After Babi Yar: The Influence of Nazi Propaganda on the Rise of Anti-Semitism in Kiev during World War II and in the Postwar Years, 1941–53

My paper will discuss the increase of anti-Semitism in Kiev after the Babi Yar tragedy and the factors that contributed to this process. I will analyze in my presentation the influence of Nazi propaganda on the rise of popular anti-Semitism in Kiev, the various forms of anti-Semitism in the city from latent to violent, the response of the Jewish population and Soviet authorities to the rise of popular anti-Semitism in Kiev, the transition from popular to state anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union in the late 1940s-early 1950s.
During the first days of the occupation of Kiev the Nazis and their local collaborators killed at the Babi Yar ravine, according to different calculations, from 33,000 to 100,000 Jews. The Nazi occupation of Kiev continued for more than two years, from September 1941 to November 1943. During the entire time Kiev was occupied the Nazis spread virulent anti-Semitic propaganda.
After the end of World War II surviving Jews returned from evacuation and fronts to Kiev.  They faced strong anti-Semitism of the local population, including social discrimination, insults and open violence. The Soviet authorities often failed to protect Jews from popular anti-Semitism. Some part of the local administration shared the anti-Semitic ideas and later, in the end of the 1940s - beginning of the 1950s, the authorities used the anti-Semitic mood of the local population in Kiev and other cities of the Soviet Union for preparation and organization of the anti-Cosmopolitan campaign that was mainly directed against Jews.