Ilya Ehrenburg, famous Soviet-Jewish writer, died in Moscow this weekend at the age of 76. Son of a Jewish factory manager, he joined the Russian revolutionary movement when in his youth, and remained faithful to the Communist Party even during the days when Stalin was purging Jewish intellectuals, executing many of them.
He always considered himself publicly as a Jew, stating that as long as there is anti-Semitism in Russia he would be a Jew. At times, he voiced and wrote scurrilous attacks against Zionism and Israel. However, during last June’s Arab-Israeli war, he stood aloof from some Jewish writers who, evidently under Government pressure, supported the Soviet Government’s anti-Israel, pro-Arab policies.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
