Monday, October 25, 2021

The Night of the Murdered Poets

 There's so much I don't know.  It amazes me that everyday I learn about some incident from history that I knew nothing about.  The latest bit of knowledge is learning about the night of the murdered poets, in Russia, on August 12, 1952.  

On August 12, 1952, thirteen Jewish intellectuals were executed by a firing squad in Moscow's Lubyanka prison, after being convicted of treason and espionage.  The mass execution, one of Stalin's final acts of persecution, became known as the "Night of the Murdered Poets."

Among those executed, were five Yiddish writers who were part of the JAC, Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee.  The organization had been formed during the Holocaust to lobby world Jewry to support the USSR in fighting Nazi Germany. While Stalin initially overlooked the development of the group, he tightened his control of the country after the war ended.

Stalin's reign of terror began by murdering the head of the JAC, Solomon Mikhoels.  He then secretly arrested members of the organization, held them in prison without charging them for several years, while they were tortured.  A memorial for the JAC victims was dedicated on the 25th anniversary of the Night of the Murdered Poets in Jerusalem's Rasko neighborhood in 1977.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7H9uo3j5FQ  click on this link to find out more about this historical event.

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