Stalin & 'Opposition' Flashcards
What was the Leningrad affair?
When was this?
1949
Stalin had become threatened by the increasing independence & authority of the party as many members received promotions to senior positions following Zhdanovs ascendency
On the basis of false evidence several key officials in the party were arrested and four were executed
Anti semitism?
Initially Stalin favoured the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, however when Israel turned out to be pro USA, he returned to his pre anti Semitic stance
The arrival of Israeli ambassador Goldameir in 1948 reinforced this. She had the support of soviet Jews wherever she went in the USSR
The director of Jewish theatre in Moscow was mysteriously killed in a car accident in 1948
What was the Georgian purge? When was this ?
1951-52 this was a purge in Georgia directed against Lavrenty Berias followers. They were accused of collaboration with western powers. The purge was aimed at weakening the authority of Beria
What was the doctors plot and when was it
1952 Lydia Timashook (a female doctor in the kremlin hospital) wrote to Stalin two days before zhandovs death exposing how 9 senior doctors failed to treat zhandov professionally
Stalin blamed the Jews believing they were in the pay of the USA and Israel and were manipulating their senior positions in the medical profession.
Thousand of ordinary Jews were sentenced to work in labour camps
