Yevgeny Yevtushenko, the Soviet poet whose tribute to the Jewish victims at Babi Yar made him internationally famous and controversial, has denied again that there is official anti-Semitism in his homeland. In an interview with senior editor Michael Laurence in the Dec. issue of Playboy magazine, Yevtushenko is asked if anti-Semitism is “officially tolerated on any level of your society,” and he replies:
“Absolutely not. Official anti-Semitism does not exist in Russia. It’s utterly contrary to socialist principles. It is impossible to be a Communist and an anti-Semite; these are mutually exclusive positions.”
ANTI-SEMITISM ON A PERSONAL LEVEL
Yevtushenko admits that there is anti-Semitism in the USSR “on a personal level, just as there is still discrimination against Blacks in parts of your (American) society.” There is, he says, a “residue” of Czarist scapegoating “among uncultured segments of our society,” but “Among our young people, I have never seen a single person display any sort of anti-Semitism.”
The 40-year-old poet says “the situation of Jews in our country has improved greatly,” although “this does not mean that the problem has been fully resolved.” Yevtushenko adds his “doubt” that the Jewish Defense League’s actions are “helpful”; on the contrary, he says, “they only increase tension.”
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.
