APPENDIX 26
Memorandum submitted by the Board of Deputies
of British Jews
1. Established in 1760, the Board of Deputies
of British Jews is the democratic representative body of the Jewish
community in Britain.
2. Since the times of Sir Moses Montefiore,
who was President of the Board for most of the period between
1840-74 the British Jewish community has played an active role
in seeking to secure the well being of Jews throughout the world.
Today the International Division of the Board carries out this
work.
3. The Board of Deputies has always fought
antisemitism in whatever guise and to whatever degree it manifests
itself. During the cold war period, the Board attacked the increasing
rise of antisemitism in the Soviet Union. The plight of Soviet
Jews, the refusal of the Soviet authorities to allow freedom of
worship and the right to emigrate were drawn to public attention
by vociferous campaigning. The Foreign Affairs Committee of the
Board (the forerunner to the International Division) worked to
present a coordinated response to the situation in the Soviet
Union. In 1975 the Board established the National Council for
Soviet Jewry (later called the Council for Jews in the Former
Soviet Union) as an umbrella body of Jewish organisations in order
to raise awareness of the plight of Soviet Jewry and to lobby
actively on their behalf.
4. The Board maintains close links with
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and holds regular formal meetings
on issues of international concern to the Jewish community.
5. Representatives of the Board have held
meetings with successive Russian Ambassadors and have made visits
to Russia regarding the situation of the Russian Jewish community.
6. The following submission relates specifically
to the issue of "dialogue on human rights and good governance"
as stated in the terms of reference for this inquiry.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
7. Antisemitism in Russia has deep roots.
It has survived under many regimes, and has been used many times
as a popular weapon in the successive power struggles that have
characterised periods of transition in Russia.
8. One of the first major outpourings of
antisemitism in Russia led to the force relocation of Jews between
1835-1917, in the area known as the Pale of Settlement.
By 1897, there were more than five million Jews
living in the Pale, where they suffered repeated pogroms instigated
or supported by the Russian authorities. Constant persecution
led many Jews to emigrate to Western Europe and the United States.
These included many thousands who came to Britain, where they
found a safe haven.
9. With the fall of the Czar in 1917, many
Russian Jews pinned their hopes for civil rights and social equality
on Communism and many millions of Jews migrated from the Pale
to the large Russian cities from which they had previously been
banned. However, it soon became apparent that Communist antisemitism
was no less insidious than the Czarist variety. Although under
Czarist rule the Jewish community suffered from pogroms and other
violence, Jewish life still continued to thrive. Under Communist
rule not only did Jews and other minorities suffer purges in which
vast numbers were executed or incarcerated; their religion, language,
culture and national identity were obliterated. Emigration was
also denied to members of the Jewish community.
10. Although the collapse of Communism in
the late 1980's brought about a more liberal climate for those
who wished to express their Jewish identity and allowed hundreds
of thousands of Jews to emigrate, it also provided an opportunity
in which antisemitism could be given free rein.
11. Faltering political and economic conditions
in Russia have brought fear and uncertainty to much of the population.
President Yeltsin's poor health and the weakness of his successive
governments have led to a general lack of confidence. By failing
to implement greatly needed economic reforms, the administration
has permitted both the financial and political crises to persist.
As a result the appeal of extremist parties on either side of
the political spectrum has become increasingly attractive to Russians.
Whilst the antisemitism that existed as official state policy
during the Soviet era has not resurfaced, some prominent political
figures, particularly those associated with the Communist party,
have employed antisemitism to further their own political ambitions.
RECENT EXAMPLES
OF ANTISEMITISM
IN RUSSIA
12. Antisemitism in Russia can be divided
into three distinct but inextricably related groups: national;
regional; and local.
National
13. On a national political level, the role
of General Albert Markashov is particularly concerning. As a leading
Communist Party member of the Duma, General Markashov has attracted
widespread notoriety for his vitriolic attacks on the Jewish community
for allegedly causing all of Russia's economic woes. He has advocated
the establishment of a quota on the number of Jews allowed in
Russia as well as publicly supporting the reinstatement of the
Pale of Settlement. Of equal if not greater concern is the fact
that Communist members of the Duma have repeatedly blocked attempts
to censor Markashov.
14. In October 1998 in an editorial for
the Russian newspaper "Zavtra", General Markashov stated
that a "Yid [is] a bloodsucker feeding on the misfortunes
of other people. They drink the blood of the indigenous peoples
of the State; they are destroying industry and agriculture."
Later that month, General Markashov addressed two rallies in Moscow
and Samara in commemoration of the Bolshevik Revolution and angrily
shouted "I will round up all the Yids and send them to the
next world!" This address was repeatedly shown on television
in Russia.
15. From the opposite wing of the political
spectrum the outrageous statements of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader
of the so-called Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, have also
embodied a strong element of antisemitism. In the early 1990s
Zhirinovsky made many anti-Jewish statements, including the suggestion
that Jews should be transferred from Israel to some other country
such as Madagascar. He has criticised the role of the Jews in
public life, resurrecting the myth that the banks and the press
in Russia and the Western World are controlled by Jews.
16. In the nationalist camp are small semi-fascist
groupings, which include antisemitic rhetoric as part of their
political agenda. Some of these groups are associated with elements
of the Russian Orthodox Church and espouse a return to a kind
of medieval Russian nationalism, which is said to prevail in some
distant mythical past. Others maintain contacts with neo-Nazi
groups in Western and Central Europe.
Regional
17. As is the case on the national scale,
regional manifestations of antisemitism are mainly concentrated
in the political arena. The most notorious case of regional, political
antisemitism is the example of Nikolai Kondratenko, who is the
Governor of the Southern Russian region of Krasnodar.
18. Elected on a platform of Russian patriotism,
Kondratenko has evolved into an ultra nationalist declaring that
ethnic Russians are the only ethnic group which belongs in the
region. Since his election, he has embarked on a vehemently antisemitic
campaign in which he uses television, mass rallies and youth forums
to espouse his beliefs. At a Russian Victory Day rally in March
1997, Kondratenko publicly stated that he "warn[s] that dirty
cosmopolitan brotherhood: You belong in Israel or America"
and continues to charge Zionists with the brutal oppression of
ethnic Russians, and blames Jews for the political and economic
problems currently plaguing Russia.
Local
19. On a local level, antisemitism is continuing
to manifest itself both politically and physically. For many years
ultra nationalist groups have found a place in Russia and, as
with all extremist parties, have appealed to the masses who continue
to be affected by economic problems. These organisations continue
to disseminate their literature on a local basis and their actions
undoubtedly lead to an incitement for popular action. The media
have also contributed to the increase in antisemitism. ORT-TV,
a Russian television station, in a report on 13 November 1999,
characterised the Russian Jewish community as a "fifth column".
20. The current situation of antisemitism
on a local level has highlighted and increased the concerns of
the Jewish community. In Moscow alone there have been at least
seven cases of arson and bombing attacks at synagogues and other
Jewish sites. Individuals have also been targeted. One of the
most recent attacks occurred on 13 July 1999, when Leopold Kaimonovsky,
a prominent Jewish leader, suffered a knife attack and attempted
murder on the steps of a Moscow Synagogue. His assailant was a
20 year old youth who had a swastika and the initials RNE, which
stands for the Russian National Unity, a prominent neo-Nazi group,
inked on his chest. When arrested he shouted "We will knife
you all. We will burn down your synagogues. We are not going to
let you live here any longer. There are fifty thousand of us."
Two weeks later on 25 July, the 12 year old son of a Rabbi prevented
the explosion of a bomb inside the Bolshaya Bronnaya Synagogue
in Moscow.
21. Such incidents are not only confined
to Moscow. The current situation in the provincial communities
is also worrying, particularly those in Southern Russia and the
Northern Caucasus—the traditional home of the Cossacks who
led pogroms at the turn of the Century. The town of Borovichi,
100 miles south east of Novgorod, has been plagued with an antisemitic
campaign. In this town of 80,000 people there is a Jewish community
of about one hundred Jewish families. Elaborate posters with antisemitic
threats and caricatures have overwhelmed the town and letters
to Jewish activists threaten their families with violence. Phone
calls and letters demand that Jews leave the country or violence
will follow. The Jewish community have repeatedly informed the
police of these incidents. The police have declined to take action,
stating that no one was beaten or murdered and that no laws have
been violated and insist that there is no basis for a trial.
CHURCH BASED
ANTISEMITISM
22. One of the main branches of ideological
antisemitism is religious antisemitism, stimulated by some in
the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia (ROC—The Russian Orthodox
Church has split several times in the 20th Century, especially
since the fall of the Soviet Union, when newly independent countries
like Ukraine and Moldova developed their own national Orthodox
churches. The ROC, Moscow Patriarchate is the official Russian
Orthodox Church in Russia). Contrary to the Catholic Church, the
Russian Orthodox Church has not repudiated charges that the Jews
crucified Christ (deicide), which is a major source of the antisemitism.
Unfortunately the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (a dissident
Russian Orthodox church based outside Russia that refused to recognize
the legitimacy of Soviet rule and remains split from the ROC)
and its representative in Russia, Bishop Alexy Varnava, support
shameful antisemitism in the Moscow Patriarchy.
23. Severely persecuted under the Soviet
regime, the Russian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate has since
the fall of the Soviet Union become an increasingly influential
voice in Russian politics and culture. Like many other post-Soviet
institutions, the ROC is in the midst of a long and often ugly
transition from the Soviet past to an uncertain future. There
is great concern about the role of some ROC officials in the incitement
of antisemitism.
24. Although Patriarch Alexi has never publicly
made antisemitic statements, under his leadership many top officials
in the ROC hierarchy have formed alliances with antisemitic groups,
made antisemitic statements, and published antisemitic writings
without being reprimanded by the Patriarch. The late Metropolitan
Ioann of Saint Petersburg and Ladoga, the leading antisemite in
the ROC until his death in 1996, did not suffer any negative consequences
for his blatant antisemitism and, even after death, remains through
his writings an influential voice within the ROC.
25. Many extremist parties have tried with
varying degrees of success to ally themselves with the ROC. Both
Metropolitan Ioann and a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church
Abroad (Varnava) allegedly collaborated in the past with Pamyat,
the oldest antisemitic nationalist group in Russia. Father Dmitri
Dudko has close connections with radical nationalists and writes
for the influential antisemitic, pro-opposition newspaper Zavtra.
The ROC diocese in Voronezh and the leadership of the Diveevo
Monastery in NizhnyNovgorod Oblast openly maintained ties with
the neo-Nazi organization Russian National Unity. In Yaroslavi
and Kemerovo, ROC local newspapers run antisemitic articles and
proclamations by extremist groups.
26. In addition, the ROC has in some ways
grown so close to the state that it has become a de facto
state religion. The ROC has signed treaties with the Ministry
of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry
of Public Health to establish parishes in military garrisons,
prisons and hospitals, a privilege that other confessions are
regularly denied. Patriarch Alexi has attended numerous state
functions to which leaders of Russia's other faiths have not been
invited and in the past the ROC received very lucrative rights
to import and export various goods (tobacco, oil), again to the
exclusion of other faiths.
27. Rather than focusing on its own spiritual
revival after decades of oppression and providing Russians with
a strong moral voice to protect them against abuses of human rights,
the ROC leadership seems to have made the decision to bring itself
closer than ever to the government, which is still run by many
of the same officials who tormented it in the not so distant past.
Considering the ROC's growing influence its role in the dissemination
of antisemitic ideology in Russia is extremely worrying.
REACTION TO
ANTISEMITISM
28. A reaction to the rising wave of antisemitism
in Russia has come from two arenas: Jewish and political.
29. The Jewish reaction can itself be split
into two categories:
30. Reaction of Russian Jewry. In a statement
released on 27 July, the Russian Jewish Congress said that the
mounting number of antisemitic attacks represent "a threat
to all Russian citizens regardless of their nationality [and such
crimes] should not remain unpunished." Following this statement,
it was announced that the Russian Jewish community had set up
a group to protect individuals and property. commenting on the
formation of the group Moscow's chief Rabbi, Pinchas Goldschmidt,
said, "Our appeals to the authorities have been largely ignored,
so we have been forced to protect ourselves." Despite the
lack of response, the Jewish community continue to call on and
urge the Government to take decisive action and act to halt this
spate of antisemitism.
31. Reaction of international Jewry. The
international Jewish community, through both its representative
organ, the World Jewish congress, and individual national communities,
has sought to exert external pressure on the Russian government
by lobbying them directly and seeking assurances that other Governments
will use their good offices to raise this matter.
32. The political reaction of the Russian
Government under President Yeltsin has manifested itself in various
efforts to work against the nationalist and extremist forces in
Russia. In an historic address to the nation in June 1998 on the
occasion of 57th anniversary of Nazi Germany's invasion of Russia,
President Yeltsin warned for the first time of an increasing threat
to Russia by the active neo-Nazi movement. In addition, he and
other senior members of his government have condemned a number
of manifestations of antisemitism in Russia.
33. In July 1998, President Yeltsin openly
chastised his Justice Minister for allowing extremist and ultra
nationalist groups to receive official certification in Russia
and in November he made a public statement on extremism following
the Duma's failure to censure General Markashov. However, although
willing to criticise others for their inaction President Yeltsin
does not appear prepared to tackle the problem himself for fear
of losing prestige and being seen as unpatriotic.
CONCLUSIONS
34. The unstable political situation together
with the unpredictable economy have led many in Russia to unjustly
blame the Jewish community for the country's troubles. In a survey
commissioned by the Anti Defamation League of B'nai B'rith in
May 1999, 44 per cent of Russians held strong antisemitic views;
with 49 per cent believing that Russian Jews exercise too much
power.
35. Whilst the antisemitism emanating from
the Soviet Union before its collapse can be classed as state-sponsored
or state-prohibited antisemitism, in post Soviet times what we
see is somewhat different. Due to international pressure the Governments
that have emerged in place of the Soviet Union have undertaken
to oppose antisemitism and other forms of extremist nationalism.
As a result they have committed themselves to the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and passed legislation denouncing extremism.
36. The Board recognises that legislation
against antisemitism and extremism is on the statute books of
the Russian Federation. However, the unwillingness to enforce
this legislation provides great cause for concern. The Board believes
that there is a need for the Russian Federation not only to fully
enforce this existing legislation but also to intensify and strengthen
it in the light of recent events.
37. Furthermore, the Board believes that
Duma Members who take advantage of the guarantee of immunity contained
in the 1993 Constitution in order to make antisemitic statements
should be condemned and dealt with accordingly by the Duma.
38. The protection of minority rights is
about more than simply legislation. It is about having the political
will to enforce that legislation and ensure that the political
climate makes extremism unacceptable. The situation for Jews in
Russia is currently one where many are unable to exercise their
civic rights due to a climate of intimidation and fear. It is
the responsibility of the authorities to take action, which they
have not so far done. We trust that the Select Committee and the
British Government will take up the challenge of convincing the
Russian authorities to use all the means they have to rid that
country of the scourge of antisemitism. Such an approach may conceivably
have the effect of provoking reactions on the grounds that Western
pressure actually demonstrates the reality of Jewish international
solidarity and of hostility to the interests of Russia. We would
argue, however, that the interests of the West must lie in pointing
out the dangers of antisemitism on the grounds that inaction would
be detrimental not only to the West but also to the future of
Russia itself.
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