How Purim Foiled Stalin's Plan: The Untold Story

Twenty million people were killed under the rule of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who became the General Secretary of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union in 1922.

Among those he hated were Jews, and he used his position to unleash antisemitic propaganda.

At that time, there were three million Jews living in the Soviet empire, with thousands targeted by Stalin for one simple reason: hate. The same hatred that drove his antisemitic campaigns also led him to plan the cold-blooded murder of millions of Jews, much like the Nazi tyrant did, and arguably even more so.

Stalin Blamed Jewish Doctors for Murdering Russian Children

In 1947, just two years after World War II ended, Stalin malevolently decided to 'eliminate' thousands of Jewish scientists, public figures, poets, politicians, and celebrities who were wrongfully arrested, imprisoned, and severely tortured.

As part of his slander campaign against the Jews, a media scandal known as the 'Doctors' Trial' emerged, alleging that Jewish doctors abused their positions to murder Russian children and infants.

Of course, this was a cruel fabrication, purely a product of the Soviet despot's imagination, but it served as a sufficient pretext to begin his purge. Initially, Stalin planned to exile the Jews to far-flung, inhospitable regions where the harsh conditions, he hoped, would do most of the deadly work for him.

Stalin Ordered the Deportation to Begin on 3/6/1953

After all, how long could these people survive in the bone-chilling snow and relentless hunger?

Recently discovered documents revealed that Stalin ordered the construction of four labor camps in 1953 for the millions of Jews in his country. Stalin commanded these camps in Kazakhstan, Siberia, and the Arctic.

Numerous trains awaited at the central stations, ready to load the Jews being exiled from their homeland to an unknown fate, to die a slow and brutal death.

This was just a week before Purim.

Stalin ordered the deportation to begin on 3/6/1953, just days after Purim. But the extraordinary, unbelievable miracle began unfolding during Purim itself when Rabbi Yitzchak Zilber, one of the Siberian exiles, excitedly recounted the Purim story to his students. When he reached the part about 'venahafoch hu,' he explained that just when the decree was made, the fortunes of the Jews reversed.

And the 'City' of Siberia - Where Tens of Thousands of Jews Were Exiled - Rejoiced

But then one prisoner stood up and challenged: "Who needs your stories? It happened 2,500 years ago; how is that relevant to us now? We're still prisoners of the Russian tyrant, and if Hitler killed six million of us, now they want to get rid of another three million."

Hearing this, the rabbi calmly and confidently replied: "Indeed, the situation is difficult, but you must remember one thing, my dear Jew: Stalin is just a man, and you never know what might happen to him in the next half-hour... A Jew must never despair."

And astonishingly, within half an hour of Rabbi Zilber's words, rumors spread that Stalin had collapsed following a fit of rage. Soon, global media was filled with varied reports about the critical condition of the Soviet leader, and the 'city' of Siberia - where tens of thousands of Jews had been exiled - was filled with joy and celebration.

"Stalin is dying," reported newspapers worldwide shortly before the scheduled trial of the Jewish doctors, who were about to face grueling trials but were released thanks to that year's Purim miracle - the timely death of the Soviet tyrant on March 5, just a day before his monstrous plan was to be implemented.

May all Hashem's enemies be thwarted.