Bulldoggus
Banned
I wanted to have an in-party group similar to Militiant. So I went with the injoke.
Reds fanfic
- Thread starter E. Burke
- Start date
A good read. I'm assuming Stevens is based on Chiune Sugihara?
A slight spoonerism--it's Nefesh Yehudi.
Bookmark1995
Banned
Thank you. He was a mixture of Sugihara and Hiram Bingham IV, the OTL American consul of Marseilles who helped thousands of French Jews escape Vichy France.
I based his fate on Oscar Schindler's post-war descent in poverty and obscurity.
Gonna edit that. Thanks.
Media Mogul Ted Kennedy Dies at Age 77
The Times obituary
August 27th, 2009
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy, the American-born owner of Mirror-MGM and founder of Global News Inc. died at age 77 on Tuesday. Once a promising politician as part of one of Cuba's most influential political dynasties (indeed the brother of its first post-MacArthur president), after his political career was ended, he went on to become a successful businessman, and eventually a giant in the news and entertainment industries. His hobnobbing with politicians and entertainment figures alike made a fixture of the tabloids. His mark on news in the Franco-British Union cannot be understated.
Kennedy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 22nd, 1932, to businessman and Democratic power maker Joseph Kennedy, Sr. and his wife Rose, the daughter of Boston's former mayor John Fitzgerald. He was the youngest of nine children, including future Cuban President Robert Kennedy. A year later, he, with the rest of his family, fled to Cuba, along with other prominent politicians, with the defeat of the White Army on the mainland. Shortly after, his father rose to MacArthur's inner circle as Secretary of Interior (partly because of purges) . Kennedy would be educated primarily in Cuba and the UK, benefiting from his father's position in the junta. Ultimately, despite middling grades, he would go on to graduate from Oxford and the University of Havana law school. After the latter graduation in 1959, his father arranged for him to become an aid to the Brazilian ambassador for several years, and eventually, he would become a Congressman representing the National Salvation Front from Santiago in 1962, serving along with his brothers John and Robert. Congress functioned effectively as a rubber-stamp for MacArthur to legitimize his policies. Kennedy later recalled his frustrations with Congress, particularly their reluctance to change. With MacArthur's death in 1964, Ted's brother Robert was chosen as his successor. Ted would work with his brother to finally bring democracy to Cuba and help the Spanish minority. His charisma and appeal with the native Cuban populace was noted, especially his flawless Spanish. He would become a key player in the Progressive "New Guard" faction of the NSF, which would evolve into the modern Progress Party. [1] However, in 1967, his political star would fall, when he and his car were discovered crashed in a forest. As he recovered in the hospital, it arose that he was visiting a mistress. The resulting press coverage ended his marriage to Marie (nee McCoy) and forced his resignation.
He decamped to the FBU, where he decided, given the end of his political career and the death of his father, to use his political voice and vision in a different fashion. That's when he used his family money to buy out the struggling paper The Daily Mirror in 1970, which had been allied to the former Right Labour faction of the PA. Kennedy, a classical liberal, proved to be a good political fit for the paper, and he revived the paper with a very social liberal, centrist bent. While still supporting capitalism overall, he also backed minority rights and social equality. This made it popular as an alternative to other, social conservative papers on the right, especially among classical liberals and centrists.
With the success of his paper, he would have regular interactions with politicians, particularly the Liberal and Right Social Democrat factions of the People's Alliance. His influence and wealth allowed him to expand into other ventures in regards to news. He purchased several TV stations in the late 70's, and using the new technology of satellite, he created Global News, one of the first 24-hour news channels in 1980. However, despite this growing influence, his criticism of some of the FBU's policies prompted surveillance and sabotage from the government. The JSB gained numerous documents from the NBI archives about Kennedy, and feed more incriminating information to other newspapers (Full Disclosure: The Times was one of the papers who published those claims. We regret our shortsightedness). More disruptable tabloids were given (completely fabricated) evidence that he was a Red spy or a communist sympathizer. His problems with alcoholism was also amplified through the tabloids. They also blocked numerous purchases for Kennedy on various spurious ground, and tried to restrict Global News broadcasting. However, unlike other media figures who ran afoul of the government, Kennedy remained above-ground and successful due to his family and high connections in the Cuban government.
In 1985, Kennedy purchased MGM, and started up a television division. The venture was to expand out his investments. Ultimately, he placed all enterprises under him (Global News, MGM, Daily Mirror) into a corporation, Mirror-MGM, which ultimately merged with Maxwell Publishing in 1993, giving him more leverage over publishing. He spent his later years handling these properties, before retiring from business in 1999. He considered going back into politics, but ultimately retired back to Cuba.
He was also the main figure in mending a family rift. In 1975, he met with his long estranged older brother Joseph Kennedy Jr, who had remained in the UASR and became a decorated Red Army veteran. Ted now being a Franco-British citizen allowed him and his brother to met (Other Kennedys were Cuban citizens). They exchanged contacts, and the two did communicate later on occasion. Ted became the only Kennedy to officially communicate with his brother after the Revolution before the latter's death. He also attempted a similar dialogue with his sister Rose (who had defected to the UASR in 1941 to escape her father's attempt to have her lobotomized), but she refused to speak to him (despite Joe's insistence)
Ted is survived by his second wife, Marie, and his 4 children with his first wife. His son, Patrick, is currently a member of the Cuban Congress as a Progressive.
[1] From @Mr. C 's list of Cuban political parties
The Times obituary
August 27th, 2009
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy, the American-born owner of Mirror-MGM and founder of Global News Inc. died at age 77 on Tuesday. Once a promising politician as part of one of Cuba's most influential political dynasties (indeed the brother of its first post-MacArthur president), after his political career was ended, he went on to become a successful businessman, and eventually a giant in the news and entertainment industries. His hobnobbing with politicians and entertainment figures alike made a fixture of the tabloids. His mark on news in the Franco-British Union cannot be understated.
Kennedy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 22nd, 1932, to businessman and Democratic power maker Joseph Kennedy, Sr. and his wife Rose, the daughter of Boston's former mayor John Fitzgerald. He was the youngest of nine children, including future Cuban President Robert Kennedy. A year later, he, with the rest of his family, fled to Cuba, along with other prominent politicians, with the defeat of the White Army on the mainland. Shortly after, his father rose to MacArthur's inner circle as Secretary of Interior (partly because of purges) . Kennedy would be educated primarily in Cuba and the UK, benefiting from his father's position in the junta. Ultimately, despite middling grades, he would go on to graduate from Oxford and the University of Havana law school. After the latter graduation in 1959, his father arranged for him to become an aid to the Brazilian ambassador for several years, and eventually, he would become a Congressman representing the National Salvation Front from Santiago in 1962, serving along with his brothers John and Robert. Congress functioned effectively as a rubber-stamp for MacArthur to legitimize his policies. Kennedy later recalled his frustrations with Congress, particularly their reluctance to change. With MacArthur's death in 1964, Ted's brother Robert was chosen as his successor. Ted would work with his brother to finally bring democracy to Cuba and help the Spanish minority. His charisma and appeal with the native Cuban populace was noted, especially his flawless Spanish. He would become a key player in the Progressive "New Guard" faction of the NSF, which would evolve into the modern Progress Party. [1] However, in 1967, his political star would fall, when he and his car were discovered crashed in a forest. As he recovered in the hospital, it arose that he was visiting a mistress. The resulting press coverage ended his marriage to Marie (nee McCoy) and forced his resignation.
He decamped to the FBU, where he decided, given the end of his political career and the death of his father, to use his political voice and vision in a different fashion. That's when he used his family money to buy out the struggling paper The Daily Mirror in 1970, which had been allied to the former Right Labour faction of the PA. Kennedy, a classical liberal, proved to be a good political fit for the paper, and he revived the paper with a very social liberal, centrist bent. While still supporting capitalism overall, he also backed minority rights and social equality. This made it popular as an alternative to other, social conservative papers on the right, especially among classical liberals and centrists.
With the success of his paper, he would have regular interactions with politicians, particularly the Liberal and Right Social Democrat factions of the People's Alliance. His influence and wealth allowed him to expand into other ventures in regards to news. He purchased several TV stations in the late 70's, and using the new technology of satellite, he created Global News, one of the first 24-hour news channels in 1980. However, despite this growing influence, his criticism of some of the FBU's policies prompted surveillance and sabotage from the government. The JSB gained numerous documents from the NBI archives about Kennedy, and feed more incriminating information to other newspapers (Full Disclosure: The Times was one of the papers who published those claims. We regret our shortsightedness). More disruptable tabloids were given (completely fabricated) evidence that he was a Red spy or a communist sympathizer. His problems with alcoholism was also amplified through the tabloids. They also blocked numerous purchases for Kennedy on various spurious ground, and tried to restrict Global News broadcasting. However, unlike other media figures who ran afoul of the government, Kennedy remained above-ground and successful due to his family and high connections in the Cuban government.
In 1985, Kennedy purchased MGM, and started up a television division. The venture was to expand out his investments. Ultimately, he placed all enterprises under him (Global News, MGM, Daily Mirror) into a corporation, Mirror-MGM, which ultimately merged with Maxwell Publishing in 1993, giving him more leverage over publishing. He spent his later years handling these properties, before retiring from business in 1999. He considered going back into politics, but ultimately retired back to Cuba.
He was also the main figure in mending a family rift. In 1975, he met with his long estranged older brother Joseph Kennedy Jr, who had remained in the UASR and became a decorated Red Army veteran. Ted now being a Franco-British citizen allowed him and his brother to met (Other Kennedys were Cuban citizens). They exchanged contacts, and the two did communicate later on occasion. Ted became the only Kennedy to officially communicate with his brother after the Revolution before the latter's death. He also attempted a similar dialogue with his sister Rose (who had defected to the UASR in 1941 to escape her father's attempt to have her lobotomized), but she refused to speak to him (despite Joe's insistence)
Ted is survived by his second wife, Marie, and his 4 children with his first wife. His son, Patrick, is currently a member of the Cuban Congress as a Progressive.
[1] From @Mr. C 's list of Cuban political parties
Samurai Tanooki: Lunar Eclipse
Samurai Tanooki: Lunar Eclipse is the sequel, 12 issue miniseries to Samurai Tanooki, released between 1994-1998, once again written and drawn by Tatsuo Akai. It was released by the Image Comic Collective. It received positive reviews, though many said it didn't really compare to the first one, and some would criticize its plot as absurd and over-complicated. Some, in particular the far-left, heavily criticized the ending Still, it won a Gaines Award in 2002, and received an adaptation with the animated Tanooki miniseries in 2009.
Two years after the events of the original, Sakurai Tanooki now works as a militia instructor, teaching students endurance and battle strategies. In his off-time, he hangs around Tokyo with historian Hamato (a snow monkey), who he befriended while Hamato was interviewing him about the 18th Century. One day, Tanooki's old friend Aria Miyazaki calls him, and invites him up to Luna City, a large internationally managed city on the Moon. Aria now works as an aide to the Japanese delegation to World Union Congress, and was chosen to assist the Japanese representative to the upcoming "Eclipse Summit", where Imperial Federation Prime Minister S. Chandrakumar (a Bengal Tiger) and World Socialist Premier Javier Bernal (a puma) will discuss completely dismantling their nuclear arsenals, downgrading the worldwide military build-up, and creating worldwide peace and cooperation. They are flanked by General Worthington (a lion) for the Imperialists and Marshal Johnson (a Bison) for the Socialists. Jiro Panda also works in Luna City as a technician.
Tanooki is exploring Luna City and its various borough representing the different cultures that come, when he sees the news that Bernal was shot by a mysterious assailant. A tattoo on his shoulder links him to a right-wing terrorist group called the "Sons of Reactionary Capitalism". When he, Jiro, and Aria are looking at the footage, Jiro finds it odd that the tattoo is that explicitly on camera. He also searches through the database, and finds that reports of this group only go back a few months. He wonders how they could've gotten on the moon. The terrorist reveals the location of his group immediately, which the security forces immediately travel. Sakurai does note how strange it is that he revealed their location so quickly.
A few hours later, Chandrakumar is shot, and a leftist group called the "People's Liberation Democratic Communist Vanguard" claims responsibility on TV. Jiro recognizes the location, and takes Aria and Sakurai there. It turns out to be an apartment complex. They break into the complex, and finds the head of the group, who announced their responsibility, trying to flee. When confronted, he admits he was an out-of-work British actor who was hired by a mysterious group called the Consortium to play the role of a Leftist leader in a low-budget film. He hadn't realized that this was not fictional However, just as he was about to give more information, mysterious robots and soldiers raid the complex and kill the actor, prompting Tanooki and Miyazaki to fight them off. Jiro finds a map of the Moon, and a red line.
The three escape, and they steal space suits to go to the location on the map. They find a mysterious compound in the Tycho Crater, and manage to sneak behind the armed guard. They spy a meeting, where they spy a meeting between Worthington and Johnson. It is revealed that they had arranged to have the assassination attempts happen separately in order to divert security. They decide in the meeting to join forces, and pull off their shared plan: set off a bomb at the meeting, and ensure the Cold War continues. Tanooki and Aria reveal themselves, and attempt to fight them, but are defeated and caught.
When Miyazaki demands to know why the plot is going through, Johnson says that the socialist world would collapse into infighting without a capitalist enemy to unite against. Worthington states that the Imperial Defense apparatus would collapse, and capitalists would also turn on each other, if the deal goes through.Both note that, after 80 years of Cold War, a new status quo cannot be determined to be completely safe, and people have become used to warfare. Sakurai states that he had learn to let go of that mindset, that just because one is used to war doesn't mean that one can't move on and find peace. He implores them not mess up the peace talks, but the two generals leave to enact their plan. Luckily, Jiro breaks them out, and even has a recording of the events on a small video recorder.
The three fight off the soldiers at the Tycho compound, and take the underground train (intended to be used for back-up security back to Luna City. There, Tanooki is forced to fight through to get to the two leaders, while the two Generals order the troops to stall him until the bomb is ready. Aria goes to place the tape of Worthington and Johnson over the projector , and Jiro disarms the bomb. Just as Tanooki is explaining the scenario to the two leaders, Aria places the tape on the projector.
Sakurai, Aria, and Jiro are honored for their efforts in saving the conference. Aria is promoted by vote to a spot on the delegation itself, while Jiro becomes senior technician for Luna City. Worthington, Johnson, and their co-conspirators are arrested, and the peace deal is signed, formally ending the Cold War. As for Sakurai, he arranges for a better militia facility, and for him and Hamato to gain access to artifacts, hoping to stitch together a Tanooki family history.
-----------
Samurai Tanooki: Lunar Eclipse is the sequel, 12 issue miniseries to Samurai Tanooki, released between 1994-1998, once again written and drawn by Tatsuo Akai. It was released by the Image Comic Collective. It received positive reviews, though many said it didn't really compare to the first one, and some would criticize its plot as absurd and over-complicated. Some, in particular the far-left, heavily criticized the ending Still, it won a Gaines Award in 2002, and received an adaptation with the animated Tanooki miniseries in 2009.
Two years after the events of the original, Sakurai Tanooki now works as a militia instructor, teaching students endurance and battle strategies. In his off-time, he hangs around Tokyo with historian Hamato (a snow monkey), who he befriended while Hamato was interviewing him about the 18th Century. One day, Tanooki's old friend Aria Miyazaki calls him, and invites him up to Luna City, a large internationally managed city on the Moon. Aria now works as an aide to the Japanese delegation to World Union Congress, and was chosen to assist the Japanese representative to the upcoming "Eclipse Summit", where Imperial Federation Prime Minister S. Chandrakumar (a Bengal Tiger) and World Socialist Premier Javier Bernal (a puma) will discuss completely dismantling their nuclear arsenals, downgrading the worldwide military build-up, and creating worldwide peace and cooperation. They are flanked by General Worthington (a lion) for the Imperialists and Marshal Johnson (a Bison) for the Socialists. Jiro Panda also works in Luna City as a technician.
Tanooki is exploring Luna City and its various borough representing the different cultures that come, when he sees the news that Bernal was shot by a mysterious assailant. A tattoo on his shoulder links him to a right-wing terrorist group called the "Sons of Reactionary Capitalism". When he, Jiro, and Aria are looking at the footage, Jiro finds it odd that the tattoo is that explicitly on camera. He also searches through the database, and finds that reports of this group only go back a few months. He wonders how they could've gotten on the moon. The terrorist reveals the location of his group immediately, which the security forces immediately travel. Sakurai does note how strange it is that he revealed their location so quickly.
A few hours later, Chandrakumar is shot, and a leftist group called the "People's Liberation Democratic Communist Vanguard" claims responsibility on TV. Jiro recognizes the location, and takes Aria and Sakurai there. It turns out to be an apartment complex. They break into the complex, and finds the head of the group, who announced their responsibility, trying to flee. When confronted, he admits he was an out-of-work British actor who was hired by a mysterious group called the Consortium to play the role of a Leftist leader in a low-budget film. He hadn't realized that this was not fictional However, just as he was about to give more information, mysterious robots and soldiers raid the complex and kill the actor, prompting Tanooki and Miyazaki to fight them off. Jiro finds a map of the Moon, and a red line.
The three escape, and they steal space suits to go to the location on the map. They find a mysterious compound in the Tycho Crater, and manage to sneak behind the armed guard. They spy a meeting, where they spy a meeting between Worthington and Johnson. It is revealed that they had arranged to have the assassination attempts happen separately in order to divert security. They decide in the meeting to join forces, and pull off their shared plan: set off a bomb at the meeting, and ensure the Cold War continues. Tanooki and Aria reveal themselves, and attempt to fight them, but are defeated and caught.
When Miyazaki demands to know why the plot is going through, Johnson says that the socialist world would collapse into infighting without a capitalist enemy to unite against. Worthington states that the Imperial Defense apparatus would collapse, and capitalists would also turn on each other, if the deal goes through.Both note that, after 80 years of Cold War, a new status quo cannot be determined to be completely safe, and people have become used to warfare. Sakurai states that he had learn to let go of that mindset, that just because one is used to war doesn't mean that one can't move on and find peace. He implores them not mess up the peace talks, but the two generals leave to enact their plan. Luckily, Jiro breaks them out, and even has a recording of the events on a small video recorder.
The three fight off the soldiers at the Tycho compound, and take the underground train (intended to be used for back-up security back to Luna City. There, Tanooki is forced to fight through to get to the two leaders, while the two Generals order the troops to stall him until the bomb is ready. Aria goes to place the tape of Worthington and Johnson over the projector , and Jiro disarms the bomb. Just as Tanooki is explaining the scenario to the two leaders, Aria places the tape on the projector.
Sakurai, Aria, and Jiro are honored for their efforts in saving the conference. Aria is promoted by vote to a spot on the delegation itself, while Jiro becomes senior technician for Luna City. Worthington, Johnson, and their co-conspirators are arrested, and the peace deal is signed, formally ending the Cold War. As for Sakurai, he arranges for a better militia facility, and for him and Hamato to gain access to artifacts, hoping to stitch together a Tanooki family history.
-----------
Bookmark1995
Banned
As a Jew, this contribution is mostly wish fulfillment, but something I see as plausible ITTL.
Commonpedia.org
The Jewish Renaissance
The Jewish Renaissance, also known as the Eastern Jewish Renaissance, or The Resurrection (תחיית, t'chiyah) in Hebrew, is a revival of Jewish culture and religion in Eastern bloc and the USSR that began in the late 1970s, with the Cultural Leap and major economic reforms, followed by a small growth in the Jewish population since the late 1990s, reversing a trend of decline that began in the 1930s.
Background
In 1932, Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union were home to the largest Jewish communities in the world, with the biggest being in Poland, with over 3 million Jews. In all of these countries, Jews were disproportionately members of the bourgeois and professional classes.
Despite decades of assimilation, the rise of reactionary fascism, nationalism and the economic hardships of the Great Depression would create an atmosphere of persecution and deprivation for many Jews. The passing of the Nuremberg laws in Nazi Germany would hurt the livelihoods of Germany's Jews. The annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 would extend the Reich's discriminatory policies would extend into these regions. In 1937, Poland's military government would push harsh racial quotas in universities, government professions, and trade unions [1], driving many Polish Jews into poverty. In 1938 and 1939, Romania and Bulgaria would themselves enact anti-Jewish legislation.
Between 1934 and 1940, almost 1 million Jews would [2] emigrate from Europe, mainly to the UASR and Latin American red nations, often aided enthusiastically by the fascist regimes themselves [3].
The Shoah and Post-War Difficulties
The Shoah would devastate European Jewry, with the almost total annihilation of Poland's Jews, and decimation of many other Jewish communities Eastern Europe and the UASR. Many survivors would come home to see property taken over by squatters, and menaced by antisemitic mobs. Some pogroms [4] broke out across territories liberated by Comintern.
While the newly established communist regimes in Eastern Europe were officially opposed to antisemitism, many held an ideological opposition to religious worship. Even ethnically Jewish heads of state like Ana Pauker [5] and Matyas Rakosi [6] were unsympathetic toward the religious aims. The economic policies of the early Red bloc would prove disadvantageous toward many bourgeois Jews trying to rebuild their lives. The horrors of the Second World War and the creation of the Jewish state increased the cultural aspirations of the Soviet Jewry, but these hopes would be dashed by the still repressive Soviet government [7].
The establishment of the state of Palestine, which under the Law of Return allowed Jewish immigration, would trigger a mass exodus of surviving Jewish communities, aided by the pro-Zionist governments of the Eastern bloc [8], except for the Soviet Union initially, which opposed Jewish immigration toward Palestine. In 1954, Molotov surrendered to the demands of Comintern (and allegedly the desires of his wife Polina) [9], and allowed limited Jewish immigration to Palestine (Khrushchev would allow unlimited Jewish immigration in 1959).
Between 1950 and 1970, 1.4 million Jews [10] would emigrate from the Soviet bloc, mainly to Palestine and the UASR. The official Jewish population of Poland fell from a post war high of 250,000 to little over 30,000 [11] by this time, while the Jewish population of the USSR fell by about 1 million, almost half.
Beginnings of the Renaissance
In 1974, various delegates from the Soviet bloc met in the city of Kiev to discuss the growing demands of religious freedom by their respective populations. The Kiev Accords, which were ratified by every nation except Albania [12], assured that religious freedom need not conflict with material and social freedom.
In March 10, 1976, the Polish politburo declared that "private religious celebration is not a threat to the rights of the Polish proletariat", leading to a religious revival. The Jewish community of Poland, officially numbering 30,000, began to rediscover its long buried heritage, but lacked the cultural infrastructure to rebuild. They reached out to the Mir Yeshiva, once the largest yeshiva in Poland before relocating to Jerusalem after the Second World War [13].
Beinush Finkel, the rosh yeshiva (dean) of Jerusalem's Mir Yeshiva, sent his son-in-law and future rosh yeshiva Nosson Finkel to Warsaw. On September 10, 1977 Nosson reopened the Mir yeshiva in Warsaw, a moment that sent shock waves throughout the diaspora, and is the moment that is seen by many as the beginning of the Eastern Jewish Renaissance, as rabbincal training and study returned to former center of the Ashkenazim World. Izthak Halevy, a Palestinian journalist, wrote of a "resurrection of Jewish culture in the European East."
Throughout the 1980s, Jewish communities across the Eastern bloc, leaning on diaspora communities whose descendants immigrated, began to rediscover and rebuild lost cultural institutions. Synagogues and Jewish youth centers began to recover.
The Black Easter Massacre and the Reverse Aliyah
The Black Easter, the first serious act of anti-Semitic violence in Eastern Europe since the end of World War II, was a seminal moment in modern Jewish history. It revealed the sentiment of antisemitism that still persisted throughout the Eastern bloc, as well as the growth of Judaism since the Cultural Leap began.
Despite fears that it would mark the death of Jewish Renaissance, it galvanized both the states to discourage antisemitism and finally provide state support to Jewish cultural life, and brought many closet Jews out of their timidity. While 50,000 Jews did flee the Ukrainian SSR after the attack, they chose to flee to other areas of the Soviet Union instead of Palestine or the UASR.
Throughout 1994 and 1997, the Eastern European states invested heavily in state funded Jewish cultural education, and in campaigns against antisemitism.
By 1998, immigration official noted an unusual statistic. For the first time since the 1930s, more Jews have immigrated to the Soviet bloc then emigrated from it. By 2015, over 200,000 Jews have immigrated from to the Eastern bloc, mainly to the USSR, Poland, and East Germany [14], some of them Jews from the bourgeois Entente, some of them Jews from the UASR and Palestine.
The reversal of a decades-long shift has been credited to the social reforms that have created new opportunities for cultural expression and prosperity, new economic opportunities since economic reform was passed, and state sponsored campaigns against antisemitism launched since Black Easter and funding for Jewish culture, and many of those with partial or hidden Jewish ancestry embracing their long buried faith.
Demographics
Soviet Union
1930: 3.1 million
1939*: 3.2 million
1950: 2.3 million
1980: 1.3 million
1990: 1.2 million
2010: 1.4 million
Poland
1930: 3.3 million
1939: 3.1 million
1950: 250,000
1980: 30,000
1990: 29,000
2010: 35,000
East Germany
1930**: 510,000
1939***: 100,000
1950: 20,000
1980: 15,000
1990: 14,000
2010: 40,000
Hungary:
1930: 430,000
1939: 400,000
1950: 150,000
1980: 60,000
1990: 58,000
2010: 65,000
[1] Well before the Holocaust, Poland's Jews were already being victimized by anti-semitism
[2] According to this post by Jello, Czechoslovak, German, Austrian, and Polish Jews were able to escape in greater numbers. I calculated based off of OTL census records that about 400,000 German Jews, 300,000 Czechoslovak Jews, 100,000 Austrian Jews, 200,000 Polish Jews, and ten of thousands of Romanian and Hungarian Jews would be able to immigrate.
[3] OTL fascist nations were pushing their Jewish population to emigrate.
[4] The level of antisemitic violence is post-war Poland is the stuff of nightmares.
[5] Ana Pauker OTL was the technical leader of the Romanian communist party, but she victim to Stalin's "anti-cosmopolitan campaign", because of her pro-Zionist policies, her Jewish heritage, and her opposition to Stalin's more lunatic ideas. ITTL, Molotov being in charge and Israel being a Comintern ally means that she can become Romania's leader.
[6] The dude was a Stalinist par excellence. ITTL, I can still imagine him still being a very repressive and controversial figure.
[7] This was more or less Lenin's policy toward Jews: official equality, but no cultural autonomy. Also OTL, the Soviet government did cover up the antisemitic violence committed against Jews, and under Molotov, I don't see this policy changing.
[8] OTL Stalin only supported Israel when he thought they could be a useful ally. Even Red Czechoslovakia sent them weapons in the 1948 war when America didn't. So I imagine Comintern will remain pro-Zionist as Palestine is considered a useful ally.
[9] Unlike Stalin and Nadezhda, Polina and Molotov were very, very happily married. Polina was supportive of a Jewish state in Crimea (which got her sent to a gulag by Stalin) and good friends with Golda Meir, so I can imagine her being a staunch Zionist (and can convince her husband to be supportive as well)
[10] 1,000,000 Soviet Jews, 200,000 Polish Jews, 100,000 Romanian Jews, 70,000 Hungarian Jews, and smaller numbers of Jews from other states
[11] By 1967, that was the lowest Poland's Jewish population got before Wladyslaw Gomulka's "anti-Zionist" campaign (his asshole attempt at distracting Poland's population from its woes). ITTL, that would probably not occur, and thus 30,000 Jews would stay in Poland.
[12] Enver Hoxha remaining a stubborn dinosaur to the end like OTL.
[13] The OTL story of their escape is really interesting.
[14] OTL, many Israelis have moved to Berlin, seeking cheaper rents. It is a reversal that has not gotten any small amount of coverage by the Israeli media.
Commonpedia.org
The Jewish Renaissance
The Jewish Renaissance, also known as the Eastern Jewish Renaissance, or The Resurrection (תחיית, t'chiyah) in Hebrew, is a revival of Jewish culture and religion in Eastern bloc and the USSR that began in the late 1970s, with the Cultural Leap and major economic reforms, followed by a small growth in the Jewish population since the late 1990s, reversing a trend of decline that began in the 1930s.
Background
In 1932, Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union were home to the largest Jewish communities in the world, with the biggest being in Poland, with over 3 million Jews. In all of these countries, Jews were disproportionately members of the bourgeois and professional classes.
Despite decades of assimilation, the rise of reactionary fascism, nationalism and the economic hardships of the Great Depression would create an atmosphere of persecution and deprivation for many Jews. The passing of the Nuremberg laws in Nazi Germany would hurt the livelihoods of Germany's Jews. The annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 would extend the Reich's discriminatory policies would extend into these regions. In 1937, Poland's military government would push harsh racial quotas in universities, government professions, and trade unions [1], driving many Polish Jews into poverty. In 1938 and 1939, Romania and Bulgaria would themselves enact anti-Jewish legislation.
Between 1934 and 1940, almost 1 million Jews would [2] emigrate from Europe, mainly to the UASR and Latin American red nations, often aided enthusiastically by the fascist regimes themselves [3].
The Shoah and Post-War Difficulties
The Shoah would devastate European Jewry, with the almost total annihilation of Poland's Jews, and decimation of many other Jewish communities Eastern Europe and the UASR. Many survivors would come home to see property taken over by squatters, and menaced by antisemitic mobs. Some pogroms [4] broke out across territories liberated by Comintern.
While the newly established communist regimes in Eastern Europe were officially opposed to antisemitism, many held an ideological opposition to religious worship. Even ethnically Jewish heads of state like Ana Pauker [5] and Matyas Rakosi [6] were unsympathetic toward the religious aims. The economic policies of the early Red bloc would prove disadvantageous toward many bourgeois Jews trying to rebuild their lives. The horrors of the Second World War and the creation of the Jewish state increased the cultural aspirations of the Soviet Jewry, but these hopes would be dashed by the still repressive Soviet government [7].
The establishment of the state of Palestine, which under the Law of Return allowed Jewish immigration, would trigger a mass exodus of surviving Jewish communities, aided by the pro-Zionist governments of the Eastern bloc [8], except for the Soviet Union initially, which opposed Jewish immigration toward Palestine. In 1954, Molotov surrendered to the demands of Comintern (and allegedly the desires of his wife Polina) [9], and allowed limited Jewish immigration to Palestine (Khrushchev would allow unlimited Jewish immigration in 1959).
Between 1950 and 1970, 1.4 million Jews [10] would emigrate from the Soviet bloc, mainly to Palestine and the UASR. The official Jewish population of Poland fell from a post war high of 250,000 to little over 30,000 [11] by this time, while the Jewish population of the USSR fell by about 1 million, almost half.
Beginnings of the Renaissance
In 1974, various delegates from the Soviet bloc met in the city of Kiev to discuss the growing demands of religious freedom by their respective populations. The Kiev Accords, which were ratified by every nation except Albania [12], assured that religious freedom need not conflict with material and social freedom.
In March 10, 1976, the Polish politburo declared that "private religious celebration is not a threat to the rights of the Polish proletariat", leading to a religious revival. The Jewish community of Poland, officially numbering 30,000, began to rediscover its long buried heritage, but lacked the cultural infrastructure to rebuild. They reached out to the Mir Yeshiva, once the largest yeshiva in Poland before relocating to Jerusalem after the Second World War [13].
Beinush Finkel, the rosh yeshiva (dean) of Jerusalem's Mir Yeshiva, sent his son-in-law and future rosh yeshiva Nosson Finkel to Warsaw. On September 10, 1977 Nosson reopened the Mir yeshiva in Warsaw, a moment that sent shock waves throughout the diaspora, and is the moment that is seen by many as the beginning of the Eastern Jewish Renaissance, as rabbincal training and study returned to former center of the Ashkenazim World. Izthak Halevy, a Palestinian journalist, wrote of a "resurrection of Jewish culture in the European East."
Throughout the 1980s, Jewish communities across the Eastern bloc, leaning on diaspora communities whose descendants immigrated, began to rediscover and rebuild lost cultural institutions. Synagogues and Jewish youth centers began to recover.
The Black Easter Massacre and the Reverse Aliyah
The Black Easter, the first serious act of anti-Semitic violence in Eastern Europe since the end of World War II, was a seminal moment in modern Jewish history. It revealed the sentiment of antisemitism that still persisted throughout the Eastern bloc, as well as the growth of Judaism since the Cultural Leap began.
Despite fears that it would mark the death of Jewish Renaissance, it galvanized both the states to discourage antisemitism and finally provide state support to Jewish cultural life, and brought many closet Jews out of their timidity. While 50,000 Jews did flee the Ukrainian SSR after the attack, they chose to flee to other areas of the Soviet Union instead of Palestine or the UASR.
Throughout 1994 and 1997, the Eastern European states invested heavily in state funded Jewish cultural education, and in campaigns against antisemitism.
By 1998, immigration official noted an unusual statistic. For the first time since the 1930s, more Jews have immigrated to the Soviet bloc then emigrated from it. By 2015, over 200,000 Jews have immigrated from to the Eastern bloc, mainly to the USSR, Poland, and East Germany [14], some of them Jews from the bourgeois Entente, some of them Jews from the UASR and Palestine.
The reversal of a decades-long shift has been credited to the social reforms that have created new opportunities for cultural expression and prosperity, new economic opportunities since economic reform was passed, and state sponsored campaigns against antisemitism launched since Black Easter and funding for Jewish culture, and many of those with partial or hidden Jewish ancestry embracing their long buried faith.
Demographics
Soviet Union
1930: 3.1 million
1939*: 3.2 million
1950: 2.3 million
1980: 1.3 million
1990: 1.2 million
2010: 1.4 million
Poland
1930: 3.3 million
1939: 3.1 million
1950: 250,000
1980: 30,000
1990: 29,000
2010: 35,000
East Germany
1930**: 510,000
1939***: 100,000
1950: 20,000
1980: 15,000
1990: 14,000
2010: 40,000
Hungary:
1930: 430,000
1939: 400,000
1950: 150,000
1980: 60,000
1990: 58,000
2010: 65,000
[1] Well before the Holocaust, Poland's Jews were already being victimized by anti-semitism
[2] According to this post by Jello, Czechoslovak, German, Austrian, and Polish Jews were able to escape in greater numbers. I calculated based off of OTL census records that about 400,000 German Jews, 300,000 Czechoslovak Jews, 100,000 Austrian Jews, 200,000 Polish Jews, and ten of thousands of Romanian and Hungarian Jews would be able to immigrate.
[3] OTL fascist nations were pushing their Jewish population to emigrate.
[4] The level of antisemitic violence is post-war Poland is the stuff of nightmares.
[5] Ana Pauker OTL was the technical leader of the Romanian communist party, but she victim to Stalin's "anti-cosmopolitan campaign", because of her pro-Zionist policies, her Jewish heritage, and her opposition to Stalin's more lunatic ideas. ITTL, Molotov being in charge and Israel being a Comintern ally means that she can become Romania's leader.
[6] The dude was a Stalinist par excellence. ITTL, I can still imagine him still being a very repressive and controversial figure.
[7] This was more or less Lenin's policy toward Jews: official equality, but no cultural autonomy. Also OTL, the Soviet government did cover up the antisemitic violence committed against Jews, and under Molotov, I don't see this policy changing.
[8] OTL Stalin only supported Israel when he thought they could be a useful ally. Even Red Czechoslovakia sent them weapons in the 1948 war when America didn't. So I imagine Comintern will remain pro-Zionist as Palestine is considered a useful ally.
[9] Unlike Stalin and Nadezhda, Polina and Molotov were very, very happily married. Polina was supportive of a Jewish state in Crimea (which got her sent to a gulag by Stalin) and good friends with Golda Meir, so I can imagine her being a staunch Zionist (and can convince her husband to be supportive as well)
[10] 1,000,000 Soviet Jews, 200,000 Polish Jews, 100,000 Romanian Jews, 70,000 Hungarian Jews, and smaller numbers of Jews from other states
[11] By 1967, that was the lowest Poland's Jewish population got before Wladyslaw Gomulka's "anti-Zionist" campaign (his asshole attempt at distracting Poland's population from its woes). ITTL, that would probably not occur, and thus 30,000 Jews would stay in Poland.
[12] Enver Hoxha remaining a stubborn dinosaur to the end like OTL.
[13] The OTL story of their escape is really interesting.
[14] OTL, many Israelis have moved to Berlin, seeking cheaper rents. It is a reversal that has not gotten any small amount of coverage by the Israeli media.
Bookmark1995
Banned
It didn't get occupied. The fascists were ferociously resisted as they entered Palestinian territory.
Molotov's wife Polina was accused not of zionism (or cosmopolitanism), but of violation of the secrecy regime.
Bookmark1995
Banned
According to Wikipedia, Stalin had her arrested for proposing a Jewish Crimean state.
I relied on the sights of Alexander Vladlenovich Shubin - a famous Russian historian.
As long as the Co-op system and thus the market remains, such things cannot be negated entirely, only delayed and lessened.
To speak of this more would be spoilers neither me nor Jello are willing to reveal.
Bookmark1995
Banned
I think that even when recessions do happen, they are much less severe than OTL, for several reasons:
1. The lack of excessive consumerism and non-stagnant wages means that overspending and over-consumption isn't as common, and the cycles of demand and cutbacks aren't as extreme.
2. Strong financial regulations (policies that make Glass Steagall seem kind) prevent severe over-speculation and financial bubbles.
3. A generous welfare state that is more sympathetic towards the unemployed, and can provide with them with sufficient aid.
1. The lack of excessive consumerism and non-stagnant wages means that overspending and over-consumption isn't as common, and the cycles of demand and cutbacks aren't as extreme.
2. Strong financial regulations (policies that make Glass Steagall seem kind) prevent severe over-speculation and financial bubbles.
3. A generous welfare state that is more sympathetic towards the unemployed, and can provide with them with sufficient aid.
https://discord.gg/znM2v3U Also here's the discord link in case people missed it the first time it was posted.
Yeah, material scarcity and the value form's existence with the market economy makes the booms and busts inevitable, but they will be different in a more cooperative and collectivist system with heavier planning mechanism involved.
They became lessened and could be delayed. The shocks could be lessened too.
They became lessened and could be delayed. The shocks could be lessened too.
I wonder what TTL's version of Animal Farm looks like. I imagine a somewhat more optimistic ending.