Reference Type: Journal Article
Author: Dumitru, Diana
Year: 2011
Title: Attitudes towards Jews in Odessa. From Soviet rule through Romanian occupation, 1921-1944
Journal: Cahiers du Monde Russe
Volume: 52
Issue: 1
Pages: 133-162
Language: English
Keywords: Jewish minority, history, Transnistria, interethnic relationships, citizenship, holocaust, antisemitism, discrimination, politics, authorities, World War II, nationalism
Abstract: (Ro) the uSSR vanished at the turn of the 1990s, but the debates about the "Soviet experiment" and its puzzling legacy are more alive than ever. Since its collapse, an army of social scientists has closely studied the Soviet union's various facets, attempting to distinguish between the utopian state's real and the declared transformation. the distinctive form of nationalism promoted in the Soviet state has been a permanent object of academic interest and led to various contradicting interpretations of intended goals and achieved results.
An older historiographical trend has explained Soviet nationality policy through the "prison of the peoples" paradigm, by emphasizing the regime's repressive policies, arbitrary rules, and the internal borders imposed on its "captive" nations. A recent school of thought, best represented by Terry Martin's afirmative action empire" model, has stressed the center's "give-and-take" policies in its relationship with national minorities during the 1920s and 1930s, and depicted an interactive and participatory "state-sponsored evolutionism" which resulted from the fusion of a practical desire to avoid the mistakes of previous colonialist nationality policies and the idealistic aim to create a new, "modern" society - a union of completely equal nations, but accepting of difference in a cultural sense. Signiicant research has approached the transformative side of Soviet nationality policies, underlying
the limits of the Soviet state's intervention and the unintentional emergence and survival of nationalism. Yet, among this impressive body of literature, virtually no research has assessed the degree to which these newly promoted norms and ideals were absorbed by members of society. it is clear, at least in words, that the Soviet state regularly declared its strong commitment to the eradication of national discrimination and its intention to build a society where "the friendship of peoples" would prevail.5 Martin admits that ethnic prejudice and conlict declined in the interwar Soviet Union,6 while David Hoffman's study points towards the ambiguity of the issue of internalization of the Soviet morals, stressing the diversity of responses provided by the Communist Party members towards Stalinist cultural values. This paper aims to explore the ability of Soviet citizens to internalize state policies focusing on interethnic relations, and this is achieved through a case study assessing how Soviet nationality policies dealt with one of the oldest and intense animosities that existed on its territory: antisemitism. throughout Russian history, antisemitism has been among the most widespread, violent, and resilient forms of hatred towards a people, and it therefore acts as a particularly dificult problem to solve for the state. if Soviet policies could be seen as successful in this case, it would go a long way towards demonstrating a broader Soviet ability to penetrate its citizenry with fresh values unknown in the tsarist era. the detailed information and eyewitness testimonies required for such an analysis must be gathered in a small area for analysis to be rigorous. in this context, odessa makes a suitable subject.
URL: https://www.academia.edu/Documents/in/Soviet_History_Holocaust