THE STATEMENT: “YOU JEWS HAVE CREATED ONE ETERNALLY TRUE LEGEND — THAT OF JUDAS,” ATTRIBUTED TO JOSEPH STALIN, DICTATOR OF SOVIET RUSSIA, IN THE ENGLISH EDITION OF LION FEUCHTWANGER’S NEW BOOK “MOSCOW 1937” APPEARS IN A MODIFIED VERSION IN THE AMERICAN EDITION TO BE PUBLISHED AUGUST 6.
THE BOOK AS ISSUED HERE BY VIKING PRESS REPORTS STALIN’S REMARK TO MR. FEUCHTWANGER AS FOLLOWS: “THERE IS ONE ETERNALLY TRUE LEGEND, THAT OF JUDAS.”
OFFICIALS OF THE VIKING PRESS EXPLAINED THAT THE CHANGE WAS MADE AFTER PUBLICATION OF THE LONDON EDITION BECAUSE IT WAS BELIEVED THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION HAD PLACED A MEANING INTO STALIN’S WORDS WHICH HE HAD NOT INTENDED AND WHICH MIGHT BE MISINTERPRETED. STALIN’S WORDS WENT THROUGH A DOUBLE TRANSLATION, IT WAS POINTED OUT. WHAT HE SAID IN RUSSIAN WAS INTERPRETED TO MR. FEUCHTWANGER IN GERMAN, AND THEN TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH.
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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.
