Stalin's Ethnic Roots

3 Pages·0.133 MB·English

by  Terrall R.N.

stalins ethnicroots
By R.N. Terrall
What was the ethnicity of the man who was one of the top mass murderers
of all time, the man responsible for the deaths of an estimated 30 million people
within the Soviet Union? Certainly he hailed from the Caucasus region. But was
Josef Stalin a Georgian, as most establishment opinion molders would tell you?
Was he perhaps an Ossetian, a member of a small minority group within
Georgia? Many signs point to a third possibility: that he was ethnically Jewish.
Wise counselors have said that if you wish to disprove a com­ notes were taken about the travails of that country. The author was
monly held belief, you must have at least three separate, interested in learning whether it was true that Leon Trotsky was
verifiable sources of information.Where Josef Stalin (Iosif really the only Jew, as so often stated, involved in the Bolshevik
Vissarionovich Dzugashvilli) is concerned, the under­ Revolution of 1917 and why it was that Lenin and Stalin, like
standing of his being Georgian is so generally accepted as Trotsky, had adopted new names and why the names they selected
to require perhaps six, or even 10 irrefutable proofs to the contarpaprye,a red to be somewhat similar.
were anyone to be so foolhardy as to venture so close to the fire in One of the first books read by the author in the course of this
rearranging the data available about this monstrous embodiment of research was Refusenik, by Mark Ya. Azbel, which told of the perse­
evil who was the head of the USSR from 1924 to 1953. cution of those Jews wishing to emigrate from the Soviet Union dur­
It would be only prudent to remind readers that very little of ing the 1970s to Israel, who were harassed unmercifully by the
the sparse information that came out of the Soviet Union for over Soviet secret police, who lost their livelihoods and whose family
70 years is believable. It was all doctored by Soviet censors and members were subjected to reprisals. In that book is made the
accepted as fact and, sometimes, embellished by the western press, statement: “Soviet people easily and automatically separate Jewish
Ronald Hingley’s book, Joseph Stalin—Man and Legend, says that from ‘gentile’ names.”4 This eye-opening assertion verified what this
Stalin was personally rewriting early Bolshevik history in 1931 to author had already observed about the Russian use of patronyms.
conform to his developing legend, with the term Zhid being applied Traditionally, the middle name is taken from the father’s first name
to many Jews.1 The introduction to this book refers to “the Stalin and this is an assured method for identifying Jewish ethnic link­
legend,” referring to the increasingly fraudulent claims about ages, perhaps not apparent to all gentiles, but surely so for Jews. A
Stalin’s youth.2 Jewish patronym means that the father was of Jewish lineage. It is
The author of this article was in college, or perhaps still in as identifying as it would be in the United States to see someone by
high school, before World War II, when he first read that Stalin was the name of Weinstein or Pearlman. In book after book, written by
of Georgian ancestry. Three or four paragraphs later, the material Jewish authors, delineating, without exception, the anti-Semitism
he was reading mentioned that the name “Stalin” first gained noto­ endemic to Russia throughout the 1800s and early 1900s and even
riety as a consequence of his brutal repression of a rebellion in his to this day, there can be no other conclusion but that no gentile in
native Georgia in 1921. His viciousness impressed party officials. At Russia would give his son or daughter a Jewish name.
that time, this writer thought, how would a man be able to do that What are these Jewish names and patronyms that can iden­
to his own people? It turns out that they were not his people. In fact, tify Russians of Jewish ancestry? For a start there are: Moise,
it is more than likely that he hated the Georgians, just as he hated Yacov, Iosip, Avram, Aron, Leonid and Semyon. In patronyms, there
many of the minorities within the Soviet Union, whom he later sub­ are -lev, -tov and -dov. They also use abbreviations that are instant­
jected to untold horrors.3 ly identifiable: lu. (luli), Ya. (Yacov). This is by no means all, but it
In the author’s ongoing dismay, over the years, in noting that gives an idea how these individuals in the Bolshevik Revolution can
America’s press invariably downplayed and even denied Soviet be identified. Those individuals with a family member whose name
involvement in a continuing series of international crises, this contains these identifiers can be safely considered Jewish. Then
writer decided to begin documenting the information appearing in there are those who have adopted pseudonyms, shedding their
the daily newspapers. Almost every article concerning the USSR Jewish names for something less obvious. It is interesting to note,
was clipped, beginning in the early 1980s. It is amazing, comparing in many cases, where they have taken on a new name that is equal­
the articles, to note the lies, distortions and denials, as against the ly identifiable as being Jewish, perhaps with the intention ofletting
later admissions. their fellow tribesmen know that they belong to the tribe.
Also read were many books about early Russia and copious So by this time, some 12 years, with dozens of Jewish-
TH E B A RNE S RE VI E W 71
authored Russian tomes under his belt, the author began to suspect can scarcely be believed, were Jewish. These include Lev Mekhlis,
that Lenin, who had changed his name from Vladimir Ulyanov, was Berman, Frenkel, Samuel Agursky, Lazar Kaganovich and Lavrenti
of Jewish ancestry, in spite of convoluted avowals to the contrary by Beria.
every Russian history scholar and every encyclopedia, including Iosif Vissarionovich Dzugashvilli was born in Gori, near
The Jewish Encyclopedia, which is an 18-volume compendium of Tbilisi (Tiflis), Georgia, in 1879. His father was Vissarion Dzugash-
biographies and general information. Lenin’s entire modus operan- villi, his mother, Ekaterina Geladze. Rapoport states that the Dzu-
di was so opposite from typical “gentile” traits that the author gashvillis had Jewish neighbors in Gori and that “the Jews in Gori
decided to make a list of observable traits that he deemed to be fre­ today say that their grandparents knew that the Dzugashvillis
quently found in members of the Jewish nation and which are less were not Georgian.”11
often found in other peoples. He listed some 15: The writer also says: “Some of the Ossetians became Jews.”
Little is known of his father, although a police report in 1909 indi­
• Facility with languages; cated that the man was still alive.12 The prefix “Dzu” means “Jew.”
• Superior writing and speaking skills; There is evidence that the name Vissarion is a Jewish name.
• Moneymaking acumen; For example, Vissarion Bielinsky was a Jewish writer in Russia
• Early precocity; who was to have a decisive influence on the revolutionary move-
• A bent toward higher education and the professions; ment.13
• Revolutionary tendencies;
• A tendency toward secrecy; Some books have said that Stalin’s parents were separated
• Loyalty to fellow tribesmen. and that his mother was an illiterate peasant woman and
quite poor, but this seems unlikely as his mother was wise
Lenin fit most of these criteria. But it took several separate enough and affluent enough to enroll him in an Orthodox
books to confirm these suspicions. Even today, new books are trying seminary in Tbilisi when he was 15 where he apparently
to continue the diversion that he was of unidentifiable mixed blood, remained until he was 19. Yet he was clearly of anti-clerical, if not
though the author has run into several little-read pamphlets writ­ atheistic, beliefs when he enrolled.14 This provides another clue that
ten in the early 1920s that boldly assert that both parents were his mother, often referred to as being devoutly Orthodox, was in fact
Jewish. Several recent publications say that he may have been a of converted Jewish lineage. In czarist Russia, Jews converted to
half-Jew, because only his mother was Jewish. Her father was Dr. Orthodox Christianity to be allowed to move outside the Pale of
Alexander (nee Asher) Blank, a baptized Jew. But no, Lenin’s father Settlement and to be able to attend a university or take a position
was also a Jew. “Ulyanov” is recognized in The Jewish Encyclopedia with the government.
as being a Jewish name. In fact, the patronym “-yanov” is Yiddish It is apparent that Stalin was incorrigible as a student,
for “Jacob.”5 organizing a number of other students into revolutionary, anti-gov­
The Andropov File, by Martin Ebon, says that Yuri Andropov, ernment cadres. Rapoport states that Stalin had a passionate
who succeeded Leonid Brezhnev in 1982 as general secretary of the desire to assimilate, which would give a hint that he felt as though
USSR, may have had at least one Jewish grandparent.6 It then goes he were an outsider among his Georgian classmates.15 Here again,
on to say that mixed marriages were highly unlikely in czarist however, it is ill-conceived to rely on very much of the historical
Russia. The book, The Jews of the Soviet Union, by Benjamin Pincus, record where this man is concerned, even the documented records.
says: “There were hardly any mixed marriages among Russian Jew­ Stalin married Yekaterina Svanidze in 1903. They had a son
ry at the beginning of the century, as conditions under the czarist that same year, who they named Yacov (Jacob). This would seem to
regime prohibited them.”7 be the clincher that Stalin was Jewish, but there is more. Yekater­
To get back to Stalin, it seemed most unusual to note that his ina died in 1907 and her family, the Svanidzes, raised Yacov. In
early close associates almost invariably had Jewish characteristics; 1936, Yacov married a Jewish girl named Yulia. It was in 1912 that
that he had early home training in anti-establishment protest move­ Josef Dzugashvilli adopted the alias “Stalin,” which means “steel” in
ments; that he had atheistic tendencies when he first entered semi­ Russian, thereby shedding his giveaway Jewish background, like so
nary at age 15; that he had unusual pamphleteering and organizing many of his Bolshevik compatriots. He had earlier joined the
skills even though his schooling was scanty8; that he had a close Menshevik Party, which was, to all intents and purposes, 100 per­
identification with Jewish causes. In the post-revolutionary govern­ cent Jewish. In fact, Stalin, in 1907, referred to the Mensheviks as
ment and that he had strong desires for mastering several lan- the Jewish faction of the Social Democrat Party.
guages.9 His father had given him a name that would have been Stalin’s second marriage was to Nadezhda Alliluyeva, in
unthinkable for a non-Jew in czarist Russia: Iosip (Joseph). Further: 1918. They had two children, Vasily in 1921 and Svetlana in 1918.
he named his firstborn Yakov. All of his three children married Jews. Nadezhda died under mysterious circumstances in 1932, officially a
All of his three wives were Jewish. There is a page full of further evi­ suicide, but estranged from her husband and critical of his brutal
dence, without even mentioning the extraordinary benefactions he regime. Her best friends were the Jewish wives of Voroshilov,
directed toward the Jewish community. Molotov and Kaganovich and the Jewish Maria Svanidze.16 While
The Jewish author Louis Rapoport breaks new ground in his certain books claim that Nadezhda’s father, Sergei Yakovlevich
book, Stalin’s War Against the Jews: The Doctors’ Plot and the Soviet Alliluyeva, was of pure Russian stock, the patronym Alliluya
Solution, published in 1990, by saying that Stalin may have been (Hallelujah in Hebrew) tells us they were of Jewish stock. This is
Ossetian, which is a minority ethnic group within Georgia. He goes confirmed by examining his middle name.
on to further cloud the issue by saying that Stalin may have been Stalin’s third wife, Rosa Kaganovich (some books say he
illegitimate.10 While this book is premised on Stalin’s purported never married her), was the sister of Lazar Kaganovich, who was,
anti-Semitism and his crimes against the Jews, the author concedes perhaps, Stalin’s closest associate during most of his vicious regime.
that Stalin’s most brutal henchmen, who committed crimes that It is significant that Rosa expressed the thought that Stalin was
72 MAY/JUNE 2003
This is the home of Stalin during his boyhood in Georgia. Also pictured are his mother and father. The evidence that Stalin was a Jew is over­
whelming for not the least of reasons that his last name, Dzugashvilli, begins with the prefix dzu, meaning Jew. He was also fluent in Yiddish,
married Jewish women, had children and gave them Jewish names and, they too, married Jews.
”one of the chosen,” as did her friend, Alexei Tolstoy.17 Lazar Kagan­ 12 Ibid., 3.
ovich is notable as being one of only three Bolsheviks acknowledged 13 Hingley 3.
14 Rapoport 3.
to be Jews by the international Jewish brotherhood, joining Trotsky
15 Rapoport 4.
and Maxim Litvinov.
16 Ibid., 4l.
For those who are still not convinced of Stalin’s true ethnici­ 17 Hyde 289.
ty by the foregoing, let them examine closely page 68 of the book 18 Rapoport 68.
Stalin’s War Against the Jews, which indicates that it was recom­
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
mended by one of his longtime friends that he should visit the
The Judaic Encyclopedia, (18 volumes; found in most metropolitan libraries.)
Yiddish theater.18 From this, there can be little question but that Azbel, MarkYa., Refusenik, 1981.
Stalin was fluent in the Yiddish language. Beizer, Mikhail, The Jews of St. Petersburg, translated from the Russian by
Jews in Russia and around the world were overjoyed when Michael Sherbourn, the Jewish Publication Society, 1989.
Ebon, Martin, The Andropov File, McGraw Hill, 1983.
the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia. Lenin and Stalin, in suc­
Gitelman, Zvi, A Century of Ambivalence: The Jews of Russia and the Soviet
cession, put into operation commissions to close Orthodox churches
Union, 1881 to the Present, Schocken Books, distributed by Pantheon Books,
and to foster Yiddish culture and education (see The Jewish Ency­ 1988.
clopedia). In 1925, Stalin’s minions ordered all Holy Bibles to be Hingley, Ronald, Josef Stalin: Man and Legend.
turned in, at which time they were publicly burned. So what differ­ Knight, Amy, Beria: Stalin’s First Lieutenant, Princeton University Press,
1993.
ence does it make to know whether Stalin was a Jew? That question
Hyde, H. Montgomery, Stalin: The History of a Dictator, 1971.
must be left for other historians to answer. ❖ Liebman, Marcel, The Russian Revolution, Random House, N.Y., 1970.
Litvinov, Maxim, Notes for a Journal, 1955.
ENDNOTES: Medvedev, R.A., On Stalin and Stalinism, Oxford University Press, 1979.
I Hingley 217. Pincus, Benjamin, The Jews of the Soviet Union, Cambridge University
23 Ibid., 2. Press, 1988.
3 Knight 126-27 details Stalin’s genocides of 1943-44 against the Karachi Rapoport, Louis, Stalin’s War Against the Jews: The Doctors’ Plot and the
people, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars and Tartars. Soviet Solution, Free Press, a division of Collier MacMillan, Canada, 1990.
4 Azbel 389. Ulam, Adam B., Stalin: The Man and His Era, Beacon Press, Boston, 1987.
5 Beizer 184.
6 Ebon 3l.
7 Pincus 136. R.N. Terrall is a 1948 graduate of the University of Oregon.
8 Ulam 20. Retiring in 1980, he became fascinated with history after a trip to
9 Litvinov 34. Palestine. He is an activist and writer on a variety of subjects.
10 Rapoport 2.
II Rapoport 2.
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