ROBESOil l,tEEIS 1949 FEFFER,
By PAUL ROBESON JR.
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IIOVEfrIBE t98l frIITTERA}ID ANDFREilCII JEWRY By SCHOFIELD CORYELL a
JEWISH BOOKS FOR CHITDRE]I By SBLryIASIEGE Self portrait by loseph Hirsch
"BEB0[D,tlR. BEGI]|" ATIERSADAIs
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A JEWISH AIIER]|AIMT0AUENAII0I| 0l) BY LARRY BUSH
]ewish Book Month, Nov. 20-Dec. 20
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Ifow My Father Last Met Itzik Feffer By PAUL
ROBESON JR.
I also join rvith you because Paul Robeson developed a close personal friendship with the famous Soviet Yiddish actor, Solomon Mikhoels, u'ho rvas murdered in 1948 by the Soviet authorities; and rvith the poet Itzik Feffcr. who is iunong those rvhosememory we honor today. In 1958 my father rvrote: ". I rernember the great artist Solon-ron \{ikhoels from my first visit to Moscorv in 1934. . . . I remember . . . his qreat perfonnance of Shakespeare's King Lear, and think of the appearance in Russia of Ira Aldridge, the . great Afro-American actor in that sanre rolc in the middlc of the 19th centnry. "N,{ikhoels trnd I appeared, toqether u,ith the poet Feffer, in a trcrrrt'ndous Peace Rally at the Polo Grorurds here in New York in July of1943.... "Thcn' \\/('re several opportunities u r i r t g to rrrt'ct N{ikhoels.His was a warm, u l , t 1 t t l u : 7 s I l o r r r , : s o r I'.rur, fs7 Jrr., tlu: lirl;t lirrtt', i,s tt ltrofr',ssiortrt/lrrnt.s- lich pcrsonality; rve talked about the I t t l o r l n t t r t t l u ' I l t r . r , s i a tttn u l l u ' r t r l o t ' tlrcltre, r,Arious culfures, the like'l'lri.s ud' n('.ssc.s betrveen the Negro and Yidt l u ' I ' u i l I l o l t t ' . s r n t . ' \ r ' r ' l rri'r. r . 19,\l in / r , clish musics, and the richness of the . ' \ r r g . 1 / 1 ' 1 r , sd. $t ',l i o t ' n ' t l IIrt'tirtg vurious culfures in the Soviet ReNrrrr, )'rrrA ttt u,\lnttoriltl t o t l t t ' I I r t r t t l n ' d . S o u i r ' / ) ' i r l r / i . s l r ptrblics. . "I remember him rvith affection, \ V r i l r ' r ' . s ,i , sl r o t t t t t I t r t l u ' o r t t i r t g l t o o k , 'l'ltis (c) /9,91 lry I'utl Iktln:son Jr. aclrniration and respect." \{rrny years ago, my father told arlr/rls,s i,s rrol to ltt' rrpririlrrl in urnl rne a dramatic story about a meeting fornt or lttrrtttrt!t' tritltottl rrrittctt penrti.s.sirnrlr<tttt I'rtti Ilolx's<nt lr. that he had with Itzik Feffer during
f -Jewish JOIN rvith you today because the I culiural tradition has always been a part of my family's cultural heritage. I can remember vividly how more than 30 years ago rny futher took me to a rvonderful pt'rfomrance of Sholem Aleichem's short stories by u cast of Black and rvhite actors and actresses. In Moscor.vin 1959. at a celebration of the l00th birthday of Sholem Alcichcrn. Paul Robc-son said: ". . . 'Ihc life-span of Sholem AIeichcrrr puralleled that of my father, antl thc livcs and experiences of thcir pcoplcs wcr() also very parallel. . . . IIou' intt'r'cstingand horv \\/onrlcrftrl tlrat thc tcndcr rvorks of Sl ro lc r r r. \ lt ' ic hc r r rr l re a n a ttrra l p a rt o l ' tl r r ' lr t ' r it r r gcof r n y g ra n c l c h i l tl re n - . : r r l r ' ; r rl' i.v i r r r {t ' x r t r n l t l < t ' l f t l r t .c l o s c rrcssol' t r r v lr r t lt t ' r " sl l t' o 1 l l t.l l ttrl th c I ' o l ko l s l r o l c r r .r' \ l c i t ' l r ( ' n r - "
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]rwrsn Cunnrwrs
his 1949 visit to the Soviet Union. There is another story circtrlating about a mecting betrvecn lraul tnri Fcffer, rvhich is partly nristakcn. It gr_iginat_ed i. "l account w,rittcn lry N {i khoel s'daughtero and clair r r st lr at in l95l Feffer was brought to s()o Paul fronr Moscorv's Lubvirnka lrrison by trvo so-called intcrprt'tcrs. Paul could not possibly hirvc bt'cn i n the U .S .S .R .i n 1 951 bccur r schis passport was revoked in 1950 uncl he did not travel to Errroltc lronr Ireb., 1950 until his passport \\,rrs restored in 1958. So thc strtry u'hiclr he told rne describesthc oniv lnccti ng he coul d have had r vit li lr t 'f l't 'r in the U.S.S.R.after thr' \Var. As soon as Paul arrivcd in thc U.S.S.R.on his Junr', 1949 trip, hc rvas struck by thc virulent canrpaign throughout the press against t'Cosmopolitans" and "Zionists." The tone of sorneof the articles remindcd him of the purges of thc mid-lg3Os. Ancl he could serlsethe anti-semitic undertones in the editorials. DeePly, concerned about the fate of -nrany of his friends in the Jervish cultural community, Paul set about trying to make personal contact rvith them. After he-became politely but irnplacably insistent, his hosts finallv arnrnged for Itzik Feffer to come to *Herbert N,'farshall,"Paul Robeson's Obitrrary-the Aftermath," Bulletin of the Center for Soa_iet and East EuroTtean Studies, Southern Illinois Univcrsity at Carbonclnle, *18, Fall, 1976, p. 1, rvho cites article in Iltrssian, -"The trlurder of \{iklroels," by his clarrghter, Natalya l\Iikhoels-Vovsi, in lltr-ssian-language jouural, \/ren41a i'L[u, 'fel Avir,, 1976, p. 140. This story rrrrpeareid irr 197-l in the Frt'nch cdition oi f ni Long Ileturn by Esthcr lvlarkish, rvirlow oI I)eretz- Markish, prrblished in Pirris; trtnsIated from the Fiencli by D. I. Gridstein, this book was published in English in the t.lSA,in-1978, rvhere the story appeilrs on p. 172, but the clate of the Robe-son-Fcffer rneeting is given as 1950. The authentic rlrrte, as indicated above, is June, lg4g.
Nor.arrnrn. lg8l
scc hirn. (Paul had no way of knowirig Fc{lcr lurcl bccn urrcsted on Dec. 2.1, lg4ti ). Orrr: lrltt.r'noon Fclfcr came to visit I ' l t r r l . I I t ' \ \ , i . r sl r n i r c c o n r p a n i e d a n d 'l'lrt'y krokt'rl vt'rv u't'll. grcctcd each o t l t . r ' r r ' , , r , i , 1 1r ,r r r r ll , , , , i r " i i c d i n l o a n i r r u r t t ' r l c o n v t ' r ' s r t t i o r ri r r I t u s s i a n . I J u t l'rrrrl rlrrickll, rroticccl that Fefier's c o r r r r n t ' r r t s\ v ' ( ' r ' (r.r t v l r r i l r r r c c r v i t h h i s gt'strrrcs. ( l o r r t i r r r r i r r gl r " n o r r r r r r l " c o r l v c r s a t i o r r , l ' r r r r l r ' , ' s p o r r r l l rtl o t l r i s " l r < l d y lirrr{rurgr'. rn(l rvitlr tlrr. airl of ^ l ' t ' r v I r r r r r r l u ' r ' i l t t .w r ro r t l s r r r r t ll t h r a s c . s ( u ' l r i t ' l r l ' : r r r l l ; r t t ' r t' l t , s t r o v t ' ril l t t ' l l e r "tokl" lrirrr rr tcrrilrlc stirry'in this . s r r r r r ' ; l t i t i o r l .\s\ ' , i t y . 'l'lrr: r o o l r r \ \ ' i r s l r r r g r l t , r l .M i k h o c l s h a c l l l t ' r . r rr r r r r r t l t , r ' r 'ttllr r , r , t . r r rl .r c f o r c o n S t l l i n ' s l ) ( . r . s o n uol n l t ' r . l i t , f I ' t ' rw ' i r s i n s c r i o u s t r o u l l l c . l r r r r l n u u l -vr ,or rf l t tuhm el most outstancling Jt'u ish figures had alrcady bccn urrcstcd. They would conrc- for tlrc n'st of them soon. There w21s littlc hope tgr any qf them, including Fefler ( here Fcffer drew his finger across his throat ). And there hrrd-just becn a massive purge of the Party in Lcningrad-like the awful days of
1937. When Feffer rose to leave, he and Paul ernbraced like brothers: both of thern had tears in their eyes. becausethcy knerv that they *"ie probably seeing each other'for the last time. Soon afterwards, Paul sang d cortcert in the largest concert hall in Leningrad-a "Hero-City" that hacl rvithstood a prolonged and devitstating Nazi siegc in which an estirnatt'd one nrillion of its citizens pcrishcrl. Aftcr he finished "Ol' Man Riv(.r." the last song on thc prognrm, he rnnounced that he rvould sinq onlv a single encore-a spccilrl .song hr. hacl iust reccntly lcninr:tl. ,rl
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I'rrrrl sltokc with great emo' tiorr ol' tlrc dec'p and enduring cultrrntl tit'.s lrctrvccn the Jewish comrrrrr r r it it :of . s t he U n i te d S ta te s a n d tlrc Sovit't Union, of the great Jervislr n'ritcr Sholcm Aleichem and the Sovict and Arnerican ]ewish writers rrrrrl lctor.s who were continuing his trlrlitiun. Finally, he spoke of his t'krsc pcr.sonal friendship with Miklrot'ls and F cffer, and of his great ioy at mceting Feffer again. lly nor,v thcre was a hush in the hugr: hall. Paul took a deep breath and explaincd the song he was about to sing-the song by Hirsh Glick of thc Jewish partisan fighters rvhich has become the hymn of the Jewish rcsistance. He would sing the song in Yiddish, but first he recited the lyrics in Russian:
seared bv- Stalin's machine of de' struction that had consumed their loved ones. At that rnoment theY were united by the specter of the Nazi Holocaust, and the Warsaw Ghetto Rebellion had in a sense merged with thc ordeal of Lenin' grrrd during the war.
FinaIIy, I join with you today becausc as a tslack American I am acutely aware that the treatment o[ minorities by any regime is one of the fundamental indicators of the justice of its rule. The treatment of the Jewish people and their culture in the Soviet Union is one of the important rneasuring sticks of the health or sickness of Soviet society as a whole. The repression of Jervish culture over the past 40 years contrasts dramatically with its flourish"Ncvcr say that you have reached ing growth in the years immediately after the October Revolution and thc vcry end, Wht'n lc:adcn skies a bitter future is a sign of a retrogression of Soviet culture. rnlty portcncl. Yes. there is anti-Semitism in the I,'or srrr() thc hour for which we U.S.S.R.!Yes, it has been ignored, ycirrrr rvill yct urrivc, condoned and sometimes even inArrrl orrr rnarc'hing steps rvill stigated by the official state and tlrrurck'r: toc .strrvive!" Party arpparatus.And yes, Stalin perWhcn hr' finishcd tlrr: song there sonally, over a period of many years, was a long rnomcnt of completc si- was rcsponsible for many anti-SemitIence. Thun the untirc atrdicncc re- ic policics and acts. spondccl rvitlr a gretrt flood-tidt: of Onc must be blind and deaf not swelled to see and hear this evil. One must ovation emotion. The throughout the hall in waves-rising, suppressmemory and reasonin order falling, then rising again to an ever to keep s{lent. higher intensity. I shall not burden you with exAs he looked out over the audi- anrples and statistics. A trip to thc ence, Paul saw an amazing sight. library or, even bc'ttcr, tht' llrtrlt'so[ often complete ]rwrsH CunnnNrs,'rvill prrtvirll rror(r people, Many strangers who iust happened to be th a n e n otrghsp< ' < ' i fir't'r' i rl l rrt' r' . sitting side-by-side, furned to each Y c t t l r c J t ' r v i s l rp , ' o p l r ', r l t l r t : S o other-tentatively at first-and thcn v i t : t l l r t i r l r ri,t r l l t , ' i t s ; r t ' r i f i t 'trl 'rsr r i r r g threw their arrns around one anotht'r. t l r t ' ( ) t ' l o l r , ' t l' l , ' r o l r t t i o t t .t l r t ' C i v i l Some wcpt openly on t ach otlrt'r's \ \ ' r r r ' , r t r rt l r , t r t . r l r l i l l i t ' r r lt tl l y s o f i l l r l l ' . S . S . 1 1r v. ,c r e s e c shoulders. Jelvish intcllt'<:trrrrlsrttt<l l r r r i l , l i r rur p rrl i k cl rrttll ,r' r' rt o r r , ll , r r r , , , l l r ,r t ' t l r r r i cg r o u p o f t h e R tt s s ianP ar t y of f i c i rrl .s 6
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Iltr'-.sianllcoplc. Ovcr 500,(Xru.scrvt:d u,ith honor in thc Arnrcd liorct:s during the war against liasci^srn,and )crv.s .suffc,redmore than any othcr scgrnent of the Soviet population2,000,000, or 40% of the Jewish population of the U.S.S.R., were murdered by the Nazis. The Soaiet poet, Yeogenii Yeotushenko, wrote: "Russian and Jew, One epoch raised thern both. Breaking time, like bread; They share the selfsame era. . Here's the basis of Leninist morality: That both Jew and Russian died In bloodiest battle For their common soil. . . ." The murder of the 24 Soviet I"*ish cultural leaders 29 years apfo today was not only a tragedy for the ]ewish people. It was espccially a Russian tragedy and a tragcdy for all those who believe in socialism. For these Jewish martyrs were courageous fighters in the cause of socialism, and the arbitrary terror that struck them down engulfed all the peoples of the U.S.S.R. Tyranny, like freedom, is indivisible. After the failure of the Decembrist uprising against the Tsar in L825, the famous Rus.sianpoet, Mikhail Lermontov, wrote the following bitter lines (in my free translation): ".
Farewell to thec, oh unwashed Russia, Land of slaves and land of masters; And you blue-tintccl uniforms, And you masseswho obey them. Perhaps beyond the Caucau.sus'rise, I may hide from your oversocrs: From the stare of thcir all-secing eyes, NormN,rern,l98l
And lrorrr tlrt'ir kt'r'tt lrlllrt';rring car s. . . . " Morc thun 125 ycllrs littr:r, llrt: Soviet poct Ycvgenii Ycvtrrsltctrko u'rote these lines in his pocnr. "l,t'tter to Yesyenin" (the brilliant young Soviet poet who committcd suicidc rather than betray his corrsci<'nt'r:). By the way, I found this pot'rn irs 11 typewritten sheet among nry fatlrt'r"s papers, with a hand-writtcn rt'rlrrrsl on it that it be delivered to a fricrrtl, whose name I cannot deciphcr, olr the evening of Nov. 12 or the morning of Nov. 13, 1958. In my own free translation, Yevtushenko sirys to Yesyenin: ". . . Dear Yesyenin! Horv Russia hirs changed. Ancl I'm afraid to sav it's for thc better, But to say it's for the worsc i.s dangerous. See rvhat we have built in our land, and the sputniks; But we lost along our bumpy roarl Both twenty million in the war, And millions in the war against tht. people. Forget about it, having chopped memoru ofr? But where is the hatchet with whiclr to chop it off? No one has saved others like Russians have, No one kills their very own likc Russians do. But our ship floats. When the wrtt.r is shallow. We drag Russia forward over dry land. That there are enough scum i.s no disaster; Lcnin is gone. Now that's terriblc. . . . Who says that you were not among the fighters?. . . You were rn,orea ParW man than .s<r many villains,
Who tried to, teach gou party loyalty. . . .' In wa{t u)e_are helping to ,our make sure that the voices bf ihese martyrs will co_ntinue to be heard, and ^that. Jewish culture *ill ,o*u !l_ayflounsh once again in the Soviet Union. Itzik Fefierti words, especial_ Iy, speak !o us ^iroiy, lo proudly,'so iroign_ antly, with such unkno#ingbut , yet so hopefully ( in Martin Birnbaum's free- tranjlation, hwrsn CunnENrs, ]uly-Aug., lgg0)i " _Th" heady wine of generations Has strengthened me upon my road, Th" evil knife of glooil- u"j pain Could not destroy my treasured - load My faith, Dy people, ,ro, *y strivingVy spirit always rose anew From under swords my cry was heard: IamaJerv! .., Th-e Maccabean rebel blood Still courses through my vein; "u"ry Solomon's wisdom- resti with'me A_nd Heine's smile of bitter pain. r Halevi's-so{rg is in my heart; Spino_za'sdepth and outcry: Do_ L)o what you will and still IamaJew! ... \{y eyes reflec,t the silent mood. Of evenings when the sun i, Io*Erpressed so well by Levitan_ Of Russian bayoneti aglow And scythes swingi_ng i"n the blue, I am of Soviet Laiid i sonIamaJew! ...
SOLIDARITY DAY "Today is just a start, but solidar_ity is more than iust a dav "
sai{ AFL-CIO pr"rid".,i L;;"
Kirkland of the- outpouring of more than a quarter of a *Illion trade unionists and their allies Sept lg for an anti-R"ugor*i", r.ally in Washington d.C. But that day was a Saturdav, th" I"*ish Sabbath, which the American Jervish Congress said restricted its participation. Nonet}eless. messagesto the rally- from the AiCon_ grcss and the National l6wistr Community A<iviioiy Board were .Relations heard from the po_ dium, and the Workmen's Cifile $4 J"yish Labor Committee of Philadelphia were visible i" "th" march. Every ,maig American union, except.. the Teamste_rs,brought delegations to Solidarity Dt Th"V -were joined by ucti"irts trom the NAACP and other civil the National lights organizations,-Women. Organizatio,n for the Coalition of Labor Union Wo-Ln, and many o-t!re1groups representing poor, elderly, rninorities and progressive constituencies. Virtual_ ly all traveled by car, train or bus from as far as Texas'and Caliiornia, avoiding air travel in solidarity with Air Traffie Controllers.
.,-Jyrt --Let as the ]ewish qartisans sang, us never say that we have reached the very end," let us never s_aythat Jewish culture has reached To the sycophants who would tell the end in the Soviet Union. Our Te t9 be quiet I say, "I am ashamed voices and the voices of manv milthat it has taken me so Iong to raise Iions all over the world will arirpiify my voice." the song of these martyrs whoni we To anyone who would call rne oommemorate today.-And that song traitor,I say: "ff this be treason, will thunder down the corridors oi make the most of it." history: "We suryive!" r I
]nnasH Cunnrrvrs