Arrested in 1949 on charges of “anti-Soviet crimes,” the great Yiddish author Dovid Bergelson was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad in 1952. Bergelson had fled the Soviet Union in 1921 for exile in Berlin, but in 1926 began to take a more pro-Soviet stance, arguing that the USSR was the best place for Yiddish culture to flourish, and he moved to Moscow in 1934. Dara Horn writes:
Sign Up For Our E-Mail List Get the latest from Mosaic right in your inbox
More about: Arts & Culture, Joseph Stalin, Shtetl, Soviet Jewry, Yiddish literature