Anti-semitic Propaganda Methods Seen Revived in Soviet Press

Evidence of the revival of the Kremlin-sponsored anti-Semitic campaign in Russia of 1949 and of 1952-53, was reported here today by the European office of the American Jewish Committee. The AJC cited the greatly increased use and emphasis in Soviet provincial newspapers of Jewish names of persons alleged to have committed crimes against the Soviet system.

Pointing out that this technique of attacking Jews was a striking feature of both the 1949 Soviet campaign against the Jews and again of the 1952-53 campaign which climaxed with the so-called doctor’s plot, the AJC warned that this may be the portent of a new attack against the Jews in the USSR. “It is ominous that such stories should begin to appear once more, together with recent reports about arrests of Jews in the USSR on the grounds that they were in possession of Zionist literature,” the AJC declared. This apparent renewal of anti-Semitism is significant particularly in the light of a new turn of Soviet policy in Egypt and the Middle East.

Citing a number of Soviet newspapers in various parts of the USSR in which Jewish names have been emphasized in reports of a negative character, the American Jewish Committee stated that this practice began in mid-August this year and coincided with the arrest of a large number of Jews in Moscow in whose homes Jewish literature was found. Another wave of arrests and searches of Jewish homes occurred in Leningrad during October, the AJC established.