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The Night of the Murdered Poets (; yi, הרוגי מלכות פֿונעם ראַטנפאַרבאַנד, translit=Harugey malkus funem Ratnfarband, lit=Soviet Union Martyrs) was the execution of thirteen
Soviet Jews The history of the Jews in the Soviet Union is inextricably linked to much earlier expansionist policies of the Russian Empire conquering and ruling the eastern half of the European continent already before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. "For ...
in the
Lubyanka Prison The Lubyanka ( rus, Лубянка, p=lʊˈbʲankə) is the popular name for the building which contains the headquarters of the FSB, and its affiliated prison, on Lubyanka Square in the Meshchansky District of Moscow, Russia. It is a large Ne ...
in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
on 12 August 1952.Rubenstein, Joshua (2001). "Introduction." In: Rubenstein and Vladimir Naumov (Eds.), ''Stalin's Secret Pogrom: The Postwar Inquisition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. . p. 504. The arrests were first made in September 1948 and June 1949. All defendants were falsely accused of
espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...
and
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
as well as many other crimes. After their arrests, they were tortured, beaten, and isolated for three years before being formally charged. There were five
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
writers among these defendants, all of whom were part of the
Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, ''Yevreysky antifashistsky komitet'' yi, יידישער אנטי פאשיסטישער קאמיטעט, ''Yidisher anti fashistisher komitet''., abbreviated as JAC, ''YeAK'', was an organization that was created i ...
.


Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee

The threat of an attack on Soviet Russia by
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
catalyzed the start of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC), a committee reaching out to Jews worldwide to support the Soviet war effort against Nazi Germany.
Solomon Mikhoels Solomon (Shloyme) Mikhoels ( yi, שלמה מיכאעלס lso spelled שלוימע מיכאעלס during the Soviet era russian: Cоломон (Шлойме) Михоэлс, – 13 January 1948) was a Latvian born Soviet Jewish actor and the art ...
, a Yiddish actor and director, headed the Committee. Other members of the committee were prominent Yiddish literary figures, actors, and doctors who wanted to help influence Jewish support for the Soviet Union through their writing and also using radio broadcasts from Russia to different countries. In 1943, Mikhoels and the vice-chairman of the Anti-Fascist Committee, Itzik Fefer, traveled to the U.S. and England to help raise money. Once the
German invasion German invasion may refer to: Pre-1900s * German invasion of Hungary (1063) World War I * German invasion of Belgium (1914) * German invasion of Luxembourg (1914) World War II * Invasion of Poland * German invasion of Belgium (1940) * G ...
began and Russian Jewish culture was destroyed by the invading Nazi forces' genocidal operations, the JAC felt it had a duty to change priorities, and focus on the rebuilding of Jewish communities, farms, culture, and identity - including a proposal to establish
Jewish autonomy in Crimea Jewish autonomy in Crimea was a project in the Soviet Union to create an autonomous region for Jews in the Crimea, Crimean peninsula carried out during the 1920s and 1930s. Following the WWII and the creation of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast i ...
. Not everyone agreed with the direction in which things were headed and many, such as Stalin and
Mikhail Suslov Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov (russian: Михаи́л Андре́евич Су́слов; 25 January 1982) was a Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as Second Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1965, and as uno ...
thought the JAC was "intervening in matters in which it should not interfere."


Interrogation and indictment

The charges filed against the accused included mentions of "counterrevolutionary crimes" and organized action meant to "topple, undermine, or weaken the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
."Lustiger, Arno, ''Stalin and the Jews'' (New York: Enigma Books, 2003) p. 222. Additionally, the inculpation revealed that the investigation uncovered evidence that the accused had used the JAC as a means for spying and promoting anti-government sentiment. The indictment went on to assert that the accused had been enemies of the government prior to their involvement with the JAC, and that the JAC served as their international network for communicating anti-Soviet views. Overemphasis on exchanges of relatively innocuous information between the JAC leadership and Jews in other countries, particularly American journalists, augmented accusations of espionage. Another piece of evidence supporting the indictment was a letter that the leadership of the JAC wrote as a formal request for
Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
to become the new Jewish homeland.Rapoport, Louis, ''Stalin's War Against the Jews''. (New York: The Free Press, 1990) p. 122. All of the defendants endured incessant interrogations which, for everyone except Itzik Fefer, were coupled with beatings and torture. Eventually, these tactics led to forced, false confessions. One defendant, Joseph Yuzefovich, told the court at the trial, "I was ready to confess that I was the pope's own nephew and that I was acting on his direct personal orders" after a beating. Another defendant,
Boris Shimeliovich Boris Abramovich Shimeliovich (russian: Борис Абрамович Шимелиович, 1892 – 1952) was the medical director of Moscow's , a well known and widely respected institution. Born in Riga, he was an active revolutionary wh ...
, said he had counted over two thousand blows to his buttocks and heels, but he was the only member of the accused who refused to confess to any crimes.


Defendants

#
Peretz Markish Peretz Davidovich Markish ( yi, פּרץ מאַרקיש ) (russian: Перец Давидович Маркиш) (7 December 1895 (25 November OS) – 12 August 1952) was a Russian Jewish poet and playwright who wrote predominantly in Yiddish. ...
(1895–1952), Yiddish poet, co-founder of the School of Writers, a Yiddish literary school in Soviet Russia # Dovid Hofshteyn (1889–1952), Yiddish poet #
Itzik Feffer Itzik Feffer (10 September 1900 – 12 August 1952), also Fefer (Yiddish איציק פֿעפֿער, Russian Ицик Фефер, Исаàк Соломòнович Фèфер) was a Soviet Yiddish poet executed on the Night of the Murdered Poe ...
(1900–1952), Yiddish poet, an informer for the
Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...
#
Leib Kvitko Leyb Moiseyevich Kvitko (russian: Лев Моисе́евич Кви́тко, yi, לייב קוויטקאָ) (October 15, 1890 – August 12, 1952) was a prominent Yiddish poet, an author of well-known children's poems and a member of the Je ...
(1890–1952), Yiddish poet and children's writer # David Bergelson (1884–1952), a distinguished novelist #
Solomon Lozovsky Solomon Abramovich Lozovsky (russian: Соломон Абрамович Лозовский, family birth name: Dridzo russian: Дридзо, 1878–1952) was a prominent Communist and Bolshevik revolutionary, a high-ranking official in the Soviet ...
(1878–1952), Director of
Soviet Information Bureau Soviet Information Bureau (russian: Советское информационное бюро, translit=Sovetskoye informatsionnoye byuro, commonly known as Sovinformburo []) was a leading Soviet Union, Soviet news agency, operating from 1941 to 19 ...
, Deputy Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union), Commissar of Foreign Affairs, vigorously denounced accusations against himself and others #
Boris Shimeliovich Boris Abramovich Shimeliovich (russian: Борис Абрамович Шимелиович, 1892 – 1952) was the medical director of Moscow's , a well known and widely respected institution. Born in Riga, he was an active revolutionary wh ...
(1892–1952), Medical Director of the Botkin Clinical Hospital, Moscow #
Benjamin Zuskin Benjamin Zuskin (russian: Вениамин Львович Зу́скин (Veniamin Lvovich Zuskin); April 28, 1899 – August 12, 1952) was a Soviet and Russian actor and director of the Moscow State Jewish Theatre (GOSET). Zuskin had the t ...
(1899–1952), assistant to and successor to Solomon Mikhoels as director of the
Moscow State Jewish Theater The Moscow State Jewish (Yiddish) Theatre (Russian language, Russian: Московский Государственный Еврейский Театр; Yiddish: Moskver melukhnisher yidisher teater), also known by its acronym GOSET (ГОСЕТ), w ...
#
Joseph Yuzefovich Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
(1890–1952), a researcher at the Institute of History,
Soviet Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...
, trade union leader # Leon Talmy (1893–1952), translator, journalist, a former member of the
Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
# Ilya Vatenberg (1887–1952), translator and editor of ''Eynikeyt'', newspaper of the JAC;
Labor Zionist Labor Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת סוֹצְיָאלִיסְטִית, ) or socialist Zionism ( he, תְּנוּעָת הָעַבוֹדָה, label=none, translit=Tnuʽat haʽavoda) refers to the left-wing, socialist variation of Zionism. ...
leader in Austria and the U.S. before returning to the USSR in 1933 # Chaika Vatenberg-Ostrovskaya (1901–1952), wife of Ilya Vatenberg, a translator at JAC. # Emilia Teumin (1905–1952), deputy editor of the ''Diplomatic Dictionary''; editor, International Division, Soviet Information Bureau # Solomon Bregman (1895–1953), Deputy Commissar of Foreign Affairs. Fell into a coma after denouncing the trial, and died in prison five months after the executions # Lina Stern (or Shtern) (1875–1968), a biochemist, physiologist and humanist and the first female academician in the
Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
and is best known for her pioneering work on the
blood–brain barrier The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a highly selective semipermeable membrane, semipermeable border of endothelium, endothelial cells that prevents solutes in the circulating blood from ''non-selectively'' crossing into the extracellular fluid of ...
. She was the only survivor out of the fifteen defendants. Some who were either directly or indirectly connected to the JAC at the time were also arrested in the years surrounding the trial. Although
Solomon Mikhoels Solomon (Shloyme) Mikhoels ( yi, שלמה מיכאעלס lso spelled שלוימע מיכאעלס during the Soviet era russian: Cоломон (Шлойме) Михоэлс, – 13 January 1948) was a Latvian born Soviet Jewish actor and the art ...
was not arrested, his death was ordered by Stalin in 1948.
Der Nister Der Nister ( yi, דער נסתּר ֹor דער ניסטער, "the Hidden One"; 1 November 1884 – 4 June 1950 in a Soviet Gulag) was the pseudonym of Pinchus Kahanovich ( yi, פּנחס קאַהאַנאָוויטש), a Yiddish author, philoso ...
, another Yiddish writer, was arrested in 1949, and died in a labour camp in 1950. Literary critic Yitzhak Nusinov died in prison, and journalists Shmuel Persov and Miriam Zheleznova were shot – all in 1950.Rubenstein, 2001 p. 53-56


Trial

The trial began on 8 May 1952 and lasted until the sentencing on 18 July. The structure of the trial was peculiar due to the fact that there were no prosecutors or defence attorneys, simply three military judges. This was in accordance with Soviet law at the time, but is characterized by historians today as "nothing less than terror masquerading as law." While some defendants admitted their guilt, others plead partially guilty and some maintained their innocence. Since the trial was not public, the defendants made expressive and often lengthy statements professing their innocence. The defendants also had the opportunity to cross-examine each other, furthering the trial's intense atmosphere. During the trial, defendants answered some questions from judges which were wholly unrelated to the trial and resulted merely from personal curiosities. For example, the judges often asked the defendants about
kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
meat and synagogue services. With extensive statements, arguments, and inconsistencies between the defendants, the trial lasted much longer than the government had desired. On 26 June, experts were called to give testimony about the issues of treason, but they ultimately acknowledged that "their judgment was incomplete and insufficient."Lustiger 2003, p. 236 It became clear that some pieces of evidence had been tremendously exaggerated. For example, a statement by Leon Talmy that a particular Russian village was "not as pretty" as a certain Kan village was used as evidence of his nationalist tendencies. Alexander Cheptsov, the lead judge of the trial, confronted with such a great number of discrepancies and contradictions, twice made attempts to appeal to the Soviet leadership to reopen the investigation and was denied both times.Rubenstein, 2001 p. 59-62 Even after sentencing the defendants, Cheptsov attempted to lengthen the process by declining to immediately execute the defendants.


Sentence

The sentence stated that the defendants would receive "the severest measure of punishment for the crimes committed by them jointly: execution, with all of their property to be confiscated." The court also stripped the men of their medals and made petitions to remove military commendations such as the
Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...
and the
Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...
. On 12 August 1952, thirteen of the defendants (excluding Lina Stern and Solomon Bregman) were executed in the basement of
Lubyanka Prison The Lubyanka ( rus, Лубянка, p=lʊˈbʲankə) is the popular name for the building which contains the headquarters of the FSB, and its affiliated prison, on Lubyanka Square in the Meshchansky District of Moscow, Russia. It is a large Ne ...
. After the execution of the defendants, the trial and its results were kept secret. There was not a single reference to the trial or the execution in Soviet newspapers. Defendants' families were charged with "being relatives of traitors to the motherland" and exiled in December 1952. They did not learn about the fates of their family members until November 1955, when the case was reopened. The defendant Lina Stern was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in a correctional labour camp, followed by five years of exile; however, after Stalin's death, she was able to return to her home and continue her studies. During the trial, she was determined to be "no less guilty" than the other defendants but was considered important to the state because of her research; she, therefore, received a lesser sentence than the others. Officials counted her time spent in prison before the sentencing towards her labour camp term, so she went into exile immediately after the sentencing. During his imprisonment, Solomon Bregman collapsed and was placed in the prison infirmary. He remained unconscious until his death on 23 January 1953.


Aftermath

Stalin continued his oppression of Jews with the
Doctors' plot The "Doctors' plot" affair, group=rus was an alleged conspiracy of prominent Healthcare in Russia, Soviet medical specialists to murder leading government and party officials. It was also known as the case of saboteur doctors or killer doctors. ...
. Weeks after Stalin's death, on 5 March 1953, the new Soviet leadership renounced the Doctors' plot, which led to questions about the similar situation with the JAC defendants. Upon the discovery that much of the testimony from the trial was the result of torture and coercion, the proceedings were reexamined. On 22 November 1955, the
Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR The Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union ( Russian: Военная коллегия Верховного суда СССР, ''Voennaya kollegiya Verkhovnogo suda SSSR'') was created in 1924 by the Supreme Court of the Sovi ...
determined that there was "no substance to the charges" against the defendants and closed the case. Many of the surviving members of the JAC emigrated to Israel in the 1970s. A memorial for the JAC victims was dedicated in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
in 1977, on the 25th anniversary of the Night of the Murdered Poets. The anniversary of the murders was commemorated by the activists of the Soviet Jewry Movement in the 1960s through the 1980s as an example of a particularly grim anti-Jewish act by the Soviets.


See also

*
Doctors' plot The "Doctors' plot" affair, group=rus was an alleged conspiracy of prominent Healthcare in Russia, Soviet medical specialists to murder leading government and party officials. It was also known as the case of saboteur doctors or killer doctors. ...
, an alleged post-war conspiracy by Jewish doctors to murder Stalinist officials, later proved fictitious. *
Nathan Englander Nathan Englander (born 1970) is an American short story writer and novelist. His debut short story collection, ''For the Relief of Unbearable Urges,'' was published by Alfred A. Knopf, in 1999. His second collection, ''What We Talk About When We ...
, whose short story "The Twenty-seventh Man" is an allusion to this event.Englander, Nathan (1999). ''For the Relief of Unbearable Urges''. New York: Vintage Books. . *
Raoul Wallenberg Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg (4 August 1912 – disappeared 17 January 1945)He is presumed to have died in 1947, although the circumstances of his death are not clear and this date has been disputed. Some reports claim he was alive years later. 31 J ...
, who
rescued "Rescued" is a song by American Rock music, rock band Foo Fighters. Released on April 19, 2023, it is the first single by the band since the death of longtime drummer, Taylor Hawkins, and the first from their eleventh studio album, ''But Here We Ar ...
countless Jews during the
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
through the
War Refugee Board The War Refugee Board, established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1944, was a U.S. executive agency to aid civilian victims of the Axis powers. The Board was, in the words of historian Rebecca Erbelding, "the only time in American hi ...
, was potentially also killed in the
Lubyanka Building The Lubyanka ( rus, Лубянка, p=lʊˈbʲankə) is the popular name for the building which contains the headquarters of the FSB, and its affiliated prison, on Lubyanka Square in the Meshchansky District of Moscow, Russia. It is a large Ne ...
.


Notes


External links


50 Years After The Night of the Murdered Poets
By Shai Franklin
50th anniversary of the Night of the Murdered Poets
National Coalition Supporting Soviet Jewry The National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry (NCSEJ), formerly the National Council for Soviet Jewry (NCSJ), is an organization in the United States which advocates for the freedoms and rights of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic S ...
August 12, 2002, Letter from President Bush, links
Stalin's Secret Pogrom: The Postwar Inquisition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee
(introduction) by Joshua Rubenstein
Seven-fold Betrayal: The Murder of Soviet Yiddish
by Joseph Sherman
Unknown History, Unheroic Martyrs
by Jonathan Tobin *
Photographs of a 1986 Night of the Murdered Poets vigil
at the
American Jewish Historical Society The American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of American Jewish history and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and ...
, New York, NY {{Massacres of Jews 1952 in the Soviet Union Antisemitic attacks and incidents in Europe Jews and Judaism in the Soviet Union Soviet rehabilitations Political and cultural purges Yiddish-language literature Jews executed by the Soviet Union Antisemitism in the Soviet Union Trials in Russia Soviet show trials August 1952 events in Europe 1952 in Moscow 1952 in Russia 1952 in Judaism Persecution of intellectuals 1952 murders in the Soviet Union Executed writers