Anti-Jewish undertones continue to make themselves felt in the Soviet press, according to reports received by Jewish organizations here quoting numerous articles from newspapers in various parts of the Soviet Union. Anti-Jewish intent is especially noticeable in feuilletons, which are considered an important instrument for fashioning public opinion in the USSR.
A summary of feuilletons with anti-Jewish bite, published in the Soviet papers during the last 12 months, makes obvious the line which they follow. The word “Jew” never appears, but the “villain’s” name is obviously Jewish; he is described as sleek and slimy, sly and mean, hard and unscrupulous, in the pursuit of his dishonorable aims, out to achieve private gain by foul means: swindle, fraud, excessive profits. He always seems to know his way about, and is able to wind his superiors around his little finger.
Along with the Jewish villain, there is also the Gentile villain who abets and protects the Jew. On rare occasions, a “good Jew” is counterposed to a “bad Jew.”
This subtle technique is evident in at least an odd dozen feuilletons which have appeared during the past year in central Soviet papers, in the press of the Republics of the Soviet Union, or have been contributed to the central organs by correspondents from those Republics, the report received by Jewish groups here states. “Add the recent anti-Israel campaign in the Soviet press (Trud, Komsomolskaia Pravda, Literaturnaia Gazeta, Pravda Ukrainy, “International Affairs,” and others and its frightening purpose to foster latent anti-Semitism becomes only too obvious,” the report emphasizes.
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.
