The Communist Party in the Soviet Union was accused today of endorsing a new anti-Semitic book at the same time when it criticized the notorious book “Judaism Without Embellishment” which provoked worldwide protests for its viciously anti-Semitic content.
The new book is entitled “Cathechism Without Embellishment” and was published in 1963 by the Moscow State Publishing House for Political Literature. It has had a publication run of at least 105, 000 copies, compared with the edition of 12, 000 copies of “Judaism Without Embellishment, “which was reportedly suppressed after the worldwide wave of criticism.
B’nai B’rith president Label A. Katz, reporting on the dissemination in the Soviet Union of the book “Cathechism Without Embellishment,” said that the ideological commission of the Soviet Communist Party’s central committee, which had criticized “Judaism Without Embellishment” praised “Cathechism Without Embellishment” as a correct example of propaganda for atheism.
“Cathechism Without Embellishment,” written by A. Osipov, does not contain the Streicher-like cartoons used in the other book, Mr. Katz said. However, he added, the text material is similar, accusing Judaism of preaching “the bloody extermination of peoples of other faiths,” urging “real racial discrimination” and propagating the notion that God would “destroy other nations.”
The Osipov book calls Passover and other Jewish festivals a device for “the enrichment of the synagogue and rabbis,” calls the rabbinate a “greedy, silver-loving clergy,” and vilifies Jewish ritual and the “Commandments” as designs for profiteering,” Mr. Katz reported.
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.
