УШАНУВАННЯ ПАМ’ЯТІ СОЛОМОНА МІХОЕЛСА У 1948 РОЦІ (ЗА МАТЕРІАЛАМИ ГАЗЕТИ «ЕЙНІКАЙТ»)

Abstract

The article highlights the measures taken and carried out to honor the memory of Solomon Mikhoels in 1948. This happened in the context of the Soviet leadership’s position of expectation regarding the liquidation of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee and the deployment of the struggle against «rootless cosmopolitanism». The basis of the research was the issues of the newspaper «Eynikayt», which were published throughout 1948 until the closing of the newspaper’s editorial office on November 20 (now copies of the newspaper are kept in particular in the funds of the Department of the Jewish Foundation of the Manuscript Institute of the National Library of Ukraine named after V. I. Vernadsky). It was found that the initiative for planning and implementing these events belonged to both the authorities and representatives of the Jewish public, who were connected to Solomon Mikhoels by friendly and professional ties. The latter’s motives should be explained by the desire to honor the memory of a loved one. Instead, it is suggested that the Soviet leadership could thus pursue the goal of dispelling possible suspicions of involvement in the man’s murder. The measures mentioned above included the payment of one-time financial support to the artist’s family members; granting the name of Mikhoels to the Moscow State Jewish Theater, a school that functioned at the theater and cultural center in the city of Birobidzhan; establishment of scholarships named after the deceased for students of the State Institute of Theater Arts named after A. V. Lunacharsky and the Moscow Jewish Theater School; a lengthy article by Itsik Fefer dedicated to the memory of Mikhoels; publication of a book in memory of the man; memorial evenings, «Mikhoels-lectures», the creation of a sculpture of an artist by a graduate of the Repin Institute of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. The article defines the open issue of the payment of the scholarships declared in the newspaper’s publications to the recipients of education at two educational institutions and the pension of Mikhoels’ daughter Nina as measures initiated by the authorities.