A 20th century Haman who died 4 days after Purim

OpEds

Russia became increasingly antisemitic after 1948.

Assassinations of leading Jewish writers, show trials and large scale antisemitic plans followed, including the so called Prague “Slansky trial”, the planned Russian “Doctors trial” and the planned so called “Zionist trial” and “Wallenberg trial” in Hungary. (The creative sinister script’s theme was that Hungary’s Jewish leaders and two loyal aids of Raoul Wallenberg murdered him in Budapest in 1945….)

The accused were arrested and severely tortured to “coach” them how to perform the scripts in what may have become their last act…

Hitler’s one time allya and co-rapist of Poland, Stalin, had bigger plans for Russian Jews and maybe Jews in the Soviet colonies: large scale deportations or worse.

Jews in the USSR lived in fear.

According to the Jewish Virtual Library:

Shortly before he died on March 5, 1953, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin accused nine doctors, six of them Jews, of plotting to poison and kill the Soviet leadership. The innocent men were arrested and, at Stalin’s personal instruction, tortured in order to obtain confessions. “Beat, beat, and again beat,” Stalin commanded the interrogators.

The unfortunate physicians can be described as lucky only in comparison with Stalin’s eighteen million other victims. The dictator died days before their trial was to begin. A month later, Pravda announced that the doctors were innocent and had been released from prison.

It later became known that after their pro-forma trial and conviction, Stalin intended to organize pogroms around the country, after which prominent members of the Jewish community would publicly beg him to protect the Jews by sending them all to Siberia. Indeed, when Stalin died, the supposedly spontaneous appeal by leading Jews had already been written and signed; the signatories had been coerced into signing.

In fact, however, Stalin collapsed (possibly assisted by secret police chief Beria) shortly before his plans could be put into effect.