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“asemitism” Rather Than “anti-semitism” Prevails in Soviet Russia Study Establishes

June 7, 1949
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“Asemitism” rather than “anti-Semitism” now prevails in Soviet Russia, according to a study published here today by the American Jewish league Against Communism. At the some time, the study claims that “anti-Semitism has been growing in Soviet Russia, particularly during the past year.”

“Asemitism” differs from “anti-Semitism” in that it is not aggressive, according to the study prepared by Gregor Aronson, former member of the Moscow Soviet who left Russia in 1922, after having been arrested by the Soviet authorities, “Asemitism is not Jew-hatred in the usual sense of the word; it is more complicated and completely psychological,” Mr. Aronson explains. “It seems to be characterized by indifference to the Jews and any matter in which they, as Jews, are involved.”

The study published under the title, “Soviet Russia and the Jews,” deals with the situation in Biro-Bidjan, with Soviet hostility to Zionism, with various aspects of Jewish life in the USSR from the communist revolution of 1917 to World War II and with the prospects of assimilation of Soviet Jewry.

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