The Fight Against the Jewish Religion in Russia (1965)

This broadcast from January 31, 1965 presents Harvard professor Dr. Erich Goldhagen delivering a paper, “The Fight Against the Jewish Religion in Russia” to the open session of the Social Science Circle at YIVO’s annual conference, which had taken place earlier that month.

As a report on the conference in Yedies noted:

Dr. Erich Goldhagen, speaking at the open session of the Social Science Circle on Russian policy toward Jewish religion, confined himself mainly to the 1920's. He established that the fight against the Jewish religion, spearheaded by the Jewish Communists, took on a far more violent form than that against the other religions, say, the Mohammedan. This fight was carried on mainly through terror, both "legal" and illegal and various forms of chicanery, such as mock trails and the like. Of the two forms of terror the illegal was far more insidious as it penetrated all avenues of activity and communication. Nevertheless, results were disappointing to the Jewish Communists.

Erich Goldhagen is the father of Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, professor of political science and social studies, who is perhaps best-known for his 1996 book, Hitler’s Willing Executioners.

From 1963-1976, YIVO had its own program on WEVD, the radio station established by the Socialist Party of America in 1927 (its call letters stand for the initials of American socialist leader Eugene V. Debs), which was purchased by the Jewish Daily Forward in 1932 and became a major venue from Yiddish programming.

YIVO used its spot on WEVD for Yiddish-language interviews and discussions with leading New York Yiddish cultural figures, as well as for reporting on its own scholarly and cultural work.

A new podcast of this program in the order in which it was originally broadcast will be posted here every two weeks.

Presentation of series curated by Matt Temkin, YIVO Sound Archives.

Listen to the program [in Yiddish].