Tag #153961 - Interview #78048 (lev mistetskiy)

I was working in Yampol in 1953 when the Doctors' Plot 36 began. At that time I knew that it was all undertaken against Jews. Anti-Semitism was growing stronger and people had hostile attitudes towards Jews. There were rumors that Jews were to be deported to the Far East. This lasted two months. On 5th March 1953 Stalin died. People were openly crying and so was I, but when Nikita Khrushchev 37 spoke about the crimes of Stalin's regime at the Twentieth Party Congress 38, I believed him at once. We knew this all, but we didn't want to believe or admit this truth. I recalled the arrests in 1937, when they imprisoned outstanding people, military commanders and party activists. They told us back then that Yakir 39 and other military commanders were enemies of the people and we believed this, until it turned out they fell victim to unjust arrests. Everything Khrushchev said confirmed what I had in mind.