. Hryhoriev, Solomon Bin ta yoho syn [Solomon Bean and his son], in «Radianska Bukovyna», 1952, 16 travnia, s. 4; «Radianska Bukovyna», 1952, 25 chervnia, s. 3.
Derzhavnyi arkhiv Chernivetskoi oblasti [State Archives of Chernivtsi Region (DAChO)], f. R-2838 Upravlinnia KDB po Chernivetskii oblasti pry RM URSR, op. 3, spr. 614 Delo Epelboima V. F., 315 ark.
DAChO, f. R-2838, op. 3, spr. 1375 Delo Feldmana Z. L., 94 ark.
DAChO, f. R-2838, op. 3, spr. 2103 Delo Floma Kh. I., 160 ark.
DAChO, f. R-2838, op. 3, spr. 2145 Ugolovnoe delo Kharatca Meera-Khaima Leibovicha, 96 ark.
DAChO, f. R-2838, op. 3, spr. 2150 Delo Sobelman Z. P., 118 ark.
DAChO, f. R-2838, op. 3, spr. 2158 Delo Rubinger R. L., 132 ark.
DAChO, f. R-2838, op. 3, spr. 2176 Delo po obvineniiu Shornika A. B. i dr., t. 2, 241 ark.
DAChO, f. R-2838, op. 3, spr. 2177 Delo Feldmana M. D., 320 ark.
DAChO, f. R-2838, op. 3, spr. 2224 Delo Davida Iu. I. i dr., 466 ark.
DAChO, f. R-2838, op. 3, spr. 2334 Delo Kogana P. Zh., 76 ark.
DAChO, f. R-2838, op. 3, spr. 2353 Delo Volokha D. I., 317 ark.
DAChO, f. R-2838, op. 3, spr. 2356 Delo Serf Ia. I., 429 ark.
DAChO, f. P-2 Chernivetskyi obkom Kompartii Ukrainy, op. 1, spr. 1320 Protokoly plenumov gorkoma Kompartii Ukrainy, 240 ark.
DAChO, f. P-2, op. 1, spr, 1324 Protokoly zasedanii biuro gorkoma Kompartii Ukrainy, 276 ark.
DAChO, f. P-2, op. 1, spr. 1349 Perepiska s obkomami, gorkomami i raikomami partii po voprosu personalnykh del kommunistov i proverke komprometiruiushchikh dannykh na litc, prozhivaiushchikh v g. Chernovtcy, 231 ark.
I. Dutchak, Do pytannia chystok vid «sotsialno nebezpechnykh elementiv» na Bukovyni u 1940–1941 rr. (Za materialamy Derzhavnoho arkhivu Chernivetskoi oblasti) [To the question of purges from «socially dangerous elements» in Bukovina in 1940-1941. (According to the materials of the State Archives of Chernivtsi region)], in «Bukovynska mizhnarodna istoryko-kraieznavcha konferentsiia prysviachena 100-richchiu Ukrainskoi natsionalnoi revoliutsii. Tezy dopovidei, Chernivtsi, 20–21 zhovtnia 2017 r.: nauk. red. O.V. Dobrzhanskyi», Chernivtsi, Tekhnodruk, 2017, s. 43–45.
N. Ivanov, Dachnyky [Summer residents], in «Radianska Bukovyna», 1953, 18 liutoho, s. 3.
G. V. Kostyrchenko, Tainaia politika Stalina: vlast i antisemitizm [Stalin’s Secret Policy: Power and Anti-Semitism], Moskva, Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia, 2003, 784 s.
Yu. V. Orlov, Politychni represii ta teror yak sotsialno-pravovi fenomeny: kryminolohichnyi aspekt [Political repressions and terror as social and legal phenomenon: criminological aspect], in «Visnyk Kryminolohichnoi asotsiatsii Ukrainy», 2015, №3 (11), s. 167–179.
Postanovlenie Prezidiuma TcK KPSS o politicheskom i khoziaistvennom sostoianii Zapadnykh oblastei Ukrainskoi SSR. 26 maia 1953 g. [Resolution of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSS on the political and economic condition of the Western regions of the Ukrainian SSR. May 26, 1953], URL: http://istmat.info/node/26479
Yu. V. Saifulina, Radianizatsiia Pivnichnoi Bukovyny u 1940–1941 rr.: administratyvno-pravovyi aspect [Sovietization of Northern Bukovina in 1940–1941: administrative and legal aspect], in «Universytetski naukovi zapysky», 2008, № 4 (28), s. 58–64.
P. Stepanenko, Obyda i zhal hromadianyna Linhera [The insult and pity of the Linger citizen], in «Radianska Bukovyna», 1952, 11 lypnia, s. 3.
I. Fostii, Knyhy liudskykh trahedii [Books of human tragedies], in «Reabilitovani istoriieiu: U 27 tomakh: hol. redkolehii P. T. Tronko. Chernivetska oblast. Kn. I: hol. nauk. red. I. P. Fostii», Chernivtsi, Knyha pamiati Ukrainy, 2007, s. 5–13.
I. P. Fostii, V. M. Pidlubnyi, Politychni represii proty naselennia Pivnichnoi Bukovyny i Khotynshchyny u 1918–1985 rokakh [Political repression against the population of Northern Bukovina and Khotyn region in 1918-1985], in «Reabilitovani istoriieiu: U 27 tomakh: hol. redkolehii 26. P. T. Tronko. Chernivetska oblast. Kn. I: hol. nauk. red. I. P. Fostii», Chernivtsi, Knyha pamiati Ukrainy, 2007, s. 16–136.
V. F. Kholodnytskyi, Repatriatsiia radianskykh hromadian v 1944–1953 rr. (na prykladi Chernivetskoi oblasti Ukrainskoi SRSR) [Repatriation of the Soviet Citizens in 1944-1953 (Based on Data of Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukrainian SSR)], in «Istorychna panorama: Naukovyi zbirnyk ChNU. Spetsialnist «Istoriia», 2016, vyp. 22–23, s. 132–158.
Ye. Shpiner, «Vilni» khudozhnyky [«Free» artists], in «Radianska Bukovyna», 1952, 13 hrudnia, s. 3.
I. T. Yavorska, Zhyttia yak poshuk raiu. Emihratsiia yevreiv z Chernivetskoi oblasti (1944–1991 rr.) [Life is like finding paradise. The emigration of Jews from Chernivtsi region (1944–1991)], Chernivtsi, Tekhnodruk, 2016, 216 s.
Yu. Klimchuk, Podilskyi bukovynets Yosyp Klishch u frantsuzkomu rusi Oporu [Podolian bukovynets Yosyp Klyshch in the French Resistance movement], in «Naukovyi visnyk Chernivetskoho universytetu. Istoriia», 2016, № 2, s. 91–96.