POSITION OF THE JEWS IN THE USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A003500980002-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 11, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/11/09: CIA-RDP80-0081OA003500980002-4
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This Document contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States, within the mean-
ing of Title 18, Sections 793 and 794, of the U.S. Code, as
INFORMATION REPORT t to o amended. Its transmission or revelation of Its contents
or r receipt by y an an unauthorized person is prohibitehibited
by law. The reproduction of this form is prohibited.
SECRET/CONTROL U,S, OFFICIALS ONLY
REPORT
DATE DISTR. 11 May 195+
NO. OF PAGES 3 50X1-HUM
REQUIREMENT
REFERENCES
THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
par c .ar._y a in Moscow as o late 1950. There was scarcely any chance
for a Jew, particularly if he had a Jewish name, to find' skilled employment
the position of the Jews was
2. Despite this situation, there had been a considerable movement of Jews to
Moscow from the small towns, where they could not find work and did riot even
feel sure of?their lives. Most of the Jews who came to Moscow after the
war from the small tnwn;s had gone into "business". That is to say, they
obtained clothing, fancy goods, and similar stocks on commission from the
There was large-scale fraud in most institutions enterprises, and factories.
If individuals were caught, they sent to prison for a period of years; but
this fact alki ng
about it. 50X1-HUM
Poaition.of the Jews in the USSR
nd sold them from a booth or took a stand in the market.
it was possible to make a good living .in this way and to make 50X1-HUM
'arrangements" with the managers of the organizations that supplied the goods.
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 5nx1-HI IM
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during October-1950
at the ZIS factor including 15 Jews.
3. While no man would open his mouth on political matters, even to his best
f
i
r
end, the general position of the Jews in the USSR and tIe attitude
of the Soviets toward them was freely discussed.
4. As an example of the living conditions
the quarters of one family comprising ee a u s. The house was old and
neglected, and the stairs dark and dirty. The room was small, 32 by 4 meters,
with two beds in the accepted Russian-Jewish style of 30 years ago, a small
table, part of a sideboard, and other household goods, but everything was neat
and tidy. The room was one-quarter of a four-room apartment; each of the
other three sections was occupied by a family of Russian gentiles.
Relations with the other families were normal, mainly because of the wife's
conciliatory attitude. The wife continued to attend the synagogue.
Kharkov
5.
I Kharkov served as an extermination
center or the Ukrainian Jews during the German occupation. A large 50X1-HUM
engineering works near. Kharkov served as a death camp, and all the Jews in
the town were taken there, except for a few with.either special qualifications
o influence who managed to escape. Jews from the small towns in the
neighborhood also were brought there and killed. According to local 50X1-HUM
estimates, several hundred thousand Jews were killer3 than-
relations
were siraaine between Jews and gentiles in the Ukraine and that there was
discrimination against Jews in every way.
6. The number of Jews in i=or- nt government positions was dwindling steadily, 50X1 -HU M
and the number of Jewish unemployed was relatively
nigh. The Jews were employed mainly as tailors, other needlecraft workers,
shoemakers, barbers, and watchmakers. A very small number drove taxis, but 50X1-HUM
there were no Jews driving heavy vehicles.
7.
8.
9.
-el,- '-LU.Lca CUL
also to Kharkov. The number of Jews in Kharkov was growing daily, and
migration was also the reason for the Iarsze nil Jewish unemployed.
The Jews in the small
-ow did not seem to know that the situation was just as bad in Kharkov
and that they could not find work simply because they were Jewish.
SECRET/CONTROL .U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
were ere by the Soviets to be Jews although their mothers may haven
been Russian gentiles and they may have received no Jewish education.
acute anti-Semitism in the
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/11/09: CIA-RDP80-0081OA003500980002-4
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-3 -
10. There were Jews in Kharkov who continued to receive letters and even money
from relatives abroad, but only a few letters out of many hundred were
arriving.
Baltic States
14. In ]90, many Jews were exiled to Siberia for having at some time belonged
to the Zionist movement, among them businessmen and manufacturers. At the
and of the war a large number of these returned to Riga and Dvinsk. In
1950 these persons were sent back to Siberia.
15. The Riga Jews were very much afraid of a war, for they saw themselves
surrounded by a sea of hatred, though the population itself was not overly
faithful to the Soviet regime. The Jews had not the slightest doubt-,that in
.the event of a war they would be forced to move once more. The Soviet
authorities disliked them as a group which had many.family connectfons with
the West, while at the same time much of the Latvian population was hostile
toward them. No Jew who had at any time been a member of a Zionist
orgafltatton was eligible for one of the well-paid higher-grade government
positions.
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/11/09: CIA-RDP80-0081OA003500980002-4