Nikita Khrushchev, head of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union, was charged today with being “personally connected” with the revived anti-Semitism now developing in countries behind the Iron Curtain. The charge was made in an article in the New York Times written by C.L. Sulzberger, chief correspondent of the leading American newspaper. Cabling from London, Mr. Sulzberger says:
“Ugly intimations of anti-Semitism, tolerated if not encouraged by the Communist regimes in power, are again appearing in Eastern Europe. There are hints that Marxist leaders, bewildered by the great post-Stalin debate, are either permitting or encouraging a new search for racial scapegoats to avoid blame for past or present ideological confusion. And, according to available evidence, Khrushchev is personally connected with this unpleasant recurrence of racial prejudice.
“When Khrushchev was prime minister of the Ukraine after World War II he issued regulations barring Jews from important local positions. He was the first Premier of a Soviet republic to prohibit activity of Jewish theatres, schools and publishing houses. He forbade writing and acting in the Yiddish language and tolerated an anti-Semitic outbreak in Kiev so serious that Stalin sent Malenkov to investigate.
“Khrushchev and Suslov are reputed to be the leaders of an anti-Semitic group within the present Moscow Presidium. Last March, when Soviet leaders attended a state funeral in Warsaw for the late President of Poland, Beirut, Khrushchev made several indiscreet observations that tended to confirm his reputation for prejudice. He was heard to remark: ‘Even a second-rate Kowalski (a typically Polish name) is more useful than a first-rate Rosenblum (atypically Jewish name).’ During a meeting of the Polish Communist Central Committee he observed: ‘You have too many Abrahamoviches here.’ Mr. Sulzberger reports.
Pointing out that the two principal Warsaw bosses now are Marshal Rokossovsky and Ochab, who succeeded Bierut, Mr. Sulzberger writes: “Rokossovsky has a reputation in the army for anti-Semitism and is held responsible for dismissing several hundred Jewish officers. Ochab is a table-thumping militant and Khrushchev nominee. One of his first moves after gaining power was to fire Jakub Berman, detested party theorist and a Jew.
The Times correspondent quotes Jewish refugees from Poland reporting: “Anti-Semitism always existed among-the masses. Now it comes from above. It is an echo of what is happening in Russia. It is said that Khrushchev is more prejudiced even than Stalin. In the Ukraine anti-Semitism is becoming increasingly intense.” He reveals that in May, five Jews were killed during riots in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital. A few days later the synagogue in Lodz, Poland, was desecrated.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
