[Stalin’s] fear of western penetration [after World War II] featured even more strongly in the purge of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAFC). The JAFC was one of a number of anti-fascist organisations set up by the Soviets during the Great Patriotic War. Its job was to rally support for the USSR among Soviet Jews and
“My love, I am writing to you in a hurry … Ullstein informed me that the Zeppelin will probably leave on March 24th, so I must leave Berlin on the 21st in the evening. Besides, they want me to speak with the captain of the Zeppelin, M. Eckener, who will be in Berlin on the
In 1994, I hitchhiked to Ukraine. A long-haired high school student, I was eager to explore what my whole life had lain beyond the family’s holiday plans. For us, children of the Cold War, the Soviet Union was something colourless, menacing and intriguingly off limits.
As dusk fell, I went into a meditative state. I looked at the sky for a long time, listening to the nature around me, as though I had become an animal in harmony with my surroundings. My fear had vanished. As I started walking towards my destiny, I felt physically that I was changing my…
