Sprouts of state anti-Semitism appeared in the USSR in the second half of the 30s of the XX century. Instead of the proletarian internationalism idea, the ideology of “Soviet patriotism” was introduced. The role of the “fraternal” Soviet republics unifier was assigned to the Russian people. The end of the 1940s was marked by the beginning of a frank anti-Semitic campaign. The so-called “Doctors’ Case” became the peak of state anti-Semitism of the post-war period. In late 1952 – early 1953, a number of outstanding Soviet doctors (mostly of Jewish origin), who treated the first persons of the USSR, including Yosyp Stalin, were arrested. They were accused of trying to destroy the top leadership of the state. The text of the official announcement of the arrest announced that “most of the terrorist group members (Vovsi M.S., Kogan B.B., Feldman A.I., Grinshtein A.M., Etinger Y.G.) were associated with the international Jewish bourgeois-nationalist organization “Joint”, created by American intelligence supposedly to provide material assistance to Jews in other countries”. The report on the arrest of doctors and the details of the “conspiracy” appeared in an article without the signature “Insidious spies and murderers under the guise of medical professors”, published in the central Soviet newspaper “Pravda” on January 13, 1953.
According to some reports, the “Doctors’ Case” was supposed to be an excuse for further large-scale pogroms and even the eviction of most of the USSR’s Jewish population to the north of the country. These plans were crossed out by Stalin’s death, after which the wave of state anti-Semitism waned.
In the Museum permanent exhibition you can see how anti-Semitic hysteria was escalated by the Soviet press. In particular, already on January14, 1953 (that is, the day after publication in “Pravda”), a reprint in Ukrainian under the heading “Sneaky spies under the guise of medical professors” appeared in the Dnipropetrovsk newspaper “Zoria”. The leading satirically-humorous Soviet magazine “Crocodile” did not disregard the “Doctors’ Case”. So, an illustration created by the famous art group “Kukryniksy”, with the eloquent signature “Following the traces of crimes. The state security agencies exposed a group of pest doctors, hired foreign intelligence agents” was posted on the last page of cover No. 3 for 1953.