Anti-semitism in the late USSR in the perception of Siberian jews: preliminary observations

The paper deals with an understudied topic of anti-Semitic manifestations in Siberia in the 1950s-1980s. Despite the fact that Siberia has always been one of the least conflicting territories, anti-Semitic / anti-Jewish manifestations were also noted here. For the post-war period, they are explained by the sharp number of the Jewish population in connection with the evacuation of the 1940s. The authors aim to determine how tolerant the surrounding population was to Jews under totalitarian ideology, how Jews who differed in origin (native Siberians and immigrants) perceived and interpreted anti-Jewish statements and actions. Sources for analysis include such ego materials as interviews and memoirs of Jews living in Siberia. The authors use 51 biographical interviews collected in Siberian cities (Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Omsk, Tyumen, Tobolsk) in 2013, 2016-2018, with people born before 1975, who had experience of living in the USSR at a conscious age. The authors rely on a methodology based on the theory of cultural trauma (J. Alexander, P. Stompka). Along with the trauma, Jews faced with anti-Semitism experienced social stigma (E. Goffman). An indicator of the traumatism of antiSemitism is the ambivalence of its representation in memoirs, which means that the same event can be simultaneously assessed as anti-Semitic / anti-Jewish and as an “insignificant” that does not matter. The paper discusses the manifestations of state / political antiSemitism (the “Doctors’ plot” and discrimination in admission to universities). Examples of opposition of local administration to such a policy are given. The authors argue that for Siberia state anti-Semitism was less prevalent than in the central regions of the USSR. “Local” Siberian Jews faced domestic anti-Semitism. Most examples relate to childhood, while people of different ages could be carriers of anti-Jewish sentiments. Depending on the situation, Siberian Jews could demonstrate different behavioral patterns: retaliatory aggression against anti-Semitism or mimicry as a defensive reaction. It is concluded that the perception of anti-Semitism differed depending on the origin of the informants (“locals” or “migrants”). For immigrants from the central and western regions of the USSR who had experience living in these regions (with a traditionally high level of anti-Semitism of the local population) Siberian anti-Semitism is not actualized, while the “local” Siberian Jews who were born in Siberia felt it quite acutely.

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