A new book frankly anti-Semitic in character, accusing Jews of “actual or potential” disloyalty to the USSR, equating “rabbis and Zionists,” charging that the Jewish religion is “alien to the Soviet spirit,” and stating that some Jews bake and sell matzoth for the sole purpose of making large profits, was issued in the Soviet Union this summer, it was revealed here today.
The book, entitled “Contemporary Judaism and Zionism,” was displayed here today at a press conference held by Label A. Katz, president of B’nai B’rith. Published last June by the State Publishing House of the Moldavian SSR, at Kishinev, the work shows that its author is F. S. Mayatsky. Experts on Soviet affairs have identified Mayatsky as a well-known Communist propagandist specializing in anti-Jewish writings.
Mayatsky’s book, selling for only 11 kopecks (12 cents) and frankly “intended for the general reading public,” was issued at the very time that leaders of the Soviet Communist Party announced an official ban on a previously issued anti-Semitic work, “Judaism Without Embellishment,” published by the Academy of Science in Kiev.
“Contemporary Judaism and Zionism,” said Mr. Katz in showing the book and an accompanying translation into English, “is the latest known official Soviet work of anti-Semitic nature, and is a shocking example of the uninterrupted series of anti-Jewish publications that bear official imprimatur. It is designed to hasten further the suppression of Soviet Jewish life.”
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.
