The anti-Jewish violence in Central and Eastern Europe following the retreat of Nazi German occupational forces and the arrival of the Soviet Red Army – during the latter stages of World War II – was linked in part to postwar anarchy and economic chaos exacerbated by the Stalinist policies imposed across the territories of expanded Soviet republics and new satellite countries. The anti-semitic attacks had become frequent in Soviet towns ravaged by war; at the marketplaces, in depleted stores, in schools, and even at state enterprises.[1] Protest letters were sent to Moscow from numerous Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian towns by the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee involved in documenting the Holocaust.[1]
The JAFC Presidium met in late August, 1944, with a commander of a Jewish partisan unit from Belorussia. Answering a question concerning attitudes of the non-Jewish population towards Jews in Minsk, he stated: "... the attitude wasn't good. There have been numerous anti-semitic incidents ... a battle for apartments has started ... there are difficulties concerning employment.[1]
Several months after the Mikhoels assassination, other Jewish figures were arrested. His death signalled the beginning of the country-wide repression of the Jews accused of espionage and economic crimes. A campaign against Zionism was launched in the fall of 1948, but by the end of the decade, Jews had disappeared from the upper echelons of the party in the republics.[4] This was followed by the Jewish doctor-killers case of 1952–53 accompanied by publications of anti-Semitic texts in the media,[5] and hundreds of torture interrogations.[6] Most communities in the Soviet Union never acknowledged the involvement of the local auxiliary police in the Holocaust.[7][better source needed][8][9] The vast majority of the 300,000 Schutzmannschaft members in the German-occupied territories of the USSR[10][11] quietly returned to their former lives, including members of the Byelorussian Home Defence participating in the pacification actions, in which some 30,000 Jews were murdered,[12] and members of Ukrainische Hilfspolizei battalions responsible for the extermination of 150,000 Jews in the area of Volhynia alone.[13] Khrushchev proclaimed that the Jews were not welcome in the Ukraine.[14]
Hundreds of returning Jews were killed in Romania.[18][19] Anti-Jewish demonstrations, sometimes based on blood libel accusations, took place in Hungary in dozens of places,[20][21][22] including in Kunmadaras (two or four dead victims) and Miskolc.
InTopoľčany, Slovakia, 48 Jews were seriously injured in September 1945. A number of Jews was murdered in Kolbasov in December. 13 anti-Jewish incidents called partisan pogroms reportedly took place on 1–5 August 1946, the biggest one being in Žilina, where 15 people were wounded.[23]Partisan Congress riots took place in Bratislava in August 1946 and in August 1948, including anti-Jewish riots in several other locations.[24][25]
InKiev, Ukraine on September 4–7, 1945,[26] around a hundred Jews were beaten, of whom thirty-six were hospitalized and five died of wounds.[27]InRubtsovsk, Russia, a number of anti-Semitic incidents took place in 1945.[28]
^Brent, Jonathan; Vladimir P. Naumov (2003). Stalin's Last Crime: The Plot Against the Jewish Doctors, 1948-1953. New York: HarperCollins. p. 4. ISBN0-06-019524-X.
^Eugeniusz Mironowicz (2014). "Okupacja niemiecka na Białorusi" [German occupation of Belarus]. Historia Białorusi od połowy XVIII do XX w. [History of Belarus, mid 18th century until the 20th century] (in Polish and Belarusian). Związek Białoruski w RP, Katedra Kultury Białoruskiej Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku (Internet Archive). Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
^Gross, Jan T. (2005). "After Auschwitz: The Reality and Meaning of Postwar Antisemitism in Poland". In Jonathan Frankel (ed.). Studies in Contemporary Jewry. Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-518224-3.
^Ivica Bumova. "Protizidovske vytrznosti v Bratislave v historicksom kontexte"(PDF). Studie Pamat Naroda. 28 (27 / 100) in PDF. The Jewish demands to return lost property caused and open resistance of a certain part of Slovak community. The frustration was transformed into anti-Jewish riots that took place in Bratislava and several other cities and villages...{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
Apor, Péter; Kende, Tamás; Lônčíková, Michala; Săndulescu, Valentin (2019). "Post-World War II anti-Semitic pogroms in East and East Central Europe: collective violence and popular culture". European Review of History: Revue européenne d'histoire. 26 (6): 913–927. doi:10.1080/13507486.2019.1611744. S2CID210443345.
Nehemiah Robinson (1956). European Jewry Ten Years After the War: An Account of the Development and Present Status of the Decimated Jewish Communities of Europe. New York: Institute of Jewish Affairs of the World Jewish Congress. p. 100.
