The National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) reported that a new film made by the Soviet government for export abroad, particularly to the United States, links Zionism with Nazism and racism. According to the NCSJ, the film, “Babi Yar: the Lessons of History,” is disturbing because it represents an attempt to expand the ongoing Soviet propaganda campaign personified by the three-and-a-half month old “Anti-Zionist Committee.”
Narrated in near flawless English and of high technical quality, it was apparently sent out to a wide variety of media outlets, including CBS News, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and private individuals involved in tracking down Nazi war criminals.
The danger of the film, the NCSJ stressed, is that it has been well targeted. Its anti-Zionist message is subtle compared to that in Soviet propaganda geared for internal consumption: only a few telltale lines, uttered in a steady, matter-of-fact tone, are inserted into the roughly hour-long film. They appear, moreover, within the context of repeated admonitions like “Never again,” and “We must never forget” — phrases which strike a chord in any Jew, and doubtless many others in the West.
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