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POLITICS AND PROTEST

 The American Advocacy Movement for Soviet Jews 

A Curriculum for the Community
By Sarah Zarrow, Ph.D.** 

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The curriculum focuses on key events and issues related to the American Advocacy Movement for Soviet Jews.  It is best utilized in conjunction with the Historic Overview in "The Politics of Protest: The American Advocacy Campaign for Soviet Jews - A Study Guide” as well as with the suggested readings.                            

Lesson Shortcuts

Shortcuts:

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Lesson 1: Jews in Tsarist Russia, after the Bolshevik Revolution, and through WWII

Lesson 2: From Hot to Cold War: The 1940's through the 1950's

Lesson 3: The State of Israel and the Soviet Union

Lesson 4: Social and Political Factors in the United States

Lesson 5: Diplomacy and the Growth of the Movement

Lesson 6: Perestroika and Contacts: Varied Perspectives

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Supplementary Discussion Questions

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Suggested Activities

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Lesson1

Lesson 1:

Jews in Tsarist Russia, after the Bolshevik Revolution, and through WW II

 

Introduction

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To understand the American advocacy campaign, it is best to review the situation of Jews before the 1917 February and October (Bolshevik) Revolutions, during the ensuing Civil War, and the early years of the Soviet Union.

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What was the Pale of Settlement, and the social and legal status of Jews who lived there? What differences were there between Jews in cities and towns, or between Jews in different parts of the Tsarist Empire? What did Jewish religious life look like? What were the major social, economic, and political trends among Jews? Were there any significant changes after the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II? How did the rise of Josif Stalin affect Jewish daily life? Discuss Soviet anti-Jewish measures from 1948 until Stalin's death in 1953.

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Essential Questions

  1. What were the major features of Jewish life in Tsarist Russia? 

  2. What were the political and social options open to Jews?

  3. In what ways did Jewish life change after 1917?

  4. What were the major features of Jewish life in the Soviet Union under Vladimir Lenin and Josif Stalin?

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By the end of this lesson, students will understand

  1. The options available to Jews in Tsarist Russia

  2. The appeal of various emancipatory and revolutionary movements in Tsarist Russia

  3. The major programs of the early Soviet Union (aka USSR) The appeal of Communism for some Jews, notably in the USSR

  4. The founding and fate of Birobidzhan

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Introduction for the Teacher or Discussion Leader

  1. Introduce the course: the aims, the structure, and related readings

  2. Ask students what they already know about the American advocacy movement for Soviet Jewry? What aren’t they clear about? What do they want to find out?

  3. Ask students to list 3-5 words that come to mind when they think about the movement. The result can be compared with a similar experience at the end of all sessions.

 

Jewish life in Tsarist Russia before the 1917 Revolutions

  1. Prior to the class meeting, the instructor should introduce the historical context. The early pages of the Guide are relevant.

  2. Read: The May Laws (see the Jews in the Modern World reader, as well as the bibliography)

    • What were the restrictions placed on Jews under these laws?

    • Imagine possible Jewish responses.

  3. Discuss: Options for Jews in Tsarist Russia: Emigration, Bundism, Zionism (the YIVO Encyclopedia entry for the Russian Revolutions of 1917 has a helpful overview): http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Russian_Revolutions_of_1917)

    • What gave rise to the Zionist movement in Tsarist Russia? Who were the major players? What were their initial goals?

    • Compare the Zionist, Bundist, Socialist movements—create a diagram that charts the appeal of these movements, their goals, their major successes, and setbacks.

    • Examine a primary source, viz., the YIVO Encyclopedia, or "The Russian Jew Under Tsars and Soviets”, by Salo Baron.

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The 1917 Bolshevik Revolution

For background information on the February and October Revolutions see

http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Russian_Revolutions_of_1917.

  1. Discuss: reasons for some initial Jewish support of the Bolshevik Revolution

    • It is useful to explore the ideological underpinnings of such support. Choose a source (or sources).

    • Students can read in small groups, such as Tony Michels’ Jewish Radicals: A Documentary Reader, Parts I: “Awakenings” or II: “In Struggle”.

    • Ask the question: Who wrote this source and when? What are the main points? What is the purpose of the source (depends on genre)?

  2. To see another example of initial Jewish support for early Communism, have students view the online exhibit about Birobidzhan, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast: https://www.swarthmore.edu/Home/News/biro/.

  3. There is a short film available at: https://rtd.rt.com/films/birobidzhan-jewish-autonomous-region/

  4. Archival footage is available at: https://www.ushmm.org/online/film/display/detail.php?file_num=4935.

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Between the Bolshevik Revolution and World War II (1939-45)

  1. Initial high hopes for the liberation of the Jews under Socialism faded quickly. Why?

  2. In 1937 the dreaded secret police, the NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, later the KGB, Federal Security Service, began deporting national minorities from the borderlands of the Soviet Union. Soon afterward a decree stipulated that all passports have a photo of the bearer, as well as a declaration of nationality, according to the parents’ nationality. (Internal passports were mandated in 1932. A decree that year allowed bearers to self-declare, and “Soviet” was an accepted nationality.

    • Find images of passports from this era online. Examine a copy.

  3. Discuss: The potential implications of this passport law. In a state predicated on the ostensible equality of all citizens, what does categorizing citizens by nationality achieve?

    • If Jews ("Yevrei") were listed as a nationality, what about the concept of "Judaism"?

    • What are the potential implications for the power of the state with this passport regime? (From 1937-1955, 455,000 Soviet citizens were arrested for violating passport laws).

    • The Archives of Historical and Ethnographic Yiddish Memories (AHEYM) has a digital exhibit of oral histories of life between the wars. Students might watch and listen at: http://www.iub.edu/~aheym/index.php

 

Wrap-up

  1. Either in writing or orally students might reflect on the most surprising thing they learned, as well as something about which they still have a question.

  2. Reading:

    • Study Guide

    • David Shneer, Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War and the Holocaust, Chapter 5.

    • Zvi Gitelman, A Century of Ambivalence: The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union.

    • Susan Tumarkin Goodman, Russian Jewish Artists in a Century of Change: 1890-1990.

    • See, also, the online site of the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS): https://www.ajhs.org/

  3. Listen to:

    • Russia Reports radio broadcasts (on tape) from the American Jewish Committee archive.

Lesson2

Lesson 2:

From Hot to Cold War: The 1940's through the 1950's

 

Introduction


This unit focuses on the “Great Patriotic War” (WWII), as self-described in the Soviet Union, and the representation of the Holocaust in the postwar years. Discuss the official suppression of Jewish wartime memory, and the clandestine Jewish memorial activities at Rumbola, or Babyn Yar. Most significantly examine the beginnings of the movement for Soviet Jewry in the Cold War context.

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Essential Questions

  1. What are some of the experiences of Soviet Jews during World War II and the Holocaust?

  2. How was the Holocaust commemorated in the USSR?

  3. What did Stalin’s death mean for Soviet Jews?

  4. To what historical moment can we trace the origins of the advocacy movement for Soviet Jews?

  5. How did the Cold War affect Jews in the Soviet Union, if at all?

 

By the end of this lesson, students should understand

  1. How the Holocaust was commemorated, as well as erased, in the USSR

  2. The effect of Stalin’s death in 1953, and de-Stalinization, on Jews in the Soviet Union

  3. The stirrings of a movement in the USSR, and then in the United States.

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Brief Reflections on the Reading and Listening

  1. Take time to address any questions and solicit suggestions for a short list of important points.

  2. Students should familiarize themselves with Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union: https://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1939-1941/operation-barbarossa and https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005164, as well as the anti-Jewish Einsatzgruppen.

  3. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has historical footage online. While it doesn’t specifically deal with Jews in the Soviet Union, it is instructive: https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/gallery.php?ModuleId=10005164&MediaType=F

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Soviet Experience of the War

  1. Students might listen to testimony from either the Visual History Archive (https://sfi.usc.edu/vha). or the AHEYM Project (http://www.iub.edu/~aheym/), choosing a Soviet citizen who lived through the war. Sketch out their biography.

  2. Have students share what they learned with the rest of the class or group.

  3. How many common elements run through the stories? What are they? Can one generalize about Jewish life in the Soviet Union during the Nazi German occupation?

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Commemoration

As students read in the Study Guide, the “Great Patriotic War” was considered a tragedy for the Soviet people, but not necessarily for Jews. Nonetheless, in the post-war era, individual Jews and groups organized clandestine commemorations of wartime tragedies. We will look at the case of Babyn Yar, and compare it with other. commemorations outside the Soviet Union.

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  1. Familiarize the class with Babyn Yar’s history: https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005421

  2. View clips from this 1985 film (n.b. some of the captions do not match the images): https://www.ushmm.org/online/film/display/detail.php?file_num=4419

  3. Jewish commemoration of the Babyn Yar massacres was prohibited; a 1976 memorial paid tribute to “Soviet citizens” murdered there. Have students view http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-the-pale/eng_captions/60-8.html for another example of erasing Jewish specificity

  4. Students may wish to read an account of memorializing efforts at Babyn Yar: http://www.jta.org/2016/03/22/news-opinion/world/at-babi-yar-locals-revive-plans-to-memorialize Jewish-victims.

  5. In 1961 the noted Soviet poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko made a more public attempt to memorialize Babyn Yar in poetry. (Dmitri Shostakovich’s 13th Symphony is based on this poem).

  6. Students should read and discuss Yevtushenko’s poem: http://wwwtc.pbs.org/auschwitz/learning/guides/reading1.4.pdf

  7. A comparison might be made with memorials in Poland, viz. the Warsaw Ghetto Fighters memorial, which showcased Jewish heroism, and the Auschwitz memorial, which erased Jewish specificity by alphabetizing the nationalities of victims and placing Jews last. See:

 

Wrap-up

  1. As a lead-in to the following lessons, students might speculate on the importance of Holocaust experience and commemoration for Jewish group identity and solidarity, as well as potential conflicts with an unsympathetic or hostile regime.

  2. Reading:

    • Study Guide

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Lesson3

Lesson 3:

The State of Israel and the Soviet Union

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Introduction


This unit examines the shifting relations between the USSR and the State of Israel, from initial recognition to the severance of ties after the Six-Day War in June 1967, including the impact of the war on Soviet Jews. Participants will discuss the formation of networks of Jews in the USSR and the development of a national movement.

 

Essential Questions

  1. What was the impact on Soviet Jews of the creation of the State of Israel?

  2. What was the relationship of the USSR and Israel, and how did it change?

  3. By what means did Soviet Jews organize and communicate?

  4. What was the impact of the 1967 war on Jewish life in the USSR? In the United States?

 

By the end of this lesson, students will understand

  1. The effect of the creation of the State of Israel on Jews in the Soviet Union

  2. The importance of social networks on Jewish activities in the USSR

  3. The impact and importance of samizdat (self published) publications on underground movements

  4. The experience of at least one refusenik? How did the term evolve?

 

Soviet-Israeli Relations through the 1960's

  1. Based on the reading and the accompanying Annotated Timeline, students could create their own timeline, outlining major shifts in Soviet-Israeli relations from the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 until the 1967 Six-Day War.

    • To what might we attribute changes in relations?

  2. In Lesson 2, Holocaust commemoration was explored. The early 1960's saw clandestine commemorations of the Holocaust experience in the Soviet Union. One such commemoration occurred in the Rumbala Forest, near Riga, the capital of Latvia.

    • In late 1941, about 25,000 Jews were murdered in the Rumbala forest.

    • A memorial erected by the Jewish community in 1962 was taken down by authorities because it "singled out Jews". A permanent stone memorial was finally erected in 1964.

  3. Discuss the ways in which the confluence of events in the 1960's in the Soviet Union and elsewhere might have affected Jews, personally and collectively.

  4. Film or Hosted Visit

    • After the introductory activities, show the film Refusenik (2007) or invite a former refusenik to speak to the class. If possible, invite a Riga survivor living in the area, or contact the organization, Jewish Survivors From Latvia (see the internet).

 

Wrap-Up

  • Reading:

    • Study Guide

Lesson 4

Lesson 4:

Social and Political Factors in the United States

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Introduction


Explore the activism of the anti-Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movements in America, and the influence of ethnic and racial pride movements. We will consider the development of the category of refusenik, and the impact of person-to-person tourism to the USSR.

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Essential questions

  1. What developments in the United States broadly impacted on the development of the advocacy movement?

  2. How did the category of “refusenik” (otkaznik in Russian) develop?

  3. What was the nature of contacts between the US and USSR? How did they influence the developing advocacy movement?

 

By the end of this lesson, students will understand

  1. The effect of the Six-Day War on Jewish identity in the Soviet Union and in America.

  2. The effect of the Six-Day War on Soviet-Israeli relations

  3. The types of increased communication between the West and the USSR, and their effect on the American Advocacy Movement for Soviet Jews.

 

Discussion

Depending on the group's demographics, students may have a personal familiarity with movements in the 60s and 70s, from the havurah movement to Jewish involvement in the Civil Rights and anti-War movements. Solicit memories of the period.

  1. Using the Study Guide, clarify the shifts in Soviet-Israeli relations, culminating in a total break after the 1967 Six-Day War.

  2. Ask the group about potential connections between the Six-Day War in Israel, the Black Power movement in the United States, and the American Advocacy Movement for Soviet Jews.

  3. See the Timeline in the Study Guide, as a primary step in examining the movement.

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Organization Mapping

  1. The constellation of American Jewish organizations, and their relationship to the movement, can be confusing. Choose one of the relevant organizations from the Study Guide and answer the following questions. Consult the digitized archival materials at the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS), found at http://www.ajhs.org/aasjm:

  2. When was the organization established?

  3. What were its stated goals? its political/social/religious orientation?

  4. Did the organization have a unique position regarding the plight of Soviet Jews? Clarify.

 

Material Culture and Trip Reports

In addition to participating in organized and public activities, individuals demonstrated support for Soviet Jews by personalizing activism such as refusenik pins, tee shirts, banners, bracelets, and other items viewed in the online digitized collections at the AJHS (under “visual material” and in its online exhibits).

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  1. What was its use? What might it do for the owner? What did it signal to others?

  2. View trip reports in the collection. What was the impact of person-to-person trips? What were the dangers of these visits? What information was gathered? What do American visitors stress about their visits?

  3. Examine personal or media reports of bar/bat mitzvah “twinning,” another means of publicizing case histories and personalizing the movement.

 

Wrap Up

  • Reading:

    • Study Guide

    • Emphasis on Jackson-Vanik Amendment in the bibliography

Lesson 5

Lesson 5:  

Diplomacy and the Growth of the Movement

 

Introduction


Review the beginnings of various U.S. groups to aid Soviet Jews, and the development and passage of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to trade legislation. Examine the ways in which grass-roots popular movements can influence diplomacy, and vice versa.

 

Essential Questions

  1. Describe the differences in how major American Jewish organizations reacted to the plight of Soviet Jews.

  2. What were the diplomatic, political, or economic means available to the United States to influence the status of Soviet Jews? Were they utilized?

  3. What was the Jackson-Vanik Amendment? How did it happen? What were the reactions in Washington and in Moscow? among American Jews?

 

By the end of this lesson, students will understand

  1. The platforms and tactics of the major American Jewish organizations in the 1970's and 1980's.

  2. The text and impact of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment in America and the Soviet Union.

  3. The confluence of official diplomacy and grassroots organizing in the United States.

 

Wrap Up

  1. Reading:

    • Review the text of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the Trade Reform Act of 1974.

    • See the controversial views on the legislation in the writings of Paula Stern and Marshall Goldman, in the Bibliography.

  2. Interview the Washington representative of a Jewish organization and evaluate the group's role, if any, in passing the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.

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Lesson 6:

Perestroika and Contacts: Varied Perspectives

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Introduction

Consider the nature of changes made by Mikhail S. Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin and the “post-history” of the movement for Soviet Jewry. Read critiques of the movement from contemporary literature and consider its legacy.

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Essential Questions

  1. What was the significance of Mikhail S. Gorbachev coming to power? Boris Yeltsin?’

  2. What was perestroika and how did it affect Jews in the Soviet Union?

  3. What are the critiques of the advocacy movement?

  4. What is the lasting impact of the movement in America? In Israel? In the Former Soviet Union?

  5. Where are most former refuseniks today? Are any still activists in Israel or America? Cite some who have achieved significant positions in Israel or America.

 

By the end of this lesson, students will understand

  1. The importance of personal relationships in the American Advocacy Movement.

  2. The significance of Freedom Sunday, December 6, 1987.

  3. The multiple perspectives on the Movement and its legacy.

 

Media Coverage

  1. Using the New York Times archive, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency archive, and Jewish periodicals, as well as images from the AJHS online collection, examine the coverage that demonstrations, such as Freedom Sunday, received in the national or regional press. What elements of the struggle are emphasized in the reports? How is the movement represented?

  2. Film:

    • See the 2017 film, Operation Wedding, by Anat Zalmanson-Kuznetsov, with its story of a 1970 plot to steal a Soviet airplane and escape to Israel. The arrest and trial of her parents and their group transformed the international advocacy campaigns.

    • See the Israeli film, Pur, which treats the lives of former refuseniks now living in Israel.

 

Aftermath

In the immediate years after the breakup of the Soviet Union, in August 1991, the number of Jews able to leave for Israel, the United States, Germany, and elsewhere, rose dramatically. Others remained. Not all who emigrated were former refuseniks; many simply wanted a better life and freedom to live elsewhere as Jews.

  1. Recent years have seen the restoration of some Jewish institutions in Russia and Ukraine. What might this mean for the future?

  2. Discuss the impact of the Movement on American Jewish life and on the lives of former Soviet Jews. What were the Movement’s most significant contributions? What were its shortcomings? What is its lasting impact?

 

Wrap up

Students should share their answers to the following questions:

  1. What was the most surprising thing you learned in the course?

  2. What is the single question you still have?

  3. Name one thing you learned that you’ll retain, or that will be useful in the future.

Lesson 6

**Sarah Zarrow, Ph.D., the author of "A Curriculum for the Community", was Visiting Scholar at the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies at New York University.  In 2017 she was appointed a Research Fellow at the New Europe College for Advanced Study in Bucharest, Romania.  Her doctorate is from the joint program of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and the History Department of New York University.  She has an MA degree from the Davidson School at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Supplementary Questions

 Politics and Protest

Supplementary Discussion Questions

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  1. Provide a religious profile of the 19th-century Russian Jewish world.  How does it compare with the 20th-century Russian Jewish world?  Give reasons.

  2. What role did Zionism play in pre-World War I Russia?  

  3. In the 18th and 19th centuries most Russian Jews in the Tsarist empire lived in the Pale of Settlement. Describe the Pale and the conditions for Jewish life. What does “beyond the Pale” mean?

  4. What changes in Russian Jewish life took place after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution? after 1937?  After World War II and during the “Black Years of Jewish life”? Clarify.

  5. Why was a Jewish Autonomous Region created in the distant Russian area of Birobidzhan?  How did Jews fare? What happened to the Jewish population?

  6. Define the term “ethnic nationalism”? Did this apply to the Soviet Jewish minority?

  7. What is a “refusenik”? Did they relate to advocates in the West? Describe. How did Soviet officials treat them?

  8. Could Jews study Hebrew?  Attend religious services? Provide details.  

  9. Who were the “democrats”, aka called “dissidents”? What were their objectives? How did the authorities treat them?  What was their relationship to Jewish activists, refuseniks or unofficial Hebrew teachers?

  10. It has been said that the Campaign for Soviet Jews was inspired by the American civil rights movement? Do you agree? Provide examples.

  11. What motivated American Jews to campaign for Soviet Jews in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s?  Have you read any accounts about domestic activists? Did you know any? Compare such efforts to the Holocaust decade.

  12. Describe the role of the US Government in advocacy efforts?  The Congress? The Media?

  13. What tools were crafted by the campaign to assist Soviet Jewish activists?  Economic? Political? Personal? Where did the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to trade laws fit?

  14. Were public demonstrations effective? Cite examples.  

  15. Describe the domestic campaign? Why were there different advocacy groups?

  16. What happened to Jews in the Soviet Union after the country imploded in 1991?  Why? Did this have any impact on their ability to leave for Israel? America? Explain.  What changes have taken place for those who remained?

  17. It has been over three decades since Freedom Sunday, in December 1987.  What is the legacy of the American Soviet Jewry Advocacy Campaign? Has it changed the American Jewish community?  Explain.

Suggested Activities

  Politics and Protest

Suggested Activities

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Following are ideas for programs in the classroom, on campus, in the local Hebrew

High School, at a synagogue study program, or in a college Jewish/Russian studies

program. These are meant to enhance a formal study curriculum but should be

screened as appropriate for the age and experiences of the audience.

 

  1. Invite a speaker who participated in or studied the Advocacy Campaign. Try your local synagogue, college or university. Look for Russian, Jewish, or diplomatic history programs. Try your local Jewish Community Relations Council or Federation for suggestions.

  2. Contact someone who was active in the Civil Rights Movement, including SNCC (the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), and the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry. Have that person compare significant experiences from their involvement.

  3. Invite someone who participated in Freedom Sunday on December 6, 1987, in Washington, DC. Why did they participate? How did they get involved? What did they carry away? Did it have any impact on their lives?

  4. Act out a situation in the 1970’s and 1980’s where one person is a Soviet official deciding on an application (vyzof) to leave for Israel, and the other is an applicant. How would the interchange proceed?

  5. You want to study Hebrew in the Soviet Union during the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's. How was it done? Report to your class or group on the research.

  6. If you wanted to pray with a religious community, at a time when the authorities were actively fighting religious practices and preventing rabbinic training institutions from functioning, what would you do? Simulate an application to the Ministry of Culture or Education.

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Please forward suggestions or comments to jerry@thegoodmans.net.

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(c) 2022 Jerry Goodman

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