Rebecca Naomi Jones: The Wreckage is made possible by funding from the Ford Foundation.
Additional funding is provided through the American Jewish Education Program, generously supported by Sid and Ruth Lapidus.
Archival Audio – PSA from Rita Moreno:
“Hello. This is Rita Moreno. Over 30 young Soviet Jews have been arrested and are being held incommunicado. Their only crime is their wish to live as Jews in the Soviet Union, or to leave for Israel to be reunited with their families. These political prisoners are being held on trumped-up charges. Some have already been tried and given severe sentences. Others are awaiting trial. While innocent victims are being convicted before the Soviet bar, it is really Soviet Justice that now stands convicted before world opinion.”
Rebecca Naomi Jones: In the 1950s, a large number of Soviet Jews began to apply for exit visas, most commonly to Israel. Most of these applications came from Jews living in territories in the Western part of the Soviet Union, including Ukraine, Estonia, Lithuania, and other regions annexed during World War II. The vast majority of these applications were denied.
With the ousting of Nikita Khrushchev and the rise of new leader Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet Union became more dangerous for Jews living behind the Iron Curtain. Severe restrictions on migration escalated, and even the very act of applying for an exit visa could have devastating consequences. In the United Kingdom, the United States, and other western nations, grassroots campaigns on behalf of those deemed “refuseniks” began to grow.
From the American Jewish Historical Society, this is The Wreckage: Open Up the Gates. I’m your host, Rebecca Naomi Jones. This week, we meet The Refuseniks. Our story begins with a clandestine construction project that tore a region apart.
Archival Audio, Berlin Wall is Erected: The 13th of August 1961. A wall of East German police stands at the Brandenburg Gate. All communication between the Eastern sector and those of the West has been cut as though by a knife. Before it, West Berliners stand stunned. But soon they give voice to the indignation.
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
After all objections, all approaches, the only answer – Jets of water from Eastern armored trucks.
[Music]
Soviet attacks on the rights of the Western bars in Berlin showed that the wall was meant to be a step towards control of the whole city, towards forcing out the Western powers. As the last escape routes were cut one after the other, final scrambles so as not to be left behind in the prison. And this was an exodus not confined merely to the civilians. Even among the East German police guarding and maintaining a new barrier, there were some who decided that they too had reached the end of their tether.
[Music]
Nothing there for it but to cut and run.
Rebecca Naomi Jones: Joining us is Gemma R. Birnbaum, executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society.
Gemma R. Birnbaum: Khrushchev is the guy who oversees the building of the Berlin Wall, which is this large imposing barrier between Soviet-controlled East Germany, and by this point, an independently-governed West Germany. The Allies have left, you know, years before.
And so this further restricted movement, both literally and symbolically, it’s this big imposing barbed wired-covered wall that’s armed 24/7, and it further alienated the Soviet bloc from the west, which by that point was already at its peak in terms of contention.
And so before the wall was built, some 3.5 million people had been able to leave East Germany and migrate into West Germany and beyond. West Germany became kind of the conduit to go to some of these other places like France and England. And so Khrushchev’s administration wanted to put a stop to that. So people were killed if they were caught trying to go over the wall. There were very few exemptions where you could be allowed to cross the wall.
And so there were reports of at least, you know, a couple of hundred deaths throughout the Khrushchev era.
Rebecca Naomi Jones: On the East German side, additional walls and minefields were commonplace, and areas designated no man’s land were fenced off, allowing Soviet soldiers a clear view – and a clear shot – of anyone who tried to defect.
On December 10, 1961, the New York Times ran a story on the wall’s impact. The thick black serif headline came across as a warning:
“BERLIN WALL STIRS DEEP FEELING; Barrier Brings Anger in the West And Despair in the East”
Officially called the “Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart,” the imposing concrete structure was 96 miles long. The wall, officials said, was designed to keep out fascists, which they defined as those who quote “were conspiring to prevent the will of the people” who wanted a communist state in East Germany.
This type of rhetoric that deliberately reminded the world of the USSR’s role in defeating fascism and Nazism was often used to justify Khrushchev’s actions.
Gemma R. Birnbaum: Arguably the only good thing the Soviets ever did was defeat Nazism. And so if you’re a violent autocratic state, which means one in which there’s a singular person with absolute power, and you want to deflect from that, you’re going to try and tout your role in defeating the Third Reich. Particularly when you start to face increased pressure from outside nations, that can be in the form of NATO, or otherwise, about your treatment of Jews and other religious and ethnic minorities.
Rebecca Naomi Jones: Much like his predecessor Joseph Stalin, Khrushchev’s views on Soviet Jewry were full of hypocrisies. As the new leader of the USSR, he put forward a softer domestic agenda, promising more openness, freedom, and safety.
But he was also ardently opposed to organized religion, and the policies he put in place to limit religious practice disproportionately affected the Jewish population. During his tenure, the USSR published more than 46,000 anti-Jewish pamphlets, as well as 27,000 against Christianity and another 6,000 opposing Islam. The pamphlets, written in both Ukrainian and Russian, played upon antisemitic tropes and fears, and aimed to convince readers that Jews were politically corrupt, and were incapable of being part of a collective society.
Gemma R. Birnbaum: So this is a man who at once would publicly decry antisemitism, he would castigate his dead predecessor for his treatment of Soviet Jews. He would tell this story that as a child growing up in Ukraine, that he’d witnessed this terrible pogrom and that had opened his eyes at a young age to the hatred people have for Jews and how terrible that was. And so in his memoir, he describes staring at this young Jewish child who had been beaten to death by this mob, and it was one of the worst things he’d ever seen.
And then in the same breath, he would repeat these centuries-old conspiracy theories, and would institute policies that further limited Jewish life in the form of imprisonment, mass deportation and the like. As he’s implementing this process that he would call de-Stalinization, he’s creating his own style of authoritarianism.
So he’s full of these contradictions and by the time he’s risen to power, he’s become deeply suspicious of Jews and their intentions and their loyalties, and that’s particularly anybody who expresses any support for Zionism in the creation of a Jewish state or support for the now-created Jewish state after 1948, which is still in its relative infancy by the time Khrushchev takes power.
Rebecca Naomi Jones: In 1958, the French periodical Figaro published an interview with Khrushchev. In it, he accused Jews of being “born individualists,” claimed Israel was “ungrateful” to the USSR for voting for its creation ten years prior, and expressed doubt that Soviet Jews could ever embrace communal life or truly be at home in the USSR.
Gemma R. Birnbaum: For many Soviet Jews, they had already been experiencing for many years these accusations about dual loyalty, which is this idea that Jews would ultimately only be loyal to one another, and not the nation in which they were born or they live, which in this case, are the 15 republics that comprise the Soviet Union.
But the myth of dual loyalty is a global one that we have heard in US history as well. We even continue to hear it today – this idea that a Jew is is mostly loyal to other Jews and not necessarily a true American, like all of these things are stuff that we’ve heard.
In the context of the USSR, this was a particularly loaded accusation because you’re talking about a regime where loyalty to the Soviet cause was valued above most everything else, whether you’re Jewish or not. So this idea that you could be loyal to another state, that is treasonous. And Zionism is seen as an existential threat directly in opposition to the Soviet Union’s goals and policies.
Rebecca Naomi Jones: As Khrushchev’s paranoia grew, the borders became even more tightly controlled, and the vast majority of applications for exit visas, especially those from Jews requesting permission to leave the USSR for Israel, were denied.
Gemma R. Birnbaum: I think the instinct for this increasingly hostile nation, which is a nation that is simultaneously siloing itself off while gaining more and more global power, is to shut, just shut the borders, control the press, and do whatever you can do to protect mother Russia. And I think that comes at a price.
And I think for a lot of Jews, they were the price.
Rebecca Naomi Jones: In the backdrop of Khrushchev’s paranoia, there were fears that large-scale migration to places like Israel and the United States could lead to leaked secrets, particularly when it came to nuclear weapons. Each applicant seeking an exit visa was looked at with suspicion, particularly if they had any ties to defense manufacturing or research and development of nuclear weapons.
Gemma R. Birnbaum: In the late 1940s, the Soviet Union had established what they called closed cities, which meant that any movement to and from those areas was tightly controlled and highly restricted. And for many it was prohibited entirely.
Rebecca Naomi Jones: Closed cities in the USSR became more common as the Cold War continued to heat up, and fell into two main categories.
First were border cities, which were closed to maintain national security, and citizens needed special permission to enter.
Second were cities that were home to military, scientific, or industrial facilities, including arms manufacturing plants and nuclear research and development sites. Even Soviet citizens were barred from entering these closed cities.
Gemma R. Birnbaum: And some of this was quite literal. Some of these cities actually had barbed wire. They were monitored 24/7 with armed guards sort of stationed around the region. You need special permission to come and go, that kind of thing.
You’re not about to just go pop over to like, Finland for a vacation or for a job or to live. You weren’t able to do that.
Rebecca Naomi Jones: Many of these closed cities were located in the region of Siberia, chosen because of its remote location and vast natural resources.
Alongside the industrial plants that peppered the area were a number of Stalin-era gulags – labor camps known for their brutality that were used to house convicted criminals, political prisoners, dissidents, and victims of mass deportations.
As part of his de-Stalinization plan, Khrushchev had abolished the Gulag system in 1960, and many of the prisons were empty or repurposed – but Soviet law still allowed for the use of forced labor as punishment for a crime. Those accused of spying, treason, and other acts of dissidence could still be sentenced to hard labor and sent to Siberia and other remote regions.
Archival Audio – Khrushchev Ousted: The reds say ill health prompted Khrushchev to step down. Observers say that his abortive feud with Red China that broke apart the front of monolithic communism was the real reason.
A man who clawed and fought his way to the top wooed leaders like Nassar of the Neutralist nations. Khrushchev probably made his greatest impact on a strangely fascinated world when he came to the United Nations Assembly in 1960. And attempted to purge Secretary General Doug Hammarskjöld. He piled shock upon shock when he and the Soviet delegation rudely interrupted speeches by Western delegators.
The crowds that once cheered Khrushchev wildly were left in the dark as to just what went on when the Central Committee met to act on his retirement and to name Leonid Bhrezhnev as the new leader of the party, while Alexi Cos Segan took the job of Premier Rajni, has lately been considered Krushchev’s heir apparent.
But the question remains as to whether he had anything to do with hurrying his boss’s departure. Rajni is known among Western diplomats as the red in the gray flannel suit. A man who is expected to continue peaceful coexistence with the West while trying to heal the breach with China.
It had been indicated that Brezhnev would be Khrushchev’s successor on his death, but no specter of death or disgrace marred the scene of Khrushchev’s 70th birthday party last spring. He seemed to have the world, the communist sphere at his feet and his power. Over 220 million Soviet citizens seemed impregnable.
Now, for better or worse, the Khrushchev era has come to a close.
Rebecca Naomi Jones: In October 1964, after a chaotic tenure, Nikita Khrushchev was ousted from power.
“Evidence of what went on in the Soviet Union in the last 72 hours suggests that Nikita S. Khrushchev was removed from office in a virtual coup d’état by a group of close associates with the aid and support of the Soviet armed forces,” reported the New York Times.
“It is not yet clear,” reporter Harrison E. Salisbury warned readers, “what price the Soviet military establishment might have demanded for throwing its support to Mr. Khrushchev’s enemies.”
The era of “Hurricane Nikita,” as he came to be known, was over. The deposed leader left behind a complicated legacy – he was the man who led the valiant effort to de-Stalinize the USSR, and he was also the man who on multiple occasions brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. As Leonid Bhrezhnev took control of the USSR, he promised Soviet citizens a return to calm and order.
For Soviet Jews, the Brezhnev era saw near-immediate crackdowns on practicing their faith. Emigration restrictions became even tighter, especially after 1967’s Six Day War between Israel and a coalition of Arab states that included Jordan, Egypt, and Syria. While the exact role the Soviet Union played in the war continues to be debated today, one thing was clear: the USSR backed the Arab coalition, and Israel was not an ally.
As tensions grew, Jews trying to leave the USSR for Israel were continually denied exit visas, quotas were put in place on how many could leave, and some faced punishment for even applying. They were dubbed “refuseniks.”
Gemma R. Birnbaum: It was coined by a gentleman named Michael Sherbourne, who was a British Jewish activist who is instrumental in efforts to obtain exit visas for Jews in the Eastern bloc. His mother was a Sephardic Jew who is descended of Spanish exiles, who came to England in the 17th century, I believe during the Inquisition.
And his father’s family was from Poland, so he was born in 1917, and so by the time he was a teenager, he was witnessing the rise of fascism around him, and he became politically active as a result. And so at one point, when he was like 18 or 19, he participated in a counter protest against a group of British fascists who were attempting to march in London.
And so by the time he was in his mid to late thirties, and the Soviet Union was denying these exit visas and punishing those who sought them, he had a very deep understanding about how to counter this kind of totalitarianism on a very small, sort of grassroots level, which is actually quite remarkable.
Rebecca Naomi Jones: Sherbourne served in the British armed forces during World War II, and in 1948, he joined the Israel Defense Forces as a foreign volunteer, where he served in the First Arab-Israeli War.
After his military service, he enrolled in college, and earned degrees in Russian language and literature. In 1962, he earned an advanced degree in East European Studies and became a teacher.
In 1969, he began to take an active role in the movement to free Soviet Jews.
Gemma R. Birnbaum: And so he was in regular conversations with people like Natan Sharansky and like Ida Nudel and some of these other people whose names you may or may not know from history, but should certainly know. At this point, once we get to the Brezhnev era, which is also the sort of Refusenik era, Michael has at this point become a prominent leader in the fight for Soviet Jews.
Some of this is his language skills, and he has this ability to form relationships. And so he becomes something of a liaison between Refuseniks who needed help and the Jewish organizations that were trying to help them.
Rebecca Naomi Jones: Sherbourne made thousands of phone calls on behalf of Refuseniks, and was in direct communication with many of them. He became one of the only sources for information about what was happening to Jews behind the Iron Curtain. He worked tirelessly to help Refusniks obtain exit visas for two decades, until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
He passed away in 2014, at the age of 97.
Gemma R. Birnbaum: I feel like I’m breaking a fourth wall a little bit, but I think a question here that is worth asking and that’s come up a fair amount in this series, is why are we talking in this podcast about American Jewish history, about Soviet history this much?
But I’d say that in no era, and especially not in a Cold War era, can we divorce American history and American Jewish history from this sort of transnational perspective. What is happening in the Soviet Union has a deep impact on American culture, on American Jewish culture as well, and on the diaspora.
Archival Audio – Rita Moreno PSA: “It’s obvious that the Soviet government is waging a nationwide campaign aimed at crushing Jewish consciousness and faith among Russian
Jews. This has to be stopped. We as Americans must raise our voices on behalf of Soviet Jews for their freedom and for their lives. So please – write to your Congressman, wire President Nixon, wire Ambassador Dobrynin, and please, do it today.”
Rebecca Naomi Jones: From the American Jewish Historical Society, I’m Rebecca Naomi Jones. This episode was written by executive director Gemma R. Birnbaum. Recording, sound design, and mixing were done at Sound Lounge. Archival material is courtesy of the collections of the American Jewish Historical Society and its Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement, the US National Archives, the New York Times, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and the Figaro Magazine Archives at the Library of Congress.
For episode transcripts, additional resources, and links to the collections featured in this episode, visit ajhs.org/podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on your preferred podcast platform which helps others discover our series.
