Out of the Red Shadows (Russian Studies)

Stalinist policy toward Jews is assessed for the first time in this groundbreaking book.

Sifting through thousands of recently declassified documents in the archives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the KGB, Kostyrchenko reveals in dispassionate documentary fashion the suppression of free expression of Jewish life, the forced assimilation of Soviet Jews, and the purging of Jews from official positions. The Soviet Jews fought valiantly against fascism in World War II, and the Soviet Union battled to end the Holocaust. Yet Soviet Jews found that a most ominous page in their history had been opened just after the war.

Kostyrchenko documents the famous "Doctor's plot" launched by Stalin just prior to his death, revealing never-before published secret documents. He also reveals the effort by Stalin to weed out Jews from prominent positions in the arts, sciences, and professional life. A devastating expose.

Gennadi Kostyrchenko is a senior researcher at the Russian Center for the Preservation and Study of Modern History Documents.