A Failed Mission

The journey of an American Jew to the Soviet Union

Jakob Stürmann

18.03.2025

Schnappschuss von einem Treffen in der Sowjetunion zwischen Ben Zion Goldberg (mittig) und nicht identifizierten Personen, 1946

Photo credit:

Snapshot of a meeting in the Soviet Union between Ben Zion Goldberg (center) and unidentified persons, 1946. B. Z. Goldberg papers, Arc MS 1, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, Free access - no reuse

In 1946, Ben Zion Goldberg traveled through the Soviet Union as a journalist. But his journey was part of a personal mission as well: he was determined to keep the newly established dialogue with Jewish organizations in the USSR alive – hoping that, in doing so, he could contribute to a more peaceful world.

At the beginning of June 1946, Ben Zion Goldberg (1895–1972) wrote a letter in English to Josef Stalin shortly before his departure from the Soviet Union for Mandatory Palestine. In it, he expressed great gratitude to the Soviet leader on behalf of the children and heirs of his father-in-law Sholem Aleichem Sholem Aleichem (Pseudonym for Shalom Rabinovitz; 1859, Pereiaslav – 1916, New York) A Jewish writer, humorist, and satirist from the Russian Empire, Sholem Aleichem is considered one of the three founding fathers of modern Yiddish literature. He worked as a newspaper reporter and wrote short stories, novels, and plays. His most famous work, “Tevye the Dairyman”, was adapted into the Broadway musical “Fiddler on the Roof” in the 1960s, later gaining popularity in Germany under the title “Anatevka”. In the wake of the 1905 pogroms, Rabinovitz left the Russian Empire. After a stay in the United States, he returned to Europe in 1907. In 1914, he emigrated once again to New York, where he passed away on May 13, 1916. Tens of thousands of Jewish mourners gathered in the streets of New York to pay their final respects at his funeral. . It speaks for Stalin, he wrote, that, in the current difficult global political situation, he is personally taking care of publication releases for the works of this Yiddish-language writer in the Soviet Union. “In the annals and in the hearts of the Sholem Aleichem family, your name is inscribed with love.”1

The letter was the result of an unusual journey. Goldberg had been in the Soviet Union since January 1946 and had already visited numerous other European countries. His official aim was to report on post-war societies and the survivors of the khurbn (from Yiddish, meaning ‘catastrophe’), as the Holocaust was known among Jews at the time. During his time in the Soviet Union, Goldberg also tried to lay the foundations for an ongoing exchange between Jews from the East and the West by communicating with Soviet politicians. However, due to the political reality of the time, this endeavor would end up failing miserably.

Ben Zion Goldberg-Waife

Ben Zion Goldberg was one of several Jewish journalists from America who visited Europe a few months after the end of the war.2 However, a trip to the Soviet Union was something special. The fact that Goldberg was given permission to do so was no coincidence. He had biographical links to Eastern Europe and had shown great interest in developments in the Soviet Union throughout his life.

Painted portrait of Ben Zion Goldberg, undated. B. Z. Goldberg papers, Arc MS 1, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, Free access - no reuse

Goldberg was born in 1895 under the name Benjamin Waife, in what was then the

Pale of Settlement map, showing the percentage of the Jewish population in 1884

Pale of Settlement

rus. Čerta osedlosti, yid. der tchum-ha-mojschew, yid. דער תּחום-המושבֿ, rus. Черта оседлости, deu. Ansiedlungsrayon, eng. Settlement area of the Russian Empire, rus. Tscherta postojannoj jewrejskoj osedlosti, rus. Čerta postojannoj evrejskoj osedlosti, rus. Čerta postoânnoj evrejskoj osedlosti, rus. Черта постоянной еврейской оседлости, yid. der tḥum ḣa-mojšev, yid. der tḥum cha-myšv, yid. der tḥum ḣa-myšv

The Jewish settlement area, which existed until the revolutionary year of 1917, was established at the end of the 18th century in the course of the three partitions of Poland-Lithuania (1772-1795). It was later expanded to include further Russian conquests with a high proportion of Jews in the southwest. It encompassed the territories of the present-day states of Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova and a large part of Ukraine and Poland, as well as smaller parts of Latvia and the Russian Federation at times. As before the capture of these territories, Jews were prohibited from settling in the (old) Russian Empire, with a few exceptions. The formal basis for the settlement district was created in 1791-1804, but the name itself was not introduced until 1835.

of the

Малоформатный атлас Российской империи (1796). Карта Российской империи (карта 1).

Russian Empire

rus. Российская империя, rus. Rossijskaja imperija, deu. Russisches Kaiserreich, deu. Russländisches Reich, deu. Russländisches Kaiserreich

The Russian Empire (or Empire of Russia) was a state that existed from 1721 to 1917 in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and North America. The country was the largest contiguous empire in modern history in the mid-19th century. It was dissolved after the February Revolution in 1917. The state was regarded as autocratically ruled and was inhabited by about 181 million people.

Russländisches Kaiserreich in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

. He emigrated to the USA with his family as a teenager. While studying psychology at Columbia University in New York, he met Sholem Aleichem. In 1917, one year after the famous writer's death, he married his youngest daughter, Marie.

He embarked on a career in journalism. As a contributor to the left-wing Yiddish-language daily newspaper Der tog (The Day. The National Jewish Daily), he became known in the following decades as B. Z. Goldberg. He undertook trips to numerous countries as a foreign correspondent for the newspaper. In the reports he wrote along the way, he gave his readers illuminating insights into local politics and society. One focus was always on local Jewish life. Goldberg died unexpectedly at the end of 1972 during a stay in Israel.

Letter of reference for Benjamin Waife's (Ben Zion Goldberg’s) trip to Europe, signed by the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Der tog (The Day. The National Jewish Daily), New York, 9. 11.1945. B. Z. Goldberg papers, Arc MS 1, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, Free access - no reuse

Goldberg first traveled to the Soviet Union in 1934. In the midst of the global economic crisis and one year after Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, he reported from

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Kiïv

deu. Kiew, ukr. Kyjiw, eng. Kiev, eng. Kyiv, pol. Kijów, ukr. KiÌv, ukr. Kyïv

Kiev is located on the Dnieper River and has been the capital of Ukraine since 1991. According to the oldest Russian chronicle, the Nestor Chronicle, Kiev was first mentioned in 862. It was the main settlement of Kievan Rus' until 1362, when it fell to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, becoming part of the Polish-Lithuanian noble republic in 1569. In 1667, after the uprising under Cossack leader Bogdan Chmel'nyc'kyj and the ensuing Polish-Russian War, Kiev became part of Russia. In 1917 Kiev became the capital of the Ukrainian People's Republic, in 1918 of the Ukrainian National Republic, and in 1934 of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Kiev was also called the "Mother of all Russian Cities", "Jerusalem of the East", "Capital of the Golden Domes" and "Heart of Ukraine".
Kiev is heavily contested in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Due to the war in Ukraine, it is possible that this information is no longer up to date.

Kiïv in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

Kiïv at Google Maps

(today: Kyiv), a collective farm called

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Vakulove

ukr. Фрізендорф, rus. Сталиндорф, rus. Чемеринское, rus. Фризендорф, rus. Stalinskoe, rus. Сталинское, deu. Friesendorf, rus. Schowtnewoje, rus. Жовтневое, ukr. Жовтневе, ukr. Schowtnewe, ukr. Сталінське, ukr. Stalinske, ukr. Сталіндорф, ukr. Чемеринське, ukr. Tschemerynske, ukr. Вакулове, rus. Вакулово, rus. Stalindorf, rus. Wakulowo, rus. Vakulovo, ukr. Wakulowe, ukr. Stalindorf, ukr. Stalìndorf, deu. Salindorf, rus. Čemerinskoe, rus. Žovtnevoe, ukr. Stalìnsʹke, ukr. Čemerinsʹke, ukr. Žovtneve, ukr. Frìzendorf, rus. Frizendorf

Vakulvoe (population 2021: 885) is a village in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine. It was founded in 1924 by Jewish settlers as Čemerinskoe. In 1931 it was renamed Stalindorf and became the capital of the Jewish National District of Stalindorf. After being renamed several times, the village has borne its current name since 2016.

founded in 1930 by Jewish families from

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Wolgograd

rus. Stalingrad, rus. Царицын, rus. Сталинград, rus. Волгоград, rus. Zarizyn

The city on the Volga was called Tsaritsyn until 1925, then Stalingrad until 1961. It is internationally known because of the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II, in which the Wehrmacht and its allies were devastatingly defeated by the Red Army in the winter of 1942/43, and which is considered a psychological turning point in the war. In the framework of de-Stalinization, the city was renamed Volgograd in 1961.

Wolgograd at Google Maps

, and from

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Birobidschan

yid. ביראָבידזשאַן, rus. Биробиджа́н, rus. Тихонькая, rus. Tichonkaja

Birobidzhan is the capital of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the far east of the Russian Federation and is located on the Trans-Siberian Railway. The city was first founded in 1915 as Tikhonkaya and today has more than 75,000 inhabitants. Contrary to the original intention of the Soviet Union from the end of the 1920s to establish a Jewish settlement area in Birobidzhan and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, today there are only a few Jewish inhabitants.

Birobidschan at Google Maps

in the Autonomous Jewish Oblast in the Far East, among other places. Just over a decade later, he was to travel the country again under completely different circumstances.

Reportages from the western Soviet republics

Goldberg saw his second visit to the Soviet Union as a double mission. In addition to his journalistic work, he was traveling as a guest of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAFC)

Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee

also:

Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in the USSR, Soviet-Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, JAC, Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, USSR, Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee of the Soviet Union, JAFC

A state-founded Soviet Jewish organization that existed between 1942 and 1948 and maintained contact with Jewish institutions abroad. The aim of the JAFC was to recruit Jews all over the world for the Soviet struggle against National Socialist Germany and to collect donations. It was also one of the first organizations to document the extermination of European Jews and the Jewish resistance during the Second World War. Its most important publication was the Yiddish-language newspaper Eynikayt (in English, “Unity”). Contrary to the ideas of the Soviet rulers, the JAFC was perceived in many places as the central representative of Soviet Jews. In November 1948, the JAFC was dissolved by the Soviet authorities. Numerous representatives of the organization were subsequently arrested and murdered during the anti-Semitic purges of late Stalinism. . Three years earlier, in the midst of the war, two emissaries of the Committee, Solomon Mikhoels Solomon Mikhoels (1890, Dvinsk – 1948, Minsk) A famous Yiddish-speaking actor from the Soviet Union, who became particularly well known for his roles as Tevye the Milkman and King Lear in the plays of the same name. Mikhoels was, among other things, director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater (GOSET) and chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAFC). In 1943, he traveled to North America and Great Britain for several months together with Itsik Fefer. Mikhoels was murdered by agents of the Ministry of State Security in Minsk on January 12, 1948. State authorities faked his death as a car accident. His murder marked a turning point in Soviet-Jewish history. It is regarded as the transition to a policy of state anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union. and Itsik Fefer Itsik Fefer (1900, Shpola – 1952, Moscow) A Yiddish-speaking poet from the Soviet Union and the author of numerous poetry collections, Fefer was a founding member of the Jewish Section of the 'All-Ukrainian Association of Proletarian Writers' (VUSPP). He also co-edited the Kharkiv-based journals Prolit (Proletarian Literature) and Di Royte Velt (The Red World). In 1919, Fefer joined the Bolsheviks and fought for the Red Army during the Civil War, while almost simultaneously launching his literary career. He became well known for his literary concept of proste reyd ('simple language'). During World War II, Fefer was a member of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAFC), and in 1943, he traveled to North America and Britain with Solomon Mikhoels for several months. It is confirmed that in the postwar years, he collaborated with the Soviet secret service. Nevertheless, in 1948, he was arrested and, on August 12, 1952, executed alongside other JAFC members. , had flown to North America. The two Soviet Jews had met numerous representatives of Jewish and non-Jewish organizations there. In addition, they had spoken in specially rented stadiums in front of thousands of enthusiastic spectators and pleaded for Jewish unity in the fight against German fascism and the expansion of military support for the Soviet Union. Goldberg shared both demands unreservedly. He himself had helped organize the Soviet emissaries' stay in North America and closely accompanied them during their visit.3

He returned to the Soviet Union in 1946. On January 11, he was the first Jewish-American journalist to cross the border after the Second World War. In Moscow, he observed the work of the JAFC and other Jewish organizations with great interest. He also visited Stalingrad,

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Sankt-Peterburg

rus. Leningrad, deu. Sankt Petersburg, eng. Saint Petersburg, rus. Ленинград, rus. Петроград, rus. Petrograd, rus. Sant-Piter-Burh, rus. Sankt-Piter-Burh, rus. Санкт-Питер-Бурх, rus. Сант-Питер-Бурх

Saint Petersburg is a metropolis in the northeast of Russia. The city is home to 5.3 million people, which makes it the second largest in the country after Moscow. It is located at the mouth of the Neva River into the Baltic Sea in the Northwest Federal District of Russia. Saint Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and was the capital of Russia from 1712 to 1918. From 1914-1924 the city bore the name Petrograd, from 1924-1991 the name Leningrad.

Sankt-Peterburg in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

Sankt-Peterburg at Google Maps

and the

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Baltics

lat. Balticum, deu. Baltikum, deu. Baltische Staaten, deu. Baltische Provinzen

The Baltic States is a region in the north-east of Europe and is composed of the three states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Baltic States are inhabited by almost 6 million people.

Baltikum in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Belarus

bel. Belarus', rus. Белоруссия, deu. Belarus, deu. Weißrussland, bel. Беларусь, deu. Bjelorußland

Belarus (population in 2024: 9,109,280) is a country in Eastern Europe that was part of the Soviet Union until 1991. Its capital and most populous city is Minsk. Belarus borders Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Russia.

Belarus in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

Belarus at Google Maps

and

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Ukraine

ukr. Ukrajina, deu. Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. Kiev is the capital and largest city of the country, which has been independent since 1991. Since 2022, the country has been defending itself against a comprehensive Russian invasion, which is directed in particular against the civilian population and the country's critical infrastructure and is part of a war against Ukraine that has been ongoing since 2014 and originated from the Russian Federation with the annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea in 2014.

Ukraine in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

Ukraine at Google Maps

. On these inner-Soviet trips, the journalist was always accompanied by Fefer or another representative of the JAFC.4

During his trip through the western Soviet republics, Goldberg wrote several English-language reports, which he offered to the New Republic, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Toronto Star Weekly. One article on Belarus centered on a personal encounter with the President of the Belarusian Socialist Republic, Nikifor Natalevich. Goldberg also went into detail about Belarusian independence: “Don't refer to a Belarusian as a White Russian and then expect him to become your friend. [...] How would a Scotsman like it if you called him a ‘northernmost Englishman’?”5

Employees of the Jewish kindergarten in Vilnius. A portrait photo of Stalin hangs in the background, 1946. B. Z. Goldberg papers, Arc MS 1, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, Free access - no reuse

The reports from the Soviet Union alternate between an analysis of the local conditions at the time and a political plea. Even his son Mitchell seemed uncomfortable with the sometimes pro-Soviet rhetoric. When he received the articles, he wrote to his father that “the days of the USSR-USA honeymoon are over”. Many newspapers would expect 'objective' articles now not Russian handouts”, he added. “Objective means descriptions with a healthy dose of criticism.”6

Travel authorization document for Benjamin Waife (Ben Zion Goldberg) for a journey from Moscow via Riga, Tallin, Kaunas, Vilnius and back to Moscow. Issued by the Soviet People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, Moscow, 19.1.1946. B. Z. Goldberg papers, Arc MS 1, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, Free access - no reuse

Political concepts from the past

Father and son here represent old and new geopolitical thinking after the Allied victory over National Socialism. While for B. Z. Goldberg, the top priority in view of the Second World War and the extermination of the Jewish population of Europe was the fight against National Socialist Germany and fascism, his son pointed to the ideological and political differences between the USA and the Soviet Union. In a historical phase that lasted until 1949, which Dan Diner describes as an “interim period” and a “zone of transition”, the societies affected by the Second World War had to balance these two objectives. On the one hand, they had to find a way of dealing with the indescribable crimes committed by the Germans and their accomplices in the recent past. On the other hand, rapid political changes heralded the Cold War.7

Goldberg, who campaigned for the interests of Jews from Eastern Europe throughout his life, was particularly concerned with the former. He stood for the unconditional will for peace and tried to consolidate the contact with Jews in the Soviet Union that had been established during the war. In doing so, he adhered to the basic ideas of an appeal from 1941, in which Soviet Jews had called for worldwide Jewish unity in the fight against Germany and its allies. He attempted to transfer this appeal to the post-war period. In doing so, he looked beyond the Stalinist terror and ignored ideological boundaries. His political thinking at this time can be exemplified by another letter from June 1946.

Four days after writing the diplomatically polite letter to Stalin, Goldberg turned to Solomon Lozovskij Solomon Lozovskij (1878, Danilovka – 1952, Moscow) A Soviet politician, trade union official, and scholar, Lozovskij had been active in the revolutionary movement of the Russian Empire since the early 20th century. In the Soviet Union, he held several key positions, including General Secretary of the Red International of Labor Unions, Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and he was also a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Starting in 1941, he served as Deputy Director and, after the war, Director of the Soviet Information Bureau (Sovinformburo), which also oversaw the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAFC). In January 1949, Lozovskij was arrested and, on August 12, 1952, executed alongside members of the JAFC. . Goldberg had met the Soviet-Jewish politician, who was also responsible for the JAFC, twice in person. In a lengthy letter, he expressed his conviction that the Soviet Union was striving for peace and democracy, but that this was not understood abroad. He therefore suggested using the potential of the Jewish diaspora. The National Socialist extermination policy had once again shown that Jews were not as powerful as the anti-Semitic propaganda claimed, as otherwise the extermination of the Jews would have been prevented. Nevertheless, they were an important social group in many countries, disproportionately represented among the middle classes and intellectuals. From this finding, Goldberg derived a concrete idea for Jewish representation in the Soviet Union: The JAFC should be given powers in the country similar to those of the American Jewish Committee in the USA. At the same time, there should be ongoing, intensive contact with Jewish communities outside the Soviet Union. Both together would lead to a more positive perception of the Soviet Union among Jews worldwide, whereby the JAFC would serve the cause of peace and progress. International Jewish unity would ultimately also benefit the Soviet Union in terms of foreign policy.8

B. Z. Goldberg (seated, center) with representatives of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, including Solomon Mikhoels (fourth from right) and Itsik Fefer (first from left, seated), Moscow 1946. B. Z. Goldberg papers, Arc MS 1, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, Free access - no reuse

Goldberg's letters to the two Soviet politicians make it clear that he saw himself on this journey not only as a journalist, but also as an informal American-Jewish emissary. They also show that he saw the Soviet Union primarily as the country that had saved the few surviving Jews from National Socialism.

The persecution of Soviet Jews

However, Goldberg's attempt to combine international Jewish understanding with general geopolitics failed tragically. His advocacy of the JAFC exacerbated its vulnerable position in late Stalinism. Only a few years after the Second World War, state-led anti-Semitic campaigns began in the Soviet Union. Numerous Jews were arrested and murdered under the guise of persecuting so-called “cosmopolitans”. The first victim was Goldberg's friend Solomon Mikhoels, who died in

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Minsk

deu. Minsk, rus. Minsk

Today, Minsk is the capital of the Republic of Belarus. Its history dates back to 1067.
Over the centuries, Minsk belonged to the Principality of Polock, the Grand Duchies of Kiev and Lithuania, the united Poland-Lithuania, the Russian Empire, the Belarusian Democratic Republic (briefly the Lithuanian-Belarusian SSR), the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, which belonged to the Soviet Union, and finally to Belarus. The multicultural city, which at all times was home to other minorities in addition to Jews, Poles, Russians and Belarusians, suffered repeatedly from passing armies and the consequences of war, for example in the Russo-Polish War (1654-1667), the Great Northern War (1700-1721), under Napoleon, and in the First and Second World Wars. Under German occupation, the largest ghetto in the occupied People's Republic was established in Minsk in 1941. The death camp Maly Trostinez was located near the city. At the same time, the surrounding forests were a center of resistance. After World War Two, the city was rebuilt in the socialist style, including housing for a population that was rapidly increasing due to industrialization and urbanization.

Minsk in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

Minsk at Google Maps

in early 1948. A few months later, the JAFC was dissolved. This was followed by the arrests of Lozovskij, Fefer and other members of the committee. Thirteen of them were sentenced to death in a secret trial and shot on the night of August 12-13, 1952. Two of the central fabricated charges were contacts abroad and alleged espionage activities for the USA. Goldberg was also explicitly mentioned in the interrogation as an alleged American spy.9

It was not until 1956, shortly after Nikita Khrushchev's reckoning with Stalin in his so-called secret speech, that the first information about the trial became public. These reports shook Goldberg's fundamental convictions and permanently changed his view of the Soviet state and Jewish life there.

Three years later, Goldberg's third and final trip to the Soviet Union took place. Once again, he tried to obtain information about local Jewish life. However, as this was hardly visible to the public, Goldberg now only met private individuals with whom he either struck up conversations for example in synagogues or with whom he had already made contact on previous trips.10 It is not known to what extent his letter to the “old tyrant”11 Stalin from the summer of 1946 – which must have seemed abhorrent to him in retrospect – came back to his mind 13 years later. However, the fact that no letters of thanks to representatives of the Soviet state have survived from his last trip to the Soviet Union points to Goldberg's now far more distanced relationship with the political elite there.

English translation: William Connor

Footnotes

Letter written by Ben Zion Goldberg Waife to Josef Stalin from 3.6.1946, accessed in: B. Z. Goldberg papers, 1873–1989 (bulk: 1917–1976), Arc MS 1, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania Section Writings, B. Essays, articles, and stories 1910–1972, i. On the Soviet Union.

For Poland, see for example: Kijek, Kamil: Only Ashes? Jewish Visitors to the New Poland in 1946 and the Future of Polish Jewry. In: Journal of Modern European History 20 (2022) 1, pp. 111–126.

Cf. Stürmann, Jakob: Mission “Eynikayt”. Die Welttournee des Jüdischen Antifaschistischen Komitees. Göttingen 2024.

Cf. Goldberg, Ben-Zion: The Jewish Problem in the Soviet Union. Analysis and Solution. New York 1961, pp. 43–92.

Waife, Benjamin [Goldberg, Ben Zion]: Belorussia Seeks Recognition, accessed in: B. Z. Goldberg papers, 1873–1989 (bulk: 1917–1976), Arc MS 1, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, B. Essays, articles, and stories 1910–1972, i. On the Soviet Union.

Letter written by Mitchell Waife to Ben Zion Goldberg from 3.4.1946, accessed in: B. Z. Goldberg papers, 1873–1989 (bulk: 1917–1976), Arc MS 1, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, Section Personal and Family, B. Personal Correspondence.

Diner, Dan: Zwischenzeit 1945 bis 1949. In: APuZ. in: Politik und Zeitgeschichte 65 (2015) 16/17, pp. 16–20. Internet address: https://www.bpb.de/shop/zeitschriften/apuz/204278/zwischenzeit-1945-bis-1949 [last accessed: 11.12.2024].

Letter written by Ben Zion Goldberg to Solomon Lozovskij from 7.6.1946, accessed in: B. Z. Goldberg Collection, Arc MS 1, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, B. Essays, articles, and stories 1910–1972, i. On the Soviet Union.

Cf. Rubenstein, Joshua/Naumov, Vladimir (ed.): Stalin’s Secret Pogrom: The Postwar Inquisition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. New Haven 2001.

10.

Cf. Goldberg, Ben-Zion: The Jewish Problem in the Soviet Union. Analysis and Solution. New York 1961, pp. 93–170.

11.

Goldberg, Ben-Zion: The Jewish Problem in the Soviet Union. Analysis and Solution. New York 1961, p. 94.

Literature

Grüner, Frank: Patrioten und Kosmopoliten. Juden im Sowjetstaat 1941–1953. Köln, Weimar, Wien 2008.
Pinkus, Benjamin: The Jews of the Soviet Union. The History of a National Minority. Cambridge 1988.
Polonsky, Antony: The Jews in Poland and Russia. 1914 to 2008. Vol. 3. London, New York 2019.
Rubenstein, Joshua/Naumov, Vladimir (eds.): Stalin’s Secret Pogrom. The Postwar Inquisition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. New Haven, London 2001.
Redlich, Shimon (ed.): War, Holocaust and Stalinism. A Documented Study of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in the USSR. Luxembourg u. a. 1995.

Citation

Citation recommendation

Jakob Stürmann: A Failed Mission. The journey of an American Jew to the Soviet Union. In: Copernico. History and Cultural Heritage in Eastern Europe. URL: https://www.copernico.eu/en/link/67d953b61d9116.85131507 (2025-07-17)

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Geographical context

People and organizations

Stalin, Iosif V. GND

Key words

A Failed Mission

Ben Zion Goldberg-Waife

Reportages from the western Soviet republics

Political concepts from the past

The persecution of Soviet Jews

Footnotes

Literature

Citation

Siehe auch

Looting Fever

The Order of Things

Displaced Persons – Between Liberation and a New Beginning

Jews in Poland immediately after the Holocaust

Ben Zion Goldberg-Waife

Reportages from the western Soviet republics

Political concepts from the past

The persecution of Soviet Jews

Info section

Authors

Footnotes

Literature

Citation

Key words

Siehe auch

Looting Fever

The Order of Things

Displaced Persons – Between Liberation and a New Beginning

Jews in Poland immediately after the Holocaust