Whispers of Hatred

Leningrad writer Nina Katerli first heard about the bizarre leaflet from a friend. A cooperative venture called EXODUS was announcing plans for a special event to take place at 4 a.m. on March 13. Anyone seeking information was advised to call Katerli's home telephone. A noted author of moral parables, Katerli is of Jewish, Russian and Polish descent and has become used to such crude ethnic provocations ever since she started drawing public attention to anti-Semitism in the Russian nationalist movement.

For the past 15 months Katerli has been in court fighting charges that she defamed local Patriot society leader Alexander Romanenko by comparing passages in his book The Class Character of Zionism with Nazi writings. In her view, the official propaganda campaign against "Zionist racism" has been a form of sanctioned anti-Semitism. Now that glasnost is flourishing, she is worried about more virulent forms of prejudice as Russian nationalists seek a scapegoat to blame for seven decades of Communist misrule.

Pamyat, a hodgepodge of rabid Russian nationalist groups, some operating in secret, spins out tales of a historic Jewish-Masonic conspiracy against Russia. The organization looks for Masonic symbols everywhere, even in the five-pointed red stars atop Kremlin towers. A "de-Zionization" program, attributed to Pamyat, urges that Jews and their relations not be allowed to acquire degrees, join the Communist Party or hold elective office until their numbers in the ruling elite are brought into proportional balance with the population at large.

What worries Jews and many non-Jewish Soviets is that such nationalistic ravings might gain support in a time of heightened ethnic tensions and economic uncertainty. In January a band of some 50 Pamyat supporters disrupted a meeting of liberal writers in Moscow, waving anti-Semitic banners and shouting racist slogans. One hooligan warned the crowd, "We have come this time with a megaphone -- but next time with a gun." On a video clip shown on state-run television, a protester shouted, "Neither the KGB nor the party can help you now. We will be masters of the country, and you, bastards, should take off for Israel."

That incident has sparked rumors across the country that a wave of pogroms against Jews would begin on May 5. Nationalist groups have disavowed any connection to recent anti-Semitic actions, but not in a way that would comfort Jews: writer Stanislav Zolottsev has suggested that it is a provocation aimed at persuading American officials to allow more Soviet Jews to enter the U.S. as political refugees. However, the Moscow prosecutor has begun investigations to determine if Pamyat supporters should be charged with "inciting national and racial hatred and strife." If the inquiry results in a trial, it will be the first time the law has been invoked since Mikhail Gorbachev came to power.