anti-semitism in eastern europe

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Anti‐Semitism in EasternEuropeNeil B. Landsman aa Principal Lecturer in Russian Studies ,University of PortsmouthPublished online: 25 Apr 2008.

To cite this article: Neil B. Landsman (1994) Anti‐Semitism in EasternEurope, Journal of Area Studies, 2:4, 159-171

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Anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe

Neil B. Landsman

The last five years have witnessed a sharp resurgence of anti-semitism in thecountries of Eastern Europe. There are however many voices warning againsttaking these manifestations of anti-semitism too seriously. It is argued that thereappearance of anti-semitism is a limited and marginal phenomenon; thatstudents have a tendency to stress the importance of whatever they study; thatJews are over-sensitive and are too ready to perceive hostility in Gentilesociety; that the targets of neo-Fascist movements are often other minorities;that anti-semitism is confined to a minority of fanatics; that the mediaexaggerate neo-Nazi rhetoric; that anti-semitic incidents are few and farbetween; that Jewish discourse lacks proportion and perspective, being overlyconcerned with anti-semitism; that Jews do receive a large amount of liberaland humanist support; that anti-semitism has lost its appeal among populationswhich suffered Nazi occupation in the Second World War; that anti-semitismis in fact on the wane; that popular anti-semitism in Russia is neithertraditional nor widespread (for example, Marrus, Lerman, Fein, Benz,Cesarani, 1991 Symposium; Yukhneva, 1993)

It is the purpose of the present article to present a refutation of the abovearguments by demonstrating that the causes of anti-semitism are so deeplyrooted and of such long standing that it cannot easily be explained away, andthat expressions of anti-semitism are so common and varied that it has becomea permanent feature of the East European scene and difficult to combat.

So-called classical anti-semitism goes back to the Roman Empire when Jewspreserved their own specific way of life and thus underlined their differencefrom the surrounding culture. By refusing to accept Roman deities or thedeification of Roman emperors and other aspects of Graeco-Roman culture,they incurred dislike and mistrust and were seen as alien and apart. WhenChristianity became the major rival to Judaism, it utilised a whole series ofanti-semitic fabrications in order to demean its opponent and gain ground.The early Church fathers and later medieval protagonists paraded charges ofdeicide, profanation of the host, the blood libel, and so on against "thechildren of Satan", who were a corrupting influence engaged in a war againstthe Church. This Christian anti-semitism was transformed at the end of the

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160 Journal of Area Studies, no 4 1994

nineteenth century by Marr and others into political anti-semitism. By meansof a concoction of pseudo-scientific biology and Darwinism, modern anti-semitism became nationalistic and racist in its claim that the Jews were aparasitic nation, living off the host nation. They were totally unassimilableand directed their efforts to destroying any country in which they foundthemselves. Indeed it was maintained that there existed a universal Jewishconspiracy to control the world. The fourth variety, the Nazis' FinalSolution, converted the aforegoing ideology of anti-semitism as a political toolinto practical wholesale murder, committed as a sort of religious necessity.

A cursory examination of the roots of anti-semitism in Russia and Romania,for instance, reveals elements of all four stages or types of anti-semitism.Waves of pogroms swept Russia in the 1880s, between 1903 and 1905 andbetween 1918 and 1921. The Orthodox Church identified Jews as the enemiesof Christ and exerted a strong negative influence on the populace. The post-war Stalinist anti-cosmopolitanism campaign included charges of disloyalty tothe state, and in 1948 the closure of Jewish cultural institutions followed.After the death of Stalin Jews were barred from the upper echelons of Partyand Government as well as high posts in various ministries, enterprises andinstitutes. The anti-religious campaign of 1957 to 1964 hit Judaism particular-ly hard and the ferocious anti-Zionist campaigns of the 1970s are viewedtoday by many as a mere mask for anti-semitism (for example, Gitelman,p. 144, 1991b; Yukhneva, p.75, 1991; Weinberg, p.24, 1992; Bauer, p.21,1993; O'Brien, p. 19, 1991 Symposium).

Raphael Vago (1993, pp. 107-115) shows how Romanian politicians andintellectuals in the pre-World War One period (Kogalniceanu, Heliade-Radulescu, Bratianu, Alecsandri, Eminescu) spoke of the Jews as a menacewho did not deserve rights. They emphasised that Jews were aliens of non-Christian persuasion whose presence on Romanian soil would lead to ruin andimpoverishment. Jews spoke a foreign language and dressed in strange garb.They were loathsome, invading parasites and usurpers. Cuza, considered thefather of Romanian fascism, laid stress on the Jews as strangers unable toassimilate, while the historian Jorga linked his xenophobia with the economicpenetration of what he termed "the dirty wave of profit-seekers". In the inter-war period Eliade complained of the constant danger to his country of Jewswho were infecting it. Cioran made great claims for the centrality ofxenophobia in nationalism and Crainic stated: "Our spirit is healthy becauseit is anti-semitic in theory and practice." In the 1920s dozens of groups cameinto being, all directed against the Jew as common enemy. In the light ofthis, it comes as no surprise to learn that the Germans found many willingallies in Eastern Europe, to aid them in their "ethnic cleansing".

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Landsman, Anti-semitism in Eastern Europe 161

Having outlined the historical context, we can now proceed to the periodunder question, 1989-94, and attempt to analyse some of the more recentcauses of anti-semitism. The most glaring must obviously be the economicand political situation of Eastern Europe; anti-semitism always flourishesagainst a background of economic and political disruption and hardship(seeChevalier, 1988). What Wolfgang Benz, referring to East Germany,neatly sums up as "the classic constellation of economic decay, socialdegradation and widespread hopelessness" (p.9,1991 Symposium) can equallywell be applied to the rest of Eastern Europe. The erosion, and in some casesthe collapse, of communist power has led to a sharp lack of confidence andeven panic among populations, who look for someone to blame for theeconomic difficulties and political failures. The Jews in Russia, Hungary,Poland and Romania have become easy targets and scapegoats. They areblamed for privations, and paradoxically both for the dislocations caused byperestroika and the entire failed experiment of Communism.

By common consent (see Hirszowicz, 1991; Weinberg, 1992; Cohn-Sherbok,Fein, Leibler, Symposium, 1991; Karady, 1993) not only did the twin policiesof perestroika and glasnost' trigger the economic crisis, they afforded theopportunity for the unhampered expression of previously unacceptable ideasand subjects that had hitherto been considered taboo. With the advent ofglasnost' anti-semitism, which had been officially banned or disguised as anti-Zionism, was given fresh impetus. The new permissive atmosphere thatpercolated all areas of society allowed the re-emergence of an anti-semitismthat had formerly rarely surfaced. As a consequence, along with the benefitsof a remarkable revival of Jewish life and an unprecedented exodus to Israel,the crumbling of central authority and the growth of rampant nationalismbrought in their wake not only signs of open anti-semitism but also abuse andpersecution as anger and frustration were vented due to the deterioration ofthe economic situation and the increase of ethnic tension. The open society,with its liberal institutional and legal arrangements, was unable to preventpublication of radical right-wing journals indulging in anti-semitic discoursesometimes reminiscent of the 1930s. While glasnost' encouraged the re-appearance of suppressed instincts on the agenda, Zvi Gitelman explains thatperestroika made Jews more vulnerable than ever by opening up entrepre-neurial opportunities which many identify with Jews and by furthering theformation of grass-roots organisations which adopt harshly anti-semiticplatforms. Thus he maintains that anti-semitism is now more visible andblatant than at any time in the last forty years (1991b, p. 141). At the sametime Brym & Degtyarev argue that since the ritual political participation in theCommunist Party or trade unions has fallen apart, people now protest by wayof mass rallies, strikes or demonstrations. They take part in civil disobedi-ence and support demagogues and opportunists. Anti-semitism of course

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thrives in such a volatile context, especially when people are eager to believethose who promise them quick salvation (1992, p.l)

One effect of the new policies has been the revival of the Church in EasternEurope. This is viewed by several observers as a chilling prospect owing tothe Church being a prime source of anti-semitism (Leibler, Roth, Symposium,1991; Zajka, 1993; Benz, 1993; Karady, 1993; Jelinek, 1992). In Poland andHungary nationalism has a strong Christian colouring and excludes non-Christians from the centre of the newly structured society. In Belarus, theOrthodox Church opposes the Jewish/Christian dialogue which has becomefashionable elsewhere. It supports instead those groups of Russian nationalistswho harbour anti-semitic sentiments. In April 1992 stacks of Pamyat'newspapers were seen awaiting distribution on the premises of the Metropoli-tan Filaret of Minsk, and the Orthodox Church paper Carkounaje Slova urgedits members to pay special attention to cults which practise human sacrifice,such as Hasidism. Anti-semitic pamphlets have also been found in Polishchurches, while in Hungary the regime's reclericalisation policy—increasedinfluence, restitution of property, liberty in religious education, freedom fromrestrictions—has served to isolate Jews by creating social divisions favourableto the development of anti-semitism. Owing to the historic responsibility ofthe Catholic Church and other religious authorities, Hungarian Jews distrustand fear these policies. Neither has the Slovak Catholic Church attempted tograpple with the Jewish issue. In their proclamation of March 1991 thebishops managed to pass over in silence the fate of Jews in the Slovak State,whilst Cardinal Korec, passive in countering anti-Jewish prejudice, is activein whitewashing Josef Tiso, who was personally responsible for the fate ofSlovak Jewry during the war and was executed in 1947 as a war criminal.

Hastening to fill the vacuum caused by the collapse of Communism came theforce of nationalism. Its effects on the rise of anti-semitism have beendevastating and widely discussed (Jelinek, 1992; Rok, 1992; Billig, Sympo-sium 1991; Nudelman, 1992; Bauer, 1993). In Slovakia extreme nationalistsof a wide range of opinions have joined forces to exonerate the anti-Jewishpolicies of the war years and to catalogue Jewish misdeeds. In Polandconservatives and nationalists have intensified anti-Jewish propaganda. Russiahas seen an alarming growth of nationalist anti-semitic movements. Heirs ofthe pro-Nazi Ustashe in Croatia propagate the old anti-semitic mythology.

But nationalism is by no means a straightforward phenomenon. Nudelmantalks of the "spiritualisation" of nationalism and equates it with irrationalismand mysticism, citing as an example Lev Gumilev's book "Ancient Rus' andthe Great Steppe", where Jews are described as a mythical ethno-culturalforce (1992, p.63). Robert Wistrich in a similar vein speaks of the way anti-

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semitism adopts a national-populist and even quasi-religious character,becomes an integral part of the ideology of the New Right and is brandishedthreateningly (Symposium 1991, p.75). Yehuda Bauer likewise tiesnationalism to conservative religious traditions and exclusivist ideologies,adding that anti-semitism is one of the most natural ingredients of this brewbecause it is historically connected to conservative religious and chauvinistideologies (1993, p. 18). Raphael Vago states that the recrudescence of anti-semitism in Romania is a clear expression of the continuation of theCeaucescu form of nationalist Communism; alongside the functioning ofnationalism as a main driving force stands the growing hero-worship of anti-semites (1993, p. 107). Dominique Schnapper distinguishes between twovarieties of nationalism, the Eastern and Western European. The Westernconcept of the nation as a political, universal and liberal entity differs fromthe Eastern one, which is particularistic, emotional and ideological, havingtraditionally been more ethnic or communitarian (Symposium 1991, p.68).

Yet others (Drobizheva, 1991; Schopflin, 1991), by showing just how vitala force nationalism is, how effective a focus it can be for collective action andhow many varied types of national movements there are, provide us withsome idea of the peril it can represent for Jews. In Russia nationalists claimthat they alone believe in the people; Jews lack this faith for the simple reasonthat they are cosmopolitan and turn towards Europe for inspiration.Traditional Russian Slavophilism stressed the soil and the rural communalsimple life, but Jews are both urban and urbane. Slavophiles were religiousand committed to the furtherance of Russian culture, but Jews by their verynature were incapable of contributing to these two spheres. When they didcontribute, it was in an un-Russian way, dominating the professions,destabilising culture and swamping government and public life through over-representation.

Having looked at some of the major causes of anti-semitism, we can nowexamine the ways in which it has manifested itself in practical terms over thepast few years. Perhaps the most evident way has been the formation ofpolitical parties and associations. The proliferation of these parties can in nosmall measure be attributed to the fact that the Right, while adopting a generalanti-semitic stance, is divided into three identifiable tendencies: the populistright, the radical right and the Fascist right. The latter employ Nazi symbols,preach racial hatred, advocate violence and believe in conspiracy theories, butthe radicals appear even more dangerous as they include members of theintelligentsia who issue a great deal of ideological literature, participate inelectoral campaigns and organise meetings and demonstrations. In Russiathese groupings have found strange bed-fellows in former Communist hard-liners who support the Revolution and Soviet Power and are drawn from the

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ranks of the reactionary section of the bureaucracy. Sometimes they are well-versed in Marxism-Leninism and the social sciences and as such areformidable adversaries, putting forward convincing arguments that manipulatethe population's discontent. This phenomenon has also occurred in Belarus,where in 1992 a clique of former Communists concluded a pact with right-wing organisations (seeZajka, 1993, p.30).

Poland is a fertile breeding ground for the growth of ultra-nationalist parties.Adam Rok supplies an indicative list of them, along with an outline of theirattitudes and policies (1992, pp.23-35). The Christian National Union,numbering 6,000 members and headed by Wieslaw Chrzanowski, supportsCatholic moral principles and the role of the Church, and is overtly anti-semitic although it shuns such pronouncements in its official rhetoric. ThePolish National Community /Polish National Party, led by Boleslaw Tejkowskiand claiming a membership of 4,000, promotes as the highest values God, thenation, the family and the community of producers. The National Party witha membership of 4,000 and with Maciej Giertych as its chairman, holds thesupreme values to be God and the Fatherland, is staunchly Catholic andopposes the Church's dialogue with the Jews. The National Front of Poland,led by Wojciech Podjacki, draws heavily on Fascist ideology, advocating aGreater Poland as its guiding principle, a compulsory re-education programmeand the elimination of criminals and beggars. There are many others, suchas Stanislaw Tyminski's rabidly anti-semitic Party X, Zdzislaw Zalewski'sParty X—Polish Faction, Jan Zamoyski's National Democratic Party, theNational Rebirth Centre, the National Organisation of the Republic and theNational Party Szczerbiec. Together they mount a massive and continuousanti-semitic broadside.

Russia too can boast its fair share of extremist parties parading anti-semitism.Most notorious is Pamyat', which is in fact the umbrella term for numerousfactions loosely united under its aegis. One of the main leaders is DmitryVasilev, whose supporters were on hand for the grim events of October 1993during the siege of the White House. Also in evidence then were themembers of Russian Nationalist Unity, headed by the violently anti-semiticAlexander Barkashov, who pride themselves on being successors to theCzarist Black Hundreds. They wear black uniforms and indulge in paramili-tary training. Present too were the followers of ex-General Al'bert Maka-shov, hard-line Communists eager to restore the Soviet Union. Linked withthis group via Makashov's key deputy Lt. Col. Stanislas Terekhov are theCommunist Union of Officers and the National Salvation Front. Seeminglyheading for power at a disturbing rate is Zhirinovsky's so-called LiberalDemocratic Party. The Russia Party, founded in late 1990, announced inFebruary 1992 its intention to create a ministry to preserve the genetic base

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of the nation. The birth of a patriotic movement spurred the foundation of theRussian Centre in Moscow; offshoots engulfed by extremists and engenderinganother wing of Pamyat' were the Union of Spiritual Rebirth and theAssociation of Russian Artists. In Belarus such groups as Rus' Belaya,Belaya Rus' and Belaya Rossiya propound Great Russian nationalist ideas.It is widely believed that they, like Pamyat', enjoyed the support of theCommunist Party and KGB and possibly were even controlled and directed bythem as a way of proving to the West that alternatives to Communism wereworse than Communism. These groups were also encouraged because theygave anti-Communist agitators another target to expend their energy on.

The most insidious expression of anti-semitism lies in the veritable flood ofpropaganda in pamphlets and leaflets that are distributed by hand in publicsquares and on the streets. The urban population is thus exposed to anoutpouring of racist venom. In the square of Kazan Cathedral in Petersburgthe passer-by is literally bombarded on a daily basis by leaflets that charge theJews with an interminable list of crimes against Russia: they get all the bestflats as well as the key jobs in government, dominate Russian culture althoughnot being able to paint or write, pollute the pure sources of Russian art withmodernist rubbish, are guilty of profiteering from the liberal reforms,perpetrated innumerable Stalinist evils, introduced the Revolution andfomented terror, instigated economic measures that brought catastrophicresults, and even foisted Christianity on the Russian people in order to dupeand enfeeble them. It is asserted that Lenin, Stalin, Krupskaya and Brezhnevwere disguised Jews. Self-styled demagogues revive the theory of a Jewishworld conspiracy and deny that the Holocaust ever took place. They resurrectNazi propaganda as well as the once fashionable anti-Capitalist, anti-Zionistand anti-cosmopolitan accusations.

Jelinek describes how the nineteenth century canards are repeated ad nauseam(1992, pp.9-10). They had become part of Slovak folklore: Jewish innkeepersimpoverished the peasants and forced them to emigrate; Jews assistedHungarian rulers in Magyarising Slovaks. To these old myths are added newones: Jews control the media, collude with America in helping Czechs againstSlovaks, and—eternal enemies of the Slovak people—conspire with itsoppressors, Magyars, Czechs and Communists.

Statements by individuals of note can be no less damaging. Bandied about byword of mouth they reach a wide gullible audience. A certain NinaAndreevna acquired momentary fame in July 1989 when, during an interviewwith the Washington Post, she expressed her bitterness about Jewishpreponderance in fields such as law and music. Vladimir Zhirinovsky isnotorious for his pronouncements on the Jewish question: he intends to replace

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Moscow's Jewish T.V. announcers with blue-eyed Russians, to deal withminorities as America did with the Indians and Germany with the Jews, toalter the situation where two million Jews rule over 150 million obedientRussians ("Time", 27 Dec, 1993). Prominent figures such as Lech Walesain Poland and Franjo Tudjman in Croatia have been known to utter anti-semitic statements. Leading Polish politicians Mazowiecki and Kuron havebeen accused of being Jewish, and when the Democratic Union was joined byMichnik and Edelman anti-semites pretended the entire organisation wascomposed only of Jews. In Slovakia Stanislas Durica, Francis Vnuk andPavol Carnogursky have attained notoriety for their outspokenness onnefarious Jewish activities.

The press is probably the most effective channel for the outpouring of anti-semitic sentiments. "Yevreiskaya Gazeta" listed 34 publications involved inspreading anti-semitic smears in Russia but other commentators count as manyas 50 to 60 (see Lerman, 1993, p.28; Weinberg, 1992, p.23). The mostimportant journals which print anti-semitic articles with alacrity are "NashSovremennik" and "Molodaya Gvardiya". They keep up a noisy and vulgarcampaign. In Slovakia the newspaper "Slovenske Narodne Noviny" publishesanti-semitic material and the AGRES publishing house is dominated bynationalists who specialise in fabrications such as the Protocols of the Eldersof Zion or the alleged conspiracy between the KGB, Western Intelligence andthe Jews (Jelinek, 1992, p. 18). In Poland a real arsenal of papers andjournals have been arrayed in an anti-semitic witch-hunt. The PAX press,"Fatherland","Lad","National Polish Thought" and "Glos Narodu" say theChurch is infiltrated by priests of Jewish extraction, accuse "hidden" Jews ofacting as a fifth column in an effort to undermine Poland, condemn demo-cratic parties for being poisoned by Jewish influence, argue that anti-semitismis merely a justified response to Jewish aggression, maintain that Poles are thevictims of wrongs carried out against them by Jews and so on. Even thoughSerbia courts Jewish public opinion, ingrained anti-semitism continuesunabated and rises to the surface in the official news media, as in the article"Jews Crucify Christ Again" which appeared in "Pravoslavlje" on January 151992 (Cohen, 1992, p. 19). In Belarus Minsk-based Russian language paperssuch as "Slavyanskiye vedomosti", "My i vremya", "Sem' dney" and "Nashkompas" and magazines like "Politika", "Pozitsiya" and "Prognoz" withmonotonous regularity return to the theme of the Jewish-Bolshevik plot(Zajka., 1993, p.30).

Numerous individual writers and politicians have secured a lasting reputationfor themselves as purveyors of anti-semitism. They have added fuel to thenascent flames by taking full advantage of the atmosphere of freedom reigningin society. Valentin Rasputin, an eminent member of the "village writers"

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("derevenshchiki"), has as his goal the preservation of deep-rooted Russiantraditions in the countryside and hence can see no place for Jews in thescheme of things. It is they who threaten the destruction of his Utopian,backward-looking dream. Igor Shafarevich, a former dissident, has createdquite a stir with his widely publicised article "Russophobia" which appearedin volumes 6 and 11 of "Nash Sovremennik" in 1989. He considers Jews a"lesser nation" which has its own spiritual and intellectual concerns. They aredetached from the "greater nation" and are its enemies, trying to destroy itfrom within. They deliberately imposed the disaster of Communism onRussia and are now endeavouring to embrace western liberal capitalism,which will bring in its wake the attendant diseases of unemployment, crime,drugs, homelessness, AIDS, widespread poverty and regular economic crises.He wants the Jewish question to be relegated to the background as it interfereswith the smooth running of international trade and politicking, and a solutionto be sought in Russia's national heritage. Many Russian authorities criticiseChagall and Brodsky because they have no genuine roots in Russian culture.They refer to the Jewish contribution as a pernicious one, a virus that corrupts(e.g. Bondarenko, Vladimirsky, Kunyayev). "Literaturnaya Rossiya"constantly harps on the struggle between Russian writers and Jewish writersfor pre-eminence; the latter squeeze out the former and usurp their rightfulplace (1 Dec. 1989; 7 Feb. 1990). Indeed, it is asserted, how can a Jewever possibly master the Russian language so as to be able to write competent-ly in it? These quarrels have even been aired in televised debates.

Poland reveals a similar picture. Articles by Wertynski, Dymski, Maciaszek,Romanowski, Goral, Pelczerska-Tym and others fill the pages of journals,charging the Jews with genocide against Poles, disloyalty, using the Sejm,Senate and Academy of Sciences as modes of control, guilt in the Katynmassacre and benefiting from anti-semitism by wielding it as a whip againstsociety (seeRok, 1992, pp.29-31). Belarus has no shortage of prolificpropagandists (Begun, Bovsh, Skobelev, Semashko, Semeniuk, Osinski), whospecialise in unmasking the reactionary essence of Judaism and the dangersof international Zionism (see Zajka, 1993, p.28). These re-establish thetradition of one of the most well-known anti-semitic works, Trofim Kychko's"Judaism Unembellished". In the summer of 1992 Uldis Freimanis,apparently enraged by the statement of the Latvian Republican NationalCouncil rejecting anti-semitism, launched into a frenzied and hate-riddencondemnation of Zionist power, which he blamed for the extermination ofJews and the financing of Hitler. With equal stridency Istvan Csurka, vice-president and founder of the Hungarian Democratic Forum and leading lightin the nationalist Hungarian Way, in August 1992 hit out against Jews inlanguage reminiscent of the Nazis, complaining about the "open or hiddeninfluence of the Jews" during "the unhealthy period" of the Communist era

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(The Jerusalem Report, 8 Oct. 1992, p. 10).The pioneer of anti-Jewishwriting in Slovakia, Frantisek Vnuk, covers the whole gamut in a wholesaleonslaught on Jewish religion, morality, political and social machinations,sexual perversions, Freemasonry and so on (Jelinek, 1992, pp.18-19).

An indicator of grass-roots anti-semitism rather than the intellectual varietyis the incidence of acts of vandalism throughout Eastern Europe. These comein all shapes and guises, too numerous to recount, so that a few examples willhave to suffice. In Slovakia, Fedor Gal, the co-ordinator of Public AgainstViolence, was not only subjected to hostile press campaigns and meetings, butironically, to physical and verbal abuse, necessitating his move to Prague.There have been several reports of elderly Jews being robbed and badlybeaten in their homes in Moscow and other towns; the motivation may havebeen simply criminal, but grave doubts remain. Jews in Belarus havefrequently been insulted and assaulted, and a murder case in 1988 involvedanti-semitic motives (Zajka, 1993, p.29). For a sustained period from 1988through to 1990 there were rumours of pogroms in Russia and the Ukraine;these were serious enough to be widely treated in the press and by the localauthorities in several regions and to cause concern and thoughts of immediateemigration among large numbers of Jews. The Israeli basketball team, afterscoring an 86-85 victory over Poland on 18 Nov. 1992 in Wroclaw, had toendure the taunts of "Juden raus!" from irate fans (The Jerusalem Report, 17Dec. 1992, p. 11). Anatoly Shabad, a main protagonist in the pro-YeltsinRadical Democratic faction of Russia's parliament, spoke of the horror he feltat witnessing direct incitement to racial hatred and to the killing of Jewsduring the October coup (The Jerusalem Report, 4 Nov. 1993, p.32).

The desecration of Jewish cemeteries, memorials and synagogues is welldocumented. Most often it involves graffiti and the daubing of slogans orswastikas, but sometimes it involves actual demolition or arson. These actsare common occurrences in Belarus, Poland, Ukraine and Russia and areusually attributed to the mindless violence of the ignorant and prejudiced, butnonetheless play on the apprehensions and sensitivities of local Jews.Moreover, they seem to be carried out brazenly as if to court publicity, as inthe recent spraying of anti-Jewish threats on Moscow's Choral Synagogue inJune 1993 which followed hard on the May attacks on Jewish graves in St.Petersburg and Nizhniy Novgorod.

Most Jews find it difficult to pinpoint precise instances of anti-semitism andprefer to cite the atmosphere in which remarks can be made with impunity.Many isolated and seemingly casual or innocent remarks can add up tosomething altogether more substantial and menacing. The January 1990Moscow writers' meeting was disrupted by intruders yelling "Yids, get back

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to Israel!" Anatoly Shabad complained that conservative deputies in theRussian congress called out "Go to Israel" as he returned to his seat (TheJerusalem Report, 28 Jan. 1993, p.34). There is no lack of hooligans to uttertheir nonsensical charges—Yeltsin is a Jew, whose real name is BaruchYeltzer, (The Jerusalem Report, 22 April 1993, p.33), to stand with placardsstating "Beat the Jews and Save the Constitution" (a variant of the tsarist "andSave Russia"), to send hate mail, to invent slogans like "Down with Zionist-Masonic Democracy!" or "Zionists! You destroyed the USSR. You will notdestroy Russia!", to shout "Yid! Zionist! Mason!" at the Moscow DeputyMayor (incidentally not Jewish). The rebirth of Cossack groups is notdesigned to alleviate Jewish fears; wearing their military uniforms andexpostulating about the glorious deeds of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, they arecalculated to send a shiver down anyone's spine.

A frequent method of gauging attitudes has proved to be the survey.Although one has to treat public opinion polls with extreme caution as theresults one obtains can be dependent on extraneous factors, it is possible toextract some definite conclusions. From the surveys conducted in EasternEurope over the last five years (for example, see Butora & Butorova, 1993;Datner-Spiewak, 1993; Benz, 1993; Gitelman., 1991b; Brym & Degtaryev,1992), one comes away with a distinctly pessimistic view of the situation.Whether the interviewees are non-Jews responding to different questions orJews as recipients of anti-semitic behaviour, one can measure what is,relatively speaking, a high level of popular anti-semitism. For example, inSlovakia in one survey 27 per cent of those interviewed would not like to havea Jewish neighbour and 42 per cent a Jewish relative. 29 per cent acceptedthe stereotype of disproportionate Jewish power. In another survey in Poland74 per cent felt that Jewish political rights should be limited, 55 per cent thatJewish political parties should be forbidden, and 70 per cent that Jews shouldnot be allowed to purchase land. In Belarus 54 per cent were loth to believein the reality of the Holocaust. In Russia, 18 per cent expressed a dislike forJews and in Hungary the figure was 17 per cent. As for Jews themselves, 62per cent in the European republics of Russia said they had experienced anti-semitic encounters, whereas emigre surveys estimate that 74 per cent ofJewish respondents had experienced anti-semitism in Russia, 70 per cent inthe Ukraine, 64 per cent in the Baltic republics and 63 per cent in Moldavia.

What is interesting about the above surveys is that the most anti-semiticrespondents could be identified as those with lower education, the elderly, theunemployed, religious believers, workers in the state sector and those withoverall authoritarian leanings and less tolerance in general towards othernationalities. On the other hand, students, those engaged in private enterprise,the younger generation and white-collar workers with a university education

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tended clearly to be less anti-semitic and less inclined to believe in calumnies.

It will not have passed unnoticed that countries such as Poland, Hungary,Romania and Slovakia have Jewish communities which are minuscule in sizeand which are rapidly aging and bereft of economic, cultural and politicalinfluence, and yet have flourishing anti-semitic movements. This phenomenonis known by the catchphrase "Anti-semitism without Jews" and is particularlynotable in Poland. There are several possible explanations for this conun-drum. Firstly, and most simply, it might well be argued that in the Polishimagination Poland is not without Jews in that a once vibrant and enormousJewish population of over three million through intermarriage has injectedJewish blood into virtually every family. Secondly there exists the "hiddenenemy" notion—there are in fact many more Jews than it appears; they hideunder different names and serve Jewish masters at home and abroad. Thirdly,where there are few Jews left, the old anti-semitism remains a permanentfeature on the scene, since without a Jewish presence there can never be a re-evaluation of the ancient myths and stereotypes, Fourthly, Jews serve a veryuseful function as an abstract foe on whom acute fears and problems can beprojected. Lastly, they have become symbols of anything towards which onemay wish to direct one's anger; in the case of Eastern Europe, those whoresent the years of Communist rule hold the Jews responsible, and those whopropound the theory that the western evils of democracy, free markets andprivate property are the root of all troubles blame the Jews who symbolisewestern trends.

It will be instructive to end with two quotations that broaden what might seemto be a narrow issue. The first, by Wolfgang Benz, illustrates exactly thesignificance of anti-semitism: "Anti-semitism stands as a code for anti-enlightenment zeal, for irrational fanaticism, for infantile explanations of theworld, for the pleasure in conspiracy and intrigue, for the destruction ofreason" (1993, p.13). The second, by Yehuda Bauer, underlines theimminent inherent dangers of anti-semitism: "It serves as a weather-vane forsocial health. It is a virus that attacks Jews first but ultimately causes untoldharm to society" (1993, p.22).

Bibliography

Baron, S.W., (1987) Jews Under Tsars and Soviets, New York.Bauer, Y., (1993) Anti-Semitism as a European and World Problem, Patterns of Prejudice, Vol27, No 1.Benz, W., (1993) Traditional and Rediscovered Prejudices in the New Europe: Anti-Semitism,Xenophobia, Discrimination Against Minorities, 1993. Patterns of Prejudice, Vol 27.Brym, R.J. & Degtaryev, A. (1993) Anti-Semitism in Moscow: Results of an October 1992Survey, Slavic Review, Vol 52, No 1, 1993.Butora, M & Butorova, Z. (1993) A Wary Approach: Attitudes Towards Jews and Jewish Issues

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in Slovakia, East European Jewish Affairs, Vol 23, No 1.Chevalier, Y.(1988) L'Antisémitisme, les Editions du Cerf.Cohen, P.J. (1992) Holocaust History Misappropriated, Midstream, Nov.Datner-Spiewak, H. (1993) A First Glance at the Results of the Survey 'Poles, Jews and OtherEthnic Groups', East European Jewish Affairs, Vol 23, No 1.Drobizheva, L.M. (1991) The Role of the Intelligentsia in Developing National Consciousnessamong the Peoples of the USSR under Perestroika, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol 14, No 1.Gitelman, Z. (1991) Ethnic Identity and Ethnic Relations among the Jews of the non-EuropeanUSSR, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol 14, No 1.Gitelman, Z. (1991) Glasnost, Perestroika and Anti-Semitism, Foreign Affairs, Vol 70, No 2.Hirszowicz, L. (1991) Russians and Non-Russians in the USSR, Soviet Jewish Affairs, Vol 21,No 1.Jelinek, Y.A. (1992) Slovaks and the Holocaust: An End to Reconciliation?, East EuropeanJewish Affairs, Vol 22, No 1.Jelinek, Y.A. (1993) Historical and Actual Minority Problems in Czecho-Slovakia, Patterns ofPrejudice, Vol 27, No 1.Karady, V. (1993) Antisemitism in 20th Century Hungary: A Socio-Historical Overview, Patternsof Prejudice, Vol 27, No 1.Kochan, L. (ed) The Jews in the Soviet Union Since 1917, Oxford.Lerman, A. (1993) Anti-Semitism and Racism in Europe Today: Some Problems of Research andInterpretation, Patterns of Prejudice, Vol 27, No 1.Liber, G. (1991) Korenizatsiia: restructuring Soviet Nationality Policy in the 1920s, Ethnic andRacial Studies, Vol 14, No 1.Lokshin, A. (1992) Jewish Press in the USSR During Perestroika, 1987-1991, Jews and JewishTopics in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 1 (17).Nudelman, K. (1992) Antisemitism Among Intellectuals: The Romanian Case, Jews and JewishTopics in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 2 (18).Pushkov, A.K. (1993-94) Letter from Eurasia: Russia and America: The Honeymoon's Over,Foreign Policy, No 93.Ro'i, Y. & Beker, A. (eds) (1991), Jewish Culture and Identity in the Soviet Union, New York.Rok, A. (1992) Antisemitic Propaganda in Poland—Centres, Proponents, Publications, EastEuropean Jewish Affairs, Vol 22, No 1.Schöpflin, G. (1991) National Identity in the Soviet Union and East Central Europe, Ethnic andRacial Studies, Vol 14, No 1.Smith, A.D. (1991) States and Peoples: Ethnic Nationalism in Multi-Cultural Societies, SovietJewish Affairs, Vol 21, No 1.Sultanik, K. (1992) Anti-semitism: A Malady of the Past? Midstream, June-July.Symposium on Anti-Semitism in the 1990s, (1991), Patterns of Prejudice, Vol 25, No 2.Vago, R. (1993) The Traditions of Anti-semitism in Romania, Patterns of Prejudice, Vol 27, No1.Verdery, K. (1993) Nationalism and National Sentiment in Post-socialist Romania, Slavic Review,Vol 52, No 2.Weinberg, H.H. (1992) The New Anti-Semitism in Russia, Midstream, Oct.Yukhneva, N.V. (1993) The Ethnic Situation in Leningrad, Soviet Jewish Affairs, Vol 21, No 1.Yukhneva, N.V. (1993) Political and Popular Anti-Semitism in Russia in the Period ofPerestroika, Patterns of Prejudice, Vol 27, No 1.Zajka, V. (1993) Jewish Life in Belarus During the Past Decade, East European Jewish Affairs,Vol 23, No 1.

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