Antisemitism in Russia

Rosenberg, why did you lie on all your application forms that you did not have relatives abroad? We know you have a sister in Israel,” says the KGB interrogator. “I was not lying, Citizen Interrogator,” replies the accused Jew. ‘‘It is I, not she, who is abroad.”

Any Jewish name would do; MGB, NKVD, GPU or Cheka could be substituted for KGB . . . but this old joke never fails to produce laughter. Like all similar Jewish anecdotes in Russia, it reflects the growing sense of alienation which pervades the Jewish community there. Traditionally, wistful humor has been the most effective way of communication among oppressed peoples, and of preserving sanity in the deadening atmosphere of a totalitarian state.

RB

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Roman Brackman

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Religious Persecution

Rosenberg, why did you lie on all your application forms that you did not have relatives abroad? We know you have a sister in Israel,” says the KGB interrogator. “I was not lying, Citizen Interrogator,” replies the accused Jew. ‘‘It is I, not she, who is abroad.”

Any Jewish name would do; MGB, NKVD, GPU or Cheka could be substituted for KGB . . . but this old joke never fails to produce laughter. Like all similar Jewish anecdotes in Russia, it reflects the growing sense of alienation which pervades the Jewish community there. Traditionally, wistful humor has been the most effective way of communication among oppressed peoples, and of preserving sanity in the deadening atmosphere of a totalitarian state.