THE FIGHT AGAINST “STATELESS COSMOPOLITANS” ON THE PAGES OF SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE USSR

Abstract

The article analyzes the features of one of the ideological campaigns that were carried out in the Ukrainian SSR after the Second World War – the “struggle against rootless cosmopolitans”. It took place against the background of social and political processes. Instead of liberalizing life, the government resorted to the implementation of its usual mechanisms: repression, persecution, imprisonment on artificial charges and destruction of destinies. Along with this campaign, the authorities persecuted “bourgeois nationalists”, geneticists, fabricated the “case of doctors”. Each had its own characteristics, but each was directed against intellectuals and otherness in society. Representatives of the Jewish intelligentsia: the creative and scientific elite, suffered considerable oppression, persecution and lost their lives for their activities. All of them had a good education: home, school, university, which contributed to the formation of their broad and deep outlook. Some of them traveled or lived abroad. The authorities resorted to monitoring and controlling them and their relatives. Despite the geographical distance from the Ukrainian SSR, they continued their own activities, which, on the one hand, later became useful for them, on the other – became a reason for all kinds of accusations. Representatives of Jewish culture, which are discussed in the pages of our study, were members of the “Jewish Anti- Fascist Committee”. And this became decisive in their further activities and fate. They were active participants in the literary, educational and scientific life of the Ukrainian SSR. Their works were printed and taught by schoolchildren. However, after the launched campaign “struggle with rootless cosmopolitans” in textbooks, they had to be removed or replaced, guided by party instructions. This concerned the works of L. Kvitko, S. Golovanivskyi, D. Hofshtein, Y. Martych, L. Pervomaiskyi, and S. Shakhovskyi. The books lost their flavor and the involvement of students in Jewish culture came to naught. The night of August 12, 1952 was called “Night of the executed poets”. In order to “justify” its own actions, the state organized public discussions of the works. This applied to the content of periodicals, the contributors and reader of which were also teachers. The publishing business was quite controlled and special attention was paid to its development, which was connected with the formation of the worldview not only of the younger generation in schools, but also of the entire population.