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Glossary Names and Institutions American–Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC): Founded in 1914, a charitable organization with the declared mission of serving the needs of Jews throughout the world, particularly where their lives as Jews are threatened or made more difficult. After WWII the JDC spread its coverage, making efforts on behalf of Jews in the Soviet Union. Belarusian Red Cross Society: A voluntary public organization providing aid to the wounded, the ailing, and victims of military operations or natural disasters; established in 1921 as a voluntary association of the republic. During World War II it carried out large-scale activities instructing the public on issues of first-aid; training medical staff for the army and the home front; organizing blood-donation campaigns and relief operations following air attacks; and providing aid to families of front-line soldiers, disabled soldiers, and orphaned children. From 1945, it included a department for the search of missing Soviet and foreign citizens. Belarusian Society for Propagation of Political and Scientific Knowledge: Founded in 1947, included public organizations responsible for verbal propaganda and was controlled by party organs. It served, in fact, as an informal channel used by the state for exerting influence on the population. Atheistic propaganda constituted a major part of the activities of the Society. Berger, Yakov-Iosif Abramovich (1892–1956): The rabbi of Minsk in the years 1946–55, studied in the Slobodka yeshiva in the suburbs of Kovno (Lithuania ), awarded semikha by Rabbi M.M. Epstein (1914), served as a rabbi in the Minsk (1915–18) and Kiev (1918–25) synagogues. In 1925–27, he was a worker of Khimartel (a chemical cooperative) in Kiev, and in 1927–41 as a worker in the Kiev Ptitseprom (an association for slaughtering chicken). During the war he was evacuated to Central Asia. 296 Glossary bezrodny kosmopolit (rootless cosmopolitan): A Soviet euphemism introduced during Joseph Stalin’s anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–53, which culminated in the “exposure” of the alleged “Doctors’ plot.” The term referred mostly (but not exclusively) to Jewish intellectuals, referring to their lack of patriotism —their lack of full allegiance to the Soviet Union. bourgeois nationalism: A Marxist jargon term. It refers to the practice of categorizing people by nationality, race, ethnicity, or religion, which was alleged to deflect them from class warfare. It was seen as a divide-and-conquer strategy used by the ruling classes to prevent the working class from uniting against them (hence the Marxist slogan, “Workers of the world, unite!”). Bund (The General Jewish Labour Union of Lithuania, Poland and Russia): A social-democratic organization representing mostly Jewish craftsmen from the western areas of the Russian Empire, it was founded in Vilna in 1897. Prior to 1903 and after 1906, it was a part of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party, supported the Mensheviks on general political issues and advocated Jewish cultural autonomy. After 1917, some Bund members opposed the Soviet regime, while others joined the Russian Communist Party; in 1921 the Bund liquidated itself. Cherta osedlosti (Pale of Settlement, 1791–1917): A restricted territory with distinct borders within which Russian Jews were allowed to settle and to reside permanently, consisting of 15 provinces in Lithuania, Belarus, Bessarabia, Kurland, most of Ukraine, and a further 10 provinces of the Kingdom of Poland. In the 18th–20th centuries, a number of legislative acts and regulations were passed that restricted civil and national rights of Russian Jews, abolished by the Temporary Government of Russia in March 1917. Patolichev, Nikolai Semionovich (1908–90): Soviet and party leader; in 1946– 47, secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU; first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (from March 1947); first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus (1950–56). The Doctors’ Plot: It was an alleged conspiracy to eliminate the leadership of the Soviet Union in which Jewish doctors would poison its top figures. After the death of Stalin in March 1953, the new Soviet leaders declared that the alleged conspiracy was a fabrication. Extraordinary State Commission (ChGK of the USSR): Established for the determination and investigation of crimes committed by the German invaders and their accomplices and to estimate the destruction caused by them to citizens , kholhozes, public organizations, state offices, and enterprises. It was set up by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, dated November 2, 1942. In Belarus, the ChGK under the chairmanship of Ponomarenko was set up at the...

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