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HISTORY, MEMORY AND POLITICS: THE HOLOCAUST IN THE SOVIET UNION*
The University of Michigan
Although about one-third of all Jews killed in the Holocaust were Soviet citizens as of 1940, we know less about the Holocaust in the Soviet Union than in most other countries Soviet historians have usually either ignored the murder of Soviet Jews or submerged it in the story of fascist occupation, calling for no special examination. Contrary to much western writing on Soviet treatments of the Holocaust, this essay contends that there is considerable variation in Soviet historiography The variation seems quite idiosyncratic and not derived from discernible policies, perhaps explained simply by the outlooks of individual authors In contrast to Russian-language publications, Soviet Yiddish publications pay a great deal of attention to the Holocaust, but they emphasize aid to persecuted Jews by non-Jewish Soviet citizens and the leading roles played in Jewish resistance by communists Among subjects usually avoided are Soviet citizens' collaboration with the Nazis, the Jewish nationality of Soviet military heroes, and antisemitism among the civilian population and in the armed forces. Soviet treatments of the Holocaust have aroused curiosity, disappointment, resentment and bitterness among some Soviet Jews and in many cases have raised Jewish national consciousness Soviet Jews and non-Jews are aware of the tensions and unresolved issues of relations between Jews and non-Jews engendered by events of the war. The recent surfacing of ethric assertiveness in the USSR and demands for revisions of the history of the 1939–1945 period may lead to a reconsideration of the Holocaust, which could in turn greatly enhance prospects for research and re-evaluation of the Holocaust in the USSR
*This is a revised version of a paper presented at the ‘Remembering for the Future’ Conference, Oxford, 10–13 July 1988.