By Germar Rudolf
Published:
2004-08-01
In celebration of the Golden Calf called political
correctness, a "No-No word of the year" is chosen in Germany at the
beginning of each new year (Unwort des Jahres). In 2003, the word chosen
was "Tätervolk," which means "perpetrator people" or
"perpetrator nation". This term is usually used to refer to the
German people as the perpetrators of 'the Holocaust'. Using this word in this
context does not normally lead to reactions in Germany, since many Germans feel
morally superior when they collectively accuse their own people. However, when
this word was used in the context of Jews as the main perpetrators of
Bolshevist crimes in the early Soviet Union, all hell broke loose.
This happened
in October of 2003, when German Member of Parliament Martin Hohmann, during a
speech entitled "Justice for Germany" (Gerechtigkeit für Deutschland),
pondered the question, whether it was justified that Germany is still today
treated like a criminal among nations for what happened two generations
earlier.[1] He stated that this special treatment is based
upon a concept of hereditary guilt, which is in opposition to all Christian and
modern Western values. He rejected the notion that Germans are a
"perpetrator people" just as he rejected the notion that Jews should
be held collectively responsible for what some ancestors of Jews did during the
Soviet revolution. Neither the Germans nor the Jews, he summarized, are Tätervölker.
That comparison
was enough for him to get publicly ostracized, thrown out of Parliament and out
of his political party (the Christian Socialist CDU), and vilified by the
media. However, a criminal prosecution against him for "inciting to
hatred" had to be stopped after it turned out that he really didn't say
anything wrong. As a result of this, Hohmann's infamous use of the word
"Tätervolk" led to this word being the No-No-word of 2003 chosen by
an obscure, non-democratic prize committee.[2]
This event may
be taken as an opportunity to investigate the issue of disproportionately high
Jewish involvement in the Soviet terror apparatus a little more thoroughly.
In 2001, Nikita
Petrov published an article that sheds some light into this topic. Petrov
investigated the "Tendencies of Change in the Consistency of the Cadre of
the Organs of the Soviet State Security during the Stalin Era."[3] Although the time period covered by Petrov, as far as it
is of interest here, covers only the years from 1934 to 1941, the data
obtainable from documents stored in Soviet archives still allows us to come to
some definite conclusions.
Nationality
|
10 Jul 34
|
1 Oct 36
|
1 Mar 37
|
1 Jul 37
|
Russians
|
30 (31.25%)
|
33 (30.00%)
|
35 (31.53%)
|
38 (33.63%)
|
Jews
|
37 (38.54%)
|
43 (39.09%)
|
42 (37.84%)
|
36 (31.86%)
|
Ukrainians
|
5 (5.21%)
|
6 (5.45%)
|
6 (5.41%)
|
5 (4.42%)
|
Poles
|
4 (4.17%)
|
5 (4.55%)
|
5 (4.50%)
|
4 (3.54%)
|
Latvians
|
7 (7.29%)
|
9 (8.18%)
|
8 (7.21%)
|
7 (6.19%)
|
Germans
|
2 (2.08%)
|
2 (1.82%)
|
2 (1.80%)
|
2 (1.77%)
|
Georgians
|
3 (3.13%)
|
4 (3.64%)
|
5 (4.50%)
|
4 (3.54%)
|
Armenians
|
1 (1.04%)
|
1 (0.91%)
|
1 (0.90%)
|
1 (0.88%)
|
Aserbaijanians
|
1 (1.04%)
|
1 (0.91%)
|
1 (0.90%)
|
1 (0.88%)
|
Belorussians
|
3 (3.13%)
|
2 (1.82%)
|
3 (2.70%)
|
3 (2.65%)
|
Others
|
1 (1.04%)
|
1 (0.91%)
|
-
|
1 (0.88%)
|
No data
|
2 (2.08%)
|
2 (1.82%)
|
3 (2.70%)
|
11 (9.73%)
|
Nationality
|
1 Sep 38
|
1 Jul 39
|
1 Jan 40
|
26 Feb 41
|
Russians
|
85 (56.67%)
|
102 (56.67%)
|
111(64.53%)
|
118 (64.84%)
|
Jews
|
32 (21.33%)
|
6 (3.92%)
|
6 (3.49%)
|
10 (5.49%)
|
Ukrainians
|
10 (6.67%)
|
19 (12.42%)
|
29 (16.86%)
|
28 (15.38%)
|
Poles
|
1 (0.67%)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Latvians
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1 (0.55%)
|
Germans
|
1 (0.67%)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Georgians
|
5 (3.33%)
|
12 (7.84%)
|
12 (6.98%)
|
12 (6.59%)
|
Armenians
|
1 (0.67%)
|
2 (1.31%)
|
2 (1.16%)
|
2 (1.10%)
|
Aserbaijanians
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Belorussians
|
3 (2.00%)
|
1 (0.65%)
|
3 (1.74%)
|
4 (2.20%)
|
Others
|
3 (2.00%)
|
1 (0.65%)
|
1 (0.58%)
|
3 (1.65%)
|
No data
|
9 (6.00%)
|
10 (6.54%)
|
8 (4.65%)
|
4 (2.20%)
|
Table 1, as
taken from Petrov's paper, lists the number of leading staff members of the
Soviet People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD, predecessor of the
later KGB) according to their nationality. Until the outbreak of the Great
Purges in 1937/38, Jews apparently had a huge proportion in the leading
positions of the Soviet terror machinery. Petrov explains in this regard:
"Of
course, the presence of so many Latvians, Poles, and especially Jews in the
leadership of the NKVD is explained by the nature of restrictions prior to
1917, to which they were subjected. With its romanticism of blurring national
borders, the bolshevist regime opened all venues to numerous representatives of
these nationalities. They justly viewed the new state order as 'theirs,' as one
to which they belonged unconditionally. Many representatives of the
nationalities mentioned became active in political and social live and
successfully pursued their careers after October 1917. The leading cadre of the
NKVD reflects this tendency in concentrated form."
Although Jews
were not a larger majority in the Soviet Union than, for example, Germans,
Poles, or the Baltic people, their dominance in the Leadership of the NKVD is
tremendous: They represented the biggest single group, even before the
Russians, who numbered more than 30-times as many people as the Jews. It can be
assumed that the over-representation of Jews in leading positions of the USSR
in general and the NKVD or its predecessors in particular may have been even
greater in the years prior to Stalin's rule; at least it can be assumed that
the initial enthusiasm of members of ethnic or religious minorities for the new
Soviet regime, as it was described by Petrov, decreased with the years between
1918 and 1934, that is, during 17 years of uninterrupted terror. Such a
reduction of the Jewish portion will have resulted only for statistical
reasons, simply because of the sheer numbers of Russians, it was more likely
that a Russian would occupy an available position rather than a Jew.
Table 2:
Nationality of all members of the State Security Services of the USSR[4]
|
|||
Nationality
|
1 Mar 37
|
1 Jan 41
|
30 Nov 50
|
Russian
|
65%
|
66%
|
77.1%
|
Ukrainian
|
11%
|
16%
|
11%
|
Belorussian
|
4%
|
2.7%
|
1.9%
|
Georgian
|
1.2%
|
1.3%
|
1.0%
|
Armenian
|
1.8%
|
1.8%
|
1.3%
|
Aserbaijanian
|
0.4%
|
||
Kasakhian
|
0.8%
|
||
Usbekian
|
0.3%
|
||
Latvian
|
1%
|
0.3%
|
|
Lithuanian
|
0.3%
|
||
Estonian
|
0.2%
|
||
Turkmen
|
0.1%
|
||
Tajikian
|
0.1%
|
||
Kirgisian
|
0.1%
|
||
Karelian and Finish
|
0.1%
|
||
Moldavian
|
0.1%
|
||
Jews
|
7%
|
4%
|
1.5%
|
Other Nationalities
|
3.3%
|
||
"Foreign" Nationalities
|
1.2%
|
0.1%
|
One should keep
in mind, however, that this applies only to leading positions of the NKVD.
Petrov relates in this regard:[5]
"Jews were
not as strongly represented when considering all staff members of the state
security. On March 1, 1937, 7% of all employees of the state security system
were Jews, and on January 1, 1941, this percentage shrank to 4%. During the
years before the war, the principle used to select the cadre members for the
nomenklatura lead to a massive change of the ethnic make-up of the NKVD
apparatus. At that time, no specific politics to remove especially Jews from
the state security existed as yet. That changed between 1950-1953, when the
persecution of the MGB system was directed exclusively against Jews. Already in
1950, Jews made up only 1.5% of the entire strength of the operating
cadre."
To illustrate
this, Table 2 shows the various nationality percentages of all employees
of the state security system. Although even here Jews were still
overrepresented in early 1937, it is not nearly as drastic as in the leading
positions.
Thus, if at the
times of the Red Terror members of an ethnic group representing 80% of the
population (Russians) were responsible for 30% of the terror, and in turn
members of a group representing 1.8% of the population (Jews) were responsibly
for almost 40% of the Terror, then the following relation results:
0.4/0.018 ÷
0.3/0.8 = 22.2 ÷ 0.375 = 59.26
This means that
statistically, the Jews of the Soviet Union bear 59 times more
responsibility for the Red Terror per capita than the Russian
population. Even that does not justify demands for collective guilt, collective
responsibility, collective shame, or accusations of being a "perpetrator
people" as are often and unjustly imposed on the German people. But it
makes understandable, why a German Member of Parliament might touch upon this
issue in his speech.
Whoever claims
that Martin Hohmann made false statements when he explained that Jews bore a
disproportionately huge responsibility for the Red Terror can only claim
ignorance of the facts as an excuse.
Notes
Hohmann
referred to the book by Rogalla von Bieberstein as reviewed in this issue of TR.
For a complete reproduction of his speech and a discussion of the
subsequent "scandal", see Vierteljahreshefte für freie
Geschichtsforschung 7(3&4) (2003), pp. 417-421; online:
www.vho.org/VffG/2003/3/Hohmann417-421.html
|
|
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 20 Jan. 2004.
|
|
Nikita
Petrov, "Veränderungstendenzen im Kaderbestand der Organe der
sowjetischen Staatssicherheit in der Stalin-Zeit", Forum für
osteuropäische Ideen- und Zeitgeschichte, 5(2) (2001),
www1.ku-eichstaett.de/ZIMOS/forum/docs/petrow.htm
|
|
Petrov
gives as sources: "This table was compiled using archival material:
GARF, holding 9401, IL. 8, file 43, sheets 33-34; ibid., file 64,
sheet 24; CA FSB, holding 4-os., IL. 8, file 11, sheets 310-341."
|
|
Ibid.,
footnote 16.
|
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