SOVIET DELEGATES AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF ORIENTALISTS, CAMBRIDGE, UK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00926A007500230003-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 25, 2001
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: October 28, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

nw. K
DEC 1951 *d
Approved For Release 2001/11/21 : CIA-RDP80-00926A007500230003-3
U.S. Officials Only
CONFIDENTIAL
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT Soviet Delegates at the International Congress of
Orientalists, Cambridge, UK
PLACE ACQUIRED
(BY SOURCE)
DATE ACQUIRED
(BY SOURCE)
25X1C
25X1A
REPORT NO.
RESPONSIVE TO
1
2
CD NO.
00/C NO.
ORR NO.
DAS NO.
OCI NO.
DATE DISTR..;41rOat 1954
DATE
(oF
INFO.)
NO. OF PAGES
N ? IN ? 14 A INA
OF 1111 UNIT10 STATIC WITHIN TNIM1ANINO OP TITLI II SICTIONS
713
ND 714, OF TN1 Use, COM Al AMINORD, ITS TRANSMISSION OR
NO. OF ENCLS.
ATION OF ITS CONTINT1 TO ON RICILIPT NY AN UNAUTNOR1110 PINION
IS
?
SUPP. TO
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
REPORT NO.
SOURCE
25X1X
1. The International. Congress of Orientalists held 21 Aug 54 through 28 Aug 54
at Cambridge University, UK t some 20 dole tem from the USSR.
25X1X who attended 25X1X
the ongress, tion came withou an nv he Congress
committee, They were invited to the UK by the Soviet diplomatic mission in
London. This got the Soviet delegates off to a bad start, Then, to mdd to the
situation, the Soviet diplomatic officials gave a reception to which all delegates
were invited. The UK hosts thought this to be in very bad taste and apparently
other delegates from Western countries thought the same.
2.the papers delivered by the Soviet scholars were out-
25X1X 111,11111111111111in spite of their propaganda. The Soviets were openly
critical of the colonial policy of the UK, France and, to a degree, of the US,
while pointing out at great lengths, how much the Soviets had done for undeveloped
areas now under Soviet control. One of the UK delegates, a former member of the
UK colonial office, protested from the floor that it appeared as though the
Soviet government looked upon its recently acquired areas as colonies as defined
by the Western colonial nations. This caused the Soviets to tone down their
comments.
3. The scholars of the Soviet delegation were under the leadership of L P potapov?
25X1X Re is an authority on the Turks of Siberia and is
Director of the uti Azrnropology Museum. Potapov., prior to 1941 was not a
Communist Party member but he knew how to get along with the Communist hierarchy.
I do not think he is in accord with the principles of Soviet Communism but at
the same time he has never been apparently offensive. He has been awarded the
Stalin Prize for his work in anthropology.
The person who pulled the puppet strings for the Soviet cholars was Evgeni
Mihailovich Zhukov, who was elected corresponding member of the USSR Academy
of Sciences in 1944. Zhukov is identified as being an expert on Japanese
political history. Re is about 48 years of age. 14? onmpleted his graduate
studies at the Leningrad Institute of Oriental_Iahgui in 1931-1932. Zhukov
U.S. Officials Only
CONFIDENTIAL
ipTkThRIBUTION 10 STATE EAT IARMY NAVY T IAIR FBI
., This report is for the use within the USA of the Intelligence components of the Departments or
Agencies indicated above. It is not to be transmitted overseas without the concurrence of the
originating office through the Assistant Director of the Office of Collection and Dissemination, CITA
Approved For Release 2001/11/21 : CIA-RDP80-00926A007500230003-3
naPO
25X1A
Approved Fclacispigicaly/M/MAIAMIZIM)0926A007500230003-325xi A
- 2 -
came to the Lenigrad Institute as a full fledged Communist P rty member and
during his stay was active in the Institute's central committee, From 1932
to 1936 he devoted his time to writing newspaper articles on Japan for Pravda.
In 1936 he went to Moscow for an assignment with the USSR foreign office and
thence to Japan. In 1938 he returned to the USSR for work in the Academy. Most
of his time was occupied in the "secret division" that kept the personal Mess:
of the people employed in the Academy. Zhukov was responsible for the purging
of many Soviet scholars for deviationism. He saw Trotskyism in almost everyone
whom he thought was an intellectual superior, and owing to his Party loyalty,
his judgment was accepted without question. found Zhukov 25X1X,
to be intellectually incompetent and obnoxious Zh ov marriedda Tseitlin,
daughter of a jewish physician Leningrad. She was then a member of the
Young Communist League ttsiu. now I assume she is a full fledged Party member.
Zhukov has never written a scholarly work -- most of his material follows the
Party line and appears in government, newspapers. During hi g attendance at the
international Congress of Orientalists, according to my source, he devoted his
time to keeping the other delegates in line -- a Job for which he is eminently
qualified.
Other Soviet Orientalists who attended the congress includes
a. OntijrBel a ev, an Arabist? who ie a non-Party member, an expert on Persian
quali is in his field.
b. Evgeni Eduardovich Hertel!, non-Party member; an expert on Persian
literature. He has had a difficult time surviving Communism, and,
during the purges of the 1930'5 he spent some time in jail- He is an
outstanding scholar who is unable to do anything about his untenable
situation. 25X1X
ant17'12E1Ama, a Kazakh,
d. rirnuj Gershevich, a Russian-Jew, .M=M 25X1X
e. rnujrIlyinskiy, a Russian, 25X1X
f. jrfntilIvanov, a Russian, who is a specialist on the history of Central
Asia. Hs is a Partymember and follows the Communist line to the letter.
g. ermy fuldashevs a Tatar, 25X1X
h. PrmaKalyanov, a Russian, is an expert on Sanskrit and Indian history.
40 ic. a rarty member. He is not a serious scholar. Despite his Psrty
membership he is a likable and harmless person.
i. rnujilarliza (if this is his name), is a Russian. He is not a Party
membsrs and during the purges of the 1930s he spent some time in jail.
He is an expert on Russian and Oriental history.
i. enul Kuliyev) a Turkman,
k. OnliirTukhvinskil a Russian, 25X1X
25X1X
1. A N Kononov, a Russian, is a Party member but a harmless Communist.
He is well known for his works in the Turkish language.
m. Asjauber, a Russian-Jew,
25X1X
6. The Soviet delegates were friendly with the Western group but did not discuss
matters that were not covered in their papers. All of the Soviets' papers were
printed in English. Their talks, however, were delivered in Russian. 25X1X
said that the Soviets came out with what might be termed as a "scientific or
25X1X scholarly offensive." means by this statement but
it could be that owing to the Soviet dominance at. trie meetings they were trying to
force their ideas on the other scholars.
- end - LIBRAO SUBJECT & AREA CODES
C-02-00i5 W54
CONFIDENTIAL I82, 1(GM)(N)
US OFFICIALS ONLY 917.ov5
Approved For Release 2001/11/21 : CIA-RDP80-00926A007500230003-3