Negotiating Soviet Jewishness after World War II and the Holocaust: Remembrance, Reconstruction and De-/Normalization in Times of Hope and Repression

Abstract: This article focuses on the complex and increasingly strained relationship between Jews and Soviet society in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust. After the traumatic experiences of war and extermination, Soviet Jews hoped for a secure existence and, to some extent, a revival of Jewish life within the Soviet state. The reality, however, was often marked by antisemitism and exclusion, which frequently shaped their everyday lives after 1945. The Soviet regime proved not only incapable but largely unwilling to address the growing hostility toward Jews within the population. Jews developed a strong sense of belonging together as part of a community of destiny and as members of a persecuted people. They hoped for the regime’s support in rebuilding Jewish life after the war, however the Stalinist regime, on the contrary, pursued a policy of concealing the Holocaust, particularly regarding the involvement of Soviet citizens in anti-Jewish crimes. Furthermore, it actively suppressed efforts to reconstruct Jewish social and cultural life in the Soviet Union. From the regime’s perspective, acknowledging the Jewish tragedy undermined the promoted narrative of the Soviet peoples’ unity and the heroic victory over fascist Germany, posing a “threat” to the imposed social consensus dictated by the party and state leadership. Foreign policy factors after 1945 further complicated the situation. The difficult relationship between Soviet Jews and the Soviet state reached a breaking point around 1948–1949 against the backdrop of the onset of the Cold War and the founding of the state of Israel, as Jews were increasingly perceived to be disloyal Soviet citizens, particularly due to their international connections and Jewish solidarity worldwide. At this point, the Stalinist regime began to view Jews as “agents of the West” and Zionists, persecuting them as enemies of the Soviet people.