Night of the Murdered Poets

The Night of the Murdered Poets (Russian: Дело Еврейского антифашистского комитета, romanized: Dela Yevreyskovo antifashistskovo komiteta, lit.

'Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee affair'; Yiddish: הרוגי מלכות פֿונעם ראַטנפאַרבאַנד, romanized: Harugim malkhes funem Ratnfarband, lit.

Other members of the committee were prominent Yiddish literary figures, actors, and doctors who wanted to help influence Jewish support for the Soviet Union through their writing and also using radio broadcasts from Russia to different countries.

"[3][4] The charges filed against the accused included mentions of "counterrevolutionary crimes" and organized action meant to "topple, undermine, or weaken the Soviet Union.

"[5] Additionally, the inculpation revealed that the investigation uncovered evidence that the accused had used the JAC as a means for spying and promoting anti-government sentiment.

[5] Overemphasis on exchanges of relatively innocuous information between the JAC leadership and Jews in other countries, particularly American journalists, augmented accusations of espionage.

[5] Another piece of evidence supporting the indictment was a letter that the leadership of the JAC wrote as a formal request for Crimea to become the new Jewish homeland.

One defendant, Joseph Yuzefovich, told the court at the trial, "I was ready to confess that I was the pope's own nephew and that I was acting on his direct personal orders" after a beating.

Another defendant, Boris Shimeliovich, said he had counted over two thousand blows to his buttocks and heels, but he was the only member of the accused who refused to confess to any crimes.

[25] Alexander Cheptsov, the lead judge of the trial, confronted with such a great number of discrepancies and contradictions, twice made attempts to appeal to the Soviet leadership to reopen the investigation and was denied both times.

The sentence stated that the defendants would receive "the severest measure of punishment for the crimes committed by them jointly: execution, with all of their property to be confiscated.

Weeks after Stalin's death, on 5 March 1953, the new Soviet leadership renounced the Doctors' plot, which led to questions about the similar situation with the JAC defendants.