ד"ר לאוניד סמילוביצקי

תפקיד: חוקר בכיר

דואר אלקטרוני: smilov@zahav.net.il

תחומי מחקר:

The research is primarily based on archival material from Israel, Belarus and Russia, as well as press clippings, collections of documents, statistical data, memoirs and interviews, and monographs published on the subject in different countries. Elements of this research have already been published in various academic journals.

רקע אקדמי:

Belarus is a historical crossroads of Europe, a country with an area 10 times larger than that of Israel. The republic is located between the Baltic states, Poland, Russia and Ukraine. The Jews of Belarus have always been a part of the Russian Empire. They are known for their great achievements in Jewish learning, traditions, economy, culture, science, and art. In 1941, the Jews of Belarus constituted 10 percent of the total population of the Republic, but by 1944, when Belarus was liberated, 800 thousand Jews had already been killed by the Nazis. Between 1944 and 1946, the remainder of the Jewish community took an active part in the renovation of the economic, cultural and scientific life of Belarus. Beginning in 1946, the attitude of the authorities towards Jews became harsher, reaching a peak of bad relations in 1948-1953. The Jews were blamed for “bourgeoisie nationalism” on the one hand and “rootless cosmopolitanism” on the other. Yiddish culture was made illegal and Jewish institutions were shut down. The peak of this attack involved the doctor’s libel in 1953. The short period between the end of World War II and the death of Stalin turned out to be a time of awakening for those Jews who had survived the Holocaust’s horrors and expected to reconstruct national Jewish life on Belarusian soil.

​רשימת פרסומים:

Books and Monographs:

• Jews in Belarus: From Our Common History, 1905-1953. (Minsk, 1999), 360 pp. (Russian). ISBN 985-611-942-1

• The Holocaust in Belorussia, 1941-1944, Tel Aviv 2000, 432 pp. ISBN 965-7094-24-0

• Jews in Turov: History of a Shtetl in Mozyr’s Polesye Region. Jerusalem 2008, 846 pp. ISBN 978-965-555-352-9

• Jewish Life in Belarus. The final decade of the Stalin regime, 1944–1953, Central European University Press (CEU Press), Budapest - New York, 2014, 346 pp.

• Censorship in Postwar Belorussia, 1944-1956. Jerusalem 2015, 398 pp. ISBN 978-965-92411-0-1

• Lev Smilovitsky. From My Life Experience. Memories. Jerusalem, 1988-2016, 192 pp. ISBN 978-965-92411-1-8

• Jews in Belarus: Before and After the Holocaust, Jerusalem 5781/2020, 491 pp. ISBN 978-965-92411-2-5
  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qJop4gjQhFVtWwBG7-Yqx71XqKIsHRdv/view?usp=sharing

• Jews in Belarus During the Holocaust, Tel Aviv 5782/2021, 457 pp. ISBN 978-965-92411-3-2
  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pc9_jqWs9xtxUICyPqf0xDoVvCP1ZmcC/view?usp=sharing

Referred Articles:

• Jewish Religious Life in Bobruisk, 1944-1954 // Jews in Eastern Europe, No2 (27), 1995, pp.43-54 (Hebrew University of Jerusalem).

• Jewish Religious Life in Minsk, 1944-1953 // Jews in Eastern Europe, No 2(30), 1996, pp. 5-17.

• Righteous Gentiles, the Partisans and Jewish Survival in Belorussia, 1941-1944 // Holocaust and Genocide Studies (United States Memorial Museum and Research Institute in Washington), Vol. 11 (3), Winter 1997, pp. 301-329

• Jewish Religious Leadership in Belorussia, 1939-1953, Shvut, No 8(24), 1999, pp. 87-122

• The Non-Jewish Reaction to the “Doctors’ Plot” in Belorussia: In the Light of New Documents (January-March 1953). // Shvut, No 9 (25), 2000, pp. 67-92.

• Jews in Belorussia’s Judicial System, 1944-1953 // East European Jewish Affairs, Vol.32, No1,Summer2002,pp.65-99.

• A Demographic Profile of the Jews in Belorussia from the Pre-war to the Post-war time // Journal of Genocide Research (New York), vol. 5 (1) 2003, pp. 117-129.

• A Belorussian Border Shtetl in the 1920s and 1930s: The Case of Turov, Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe, Summer, 1 (50) 2003, pp. 109-137.

• Participation of Jews in Reconstruction of Economy and Culture during the First Decade after the Liberation of the Belarus. “Existiert das Ghetto noch?” WeiBrussland: Judisches Uberleben gegen nationalsozialistische Herrschaft, Projektgruppe Belarus (Hg.), Assoziation A, Berlin 2003, s. 277-29

• Anti-Semitism in the Soviet Partisan Movement, 1941–1944: The Case of Belorussia, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 2006, issue 20(2): pp. 207-234.

• Jews under Soviet Rule: attempts to renew Jewish Life during the post war reconstruction period: Case of Belarus, 1944-1953”. In: Cahiers du Monde Russe (Paris). French Research Centre D'études des Mondes Russe, Caucasien Etcentre-Européen. Special issue devoted to WWII Aftermath in Soviet Union/ April-September 2008, vol. 49/2-3, pp. 475-514.

• Attitude of the Leadership of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and its Jewish Population to the Formation of the State of Israel). Journal of the Jewish University in Moscow, 2011, pp.108-120.

• “Israeli Reflections on the History of Belarus: An Overview of Archival Collections and Research Centers. Institute of Civic Space and Public Policy of Lazarski University in Warsaw. Tom zbiorowy Ed. by Siobhan Doucette, Andrej Dynko, Ales Pashkevich.Warsaw, 2011, pp. 50-62.

• “Soviet Jews write to the Red Army (1941–1945). Creation of a collection of War time letters in the Diaspora Research Centre at Tel Aviv University” // Russkii arkhiv, # 4, (vol. 6) 2014, pp. 236-252.

• “Nazi crimes in the Soviet Union as reflected in letters, diaries and memoirs of natives of Belarus (1941-1945): a comparative analysis”. Belarusian Review, vol. 26 (1-2), April 2014, pp. 10-14.

• “Correspondence in Yiddish between personnel in Red Army and their relatives during Soviet German war, 1941-1945”. // Studia Zydowski Almanach (Jewish Studies. Almanac). R. V (2015). Nr. 5, s. 133-143.

• Jewish Studies in Belarus Judaic: history, current state and prospective (in cooperation with Professor Z. Shibeko) // Belarusian Review. Special Jewish Issue in cooperation with GG Diaspora Research Centre. Prague 2016, pp. 7-12.