Title: Ilya Ehrenburg
First published: 1984
Description: Pp. 120-123 deal with Ehrenburg's attitudes to Judaism and antisemitism as reflected in the discourse on the Jewish question in his first novel "Julio Jurenito" (1922). States that in general he tried to view the world from a genuinely cosmopolitan standpoint. The Jews are described by Jurenito as a people who constantly question the established order and try to undermine it by inventing subversive religions (e.g., Christianity, communism) which eventually become the established order and must then be repudiated. Ehrenburg was proud of this tragic and unique destiny of the Jews, who were persecuted because of it, and he was opposed to a nationalist solution (Zionism). Pp. 226-240 deal with Stalin's postwar anti-Jewish campaign, and Ehrenburg's role as the regime's "token Jew, " a cover for its antisemitic policies. States that there is no evidence that Ehrenburg betrayed his Jewish friends who were murdered by Stalin, but faults him for lying about what was happening to them at the time.
Subjects: Authors, Russian, Russian Authors, Biography, Authors, biography
People: Ilʹi︠a︡ Ėrenburg (1891-1967)
Time periods: 20th century