Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee

The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC) was a Soviet state-sponsored organization created during the Second World War to influence Jewish and wider international opinion in favor of the Soviet war effort against Nazi Germany. Its work combined propaganda, international diplomacy, fundraising, cultural outreach, and the presentation of Soviet Jews as loyal participants in the struggle against fascism. The committee operated chiefly through prominent Jewish cultural and political figures who could communicate with audiences abroad, especially in North America and Britain. The organization emerged from an initiative involving Jewish Bund leaders Henryk Erlich and Victor Alter in the autumn of 1941. Soviet authorities released the two men from prison to facilitate their participation, but they were rearrested in December of that year. The committee was subsequently reorganized on Joseph Stalin's orders in Kuibyshev in April 1942, with the actor and director Solomon Mikhoels as chairman. Other important figures included the poet Itzik Feffer, writer Ilya Ehrenburg, state official Solomon Lozovsky, and editor Shakne Epshtein. The committee also published Eynikayt, a Yiddish-language newspaper whose name means “Unity.” The JAC's most visible international operation was a seven-month mission by Mikhoels and Feffer in 1943. They visited the United States, Mexico, Canada, and the United Kingdom, meeting Jewish organizations, political leaders, writers, artists, and other public figures. In the United States, a large public gathering at New York's Polo Grounds brought together Mikhoels, Feffer, Fiorello H. La Guardia, Sholem Asch, and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise. The tour helped generate political sympathy for the Soviet war effort and encouraged financial and material assistance, including medical supplies, machinery, clothing, ambulances, and other forms of aid. It also helped draw attention to the urgency of opening a broader Allied war against Germany. The committee's position became increasingly dangerous as the war ended. Its members maintained contacts with overseas Jewish institutions, documented the destruction of Jewish communities during the Holocaust, and supported a project to publish The Black Book of Soviet Jewry, compiled by Vasily Grossman and Ilya Ehrenburg. These activities conflicted with the Soviet preference for describing Nazi atrocities primarily as crimes against Soviet citizens rather than emphasizing the specifically Jewish genocide. The JAC's Western contacts also became liabilities as the Cold War intensified. In January 1948, Mikhoels was killed in Minsk by Soviet security agents in a staged traffic accident. The committee was then subjected to surveillance, public denunciation, arrests, interrogation, and fabricated accusations involving espionage, treason, bourgeois nationalism, cosmopolitanism, and alleged plans for a Jewish autonomous territory in Crimea backed by the United States. The repression formed part of the late-Stalin campaign against Jewish intellectuals and institutions, including the 1949 campaign against “rootless cosmopolitans.” On August 12, 1952, thirteen prominent Yiddish writers and cultural figures associated with the broader JAC milieu were executed in the event later known as the Night of the Murdered Poets. Other members were imprisoned or died under interrogation and in detention. The committee was effectively destroyed by the early 1950s. Many of those convicted in the JAC case were officially rehabilitated in 1988. Its history illustrates the contradictory position of Soviet Jewish public figures during the war: they were used as representatives of Soviet internationalism when their cultural identity was diplomatically useful, then persecuted when their independent Jewish identity, foreign relationships, and Holocaust documentation became politically threatening.

The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee was created within the Soviet wartime propaganda system, but it also reflected the distinctive role of Jewish cultural figures in mobilizing international support against Nazi Germany. An initial proposal was developed in the autumn of 1941 by Henryk Erlich and Victor Alter, prominent figures associated with the Jewish Bund. Soviet authorities released them from imprisonment for this purpose, although both were rearrested in December 1941. The organization was then reconstituted in Kuibyshev in April 1942 under Stalin's authority. Solomon Mikhoels, the leading actor and director of the Moscow State Jewish Theatre, became chairman. The committee assembled writers, poets, editors, military figures, scientists, religious representatives, and state officials. Its membership included Itzik Feffer, Ilya Ehrenburg, Peretz Markish, David Bergelson, Leib Kvitko, Benjamin Zuskin, Lina Stern, Boris Shimeliovich, Solomon Lozovsky, and other influential Soviet Jews. The committee's Yiddish newspaper, Eynikayt, served as an important channel for wartime messaging and international communication. During the war, the JAC portrayed the Soviet Union as a society in which Jews were participating fully in the anti-Nazi struggle. It appealed to Jewish communities and sympathetic organizations abroad for political backing, donations, equipment, medical supplies, and other assistance. In 1943, Mikhoels and Itzik Feffer made an extended tour of the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Britain. They appeared at public meetings and met figures including Albert Einstein, Fiorello H. La Guardia, Stephen S. Wise, Chaim Weizmann, Marc Chagall, Charlie Chaplin, Paul Robeson, and Lion Feuchtwanger. Their activities helped connect Soviet wartime diplomacy with Jewish fundraising and public advocacy in the West. The committee's international work created an extensive record of foreign contacts. It also encouraged forms of Jewish political expression that became suspect after the war. Committee members participated in efforts to document the Holocaust and Jewish resistance, most notably the preparation of The Black Book of Soviet Jewry by Vasily Grossman and Ilya Ehrenburg. Although an edition appeared in New York in 1946, the planned Soviet publication was abandoned. The destruction of its typesetting in 1948 symbolized the narrowing of permissible Jewish historical memory under Stalin. The postwar political climate transformed the JAC from a useful wartime instrument into a perceived security threat. The committee's foreign relationships were recast as evidence of espionage or disloyalty, while Jewish cultural self-definition was attacked as bourgeois nationalism and cosmopolitanism. In January 1948, Mikhoels was murdered in Minsk by state security officers, with the killing disguised as an accident. Arrests of other members followed, and defendants were subjected to interrogation, torture, secret trials, and fabricated charges. Allegations included treason, collaboration with foreign powers, and plans to establish a Jewish autonomous region in Crimea with American assistance. The repression reached its most notorious point on August 12, 1952, when thirteen Yiddish writers and cultural figures were executed. Other committee members were imprisoned, died in custody, or were otherwise persecuted. The campaign formed part of a broader late-Stalin assault on Jewish institutions and intellectuals, alongside the “rootless cosmopolitan” campaign and the Doctors' plot. The JAC ceased to function as an independent organization and was effectively eliminated by the early 1950s. Many victims were rehabilitated in 1988, although the historical record of the committee remained tied to the wider history of Soviet antisemitism, wartime propaganda, Jewish cultural suppression, and the Holocaust's contested remembrance in the Soviet Union.

• 1988

  Rehabilitation of victims

  [1]Jewish Anti-Fascist Committeeen.wikipedia.org

  Many people convicted in the case were officially rehabilitated during the late Soviet period.

• 1952

  Executions of prominent cultural figures

  [1]Jewish Anti-Fascist Committeeen.wikipedia.org

  Thirteen prominent Yiddish writers and cultural figures were executed after secret proceedings in the JAC case.

• 1948

  Mikhoels assassinated

  [1]Jewish Anti-Fascist Committeeen.wikipedia.org

  Soviet security agents killed the committee chairman in Minsk and staged the death as an accident.

• 1946

  New York edition of The Black Book appears

  [1]Jewish Anti-Fascist Committeeen.wikipedia.org

  A New York edition of the Holocaust documentation project associated with Grossman and Ehrenburg was published, while the planned Soviet edition did not appear.

• 1943

  International delegation tours Allied countries

  [1]Jewish Anti-Fascist Committeeen.wikipedia.org

  Mikhoels and Itzik Feffer conducted a seven-month public diplomacy tour across North America and Britain.

• 1942

  Committee reconstituted in Kuibyshev

  [1]Jewish Anti-Fascist Committeeen.wikipedia.org

  The JAC was reorganized under Stalin's direction, with Solomon Mikhoels as chairman and official Soviet backing.

• 1941

  Initial wartime initiative

  [1]Jewish Anti-Fascist Committeeen.wikipedia.org

  Henryk Erlich and Victor Alter were released from prison to help organize a Jewish anti-fascist body at the initiative of Soviet authorities, but they were rearrested later that year.

A Soviet wartime propaganda and mobilization organization that used Jewish cultural authority and international Jewish networks to secure support for the Allied struggle against Nazi Germany.

• Yiddish-language newspaper · 1942

  Eynikayt

  The committee's Yiddish newspaper, Eynikayt (“Unity”), disseminated Soviet wartime messaging, reported on Jewish participation in the struggle against Nazi Germany, and served as a communication instrument for the committee's domestic and international outreach.

• Holocaust documentation project · 1946

  The Black Book of Soviet Jewry

  Compiled primarily by Vasily Grossman and Ilya Ehrenburg with the participation of the committee's wider cultural network, this project documented the Nazi murder of Jews in Soviet territories and Jewish resistance. A New York edition appeared in 1946, while Soviet publication was blocked.

• 1952

  Night of the Murdered Poets

  Thirteen prominent Yiddish writers and cultural figures were executed after secret trials, becoming the most remembered episode of the JAC repression.

  Source

• 1949

  Arrests and fabricated espionage case

  Prominent JAC members were arrested, tortured, and accused in secret proceedings of espionage, treason, bourgeois nationalism, and alleged foreign-backed plans for Jewish autonomy in Crimea.

  Source

• 1948

  Assassination of Solomon Mikhoels

  Mikhoels was murdered by Soviet state security agents in Minsk, with the killing presented publicly as a traffic accident.

  Source

Read more

• 1943Mikhoels–Feffer international delegation

  United States · Mexico · Canada · United Kingdom

  Solomon Mikhoels and Itzik Feffer traveled through Allied countries, speaking at public events and meeting political, cultural, and Jewish communal leaders. The delegation promoted support for the Soviet war effort and encouraged donations and material assistance.

  Outcome. The tour generated substantial public attention and helped connect Soviet diplomacy with overseas Jewish fundraising and advocacy, although the same international contacts later contributed to official suspicion of the committee.

  Source
• 1942Red Army aid appeal

  United States · United Kingdom · Mexico · Mandatory Palestine

  The committee and allied Jewish representatives appealed internationally for funds and equipment for the Soviet war effort, including medical supplies, ambulances, clothing, machinery, and other relief materials.

  Outcome. The appeal expanded material support for the Soviet war effort and strengthened the committee's role as an intermediary between Soviet authorities and overseas Jewish organizations.

  Source

• 1946

  Support documentation of the HolocaustOther

  Background

  Committee members and associated writers sought to record the specifically Jewish dimensions of Nazi mass murder and Jewish resistance in Soviet territories.

  Action taken

  The JAC network supported the compilation and planned publication of The Black Book of Soviet Jewry, including a proposed Soviet edition.

  Aftermath

  The New York edition appeared, but Soviet publication was prevented as official policy increasingly rejected distinct Jewish remembrance of the genocide.

  Source

• 1942

  Adopt international Jewish public diplomacyStrategy

  Background

  The Soviet government sought political and material support from Western Jewish communities and broader Allied public opinion during the war against Nazi Germany.

  Action taken

  It formally reconstituted the JAC in Kuibyshev, appointed Solomon Mikhoels chairman, and gave the body responsibility for overseas advocacy and fundraising.

  Aftermath

  The strategy produced wartime support but created foreign relationships and Jewish institutional networks that later became grounds for Stalinist persecution.

  Source

1. 1Jewish Anti-Fascist Committeeen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Stalin's Secret Pogrom: The Postwar Inquisition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committeeyalebooks.yale.edu