THE MYTH OF THE KHAZARS

The history of state antisemitism in the USSR is well-known: the struggle against "rootless cosmopolitans" in the late 1940s, the "Doctors' Plot" of the early 1950s, and from the late 1960s the struggle against "World Zionism," accused of striving for world domination. What is less well known is how antisemitic propaganda has developed in late Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, the role it has played in the rebirth of the "Russian idea," and how this development has affected aspects of Russian historiography and belles-lettres.

One fascinating aspect of this problem is the use of the euphemism "Khazars" for Jews and its relation to the image of the "Jewish Khazars" in the rhetoric and worldview of contemporary Russian nationalists. This is the focus of my book.

Like any other ethnocentric myth of the past, in order to be viable the Russian Idea required the discovery and publication of certain "truths." The first concerned the origin of the Russian people and stressed their original ownership of the whole territory of the former Russian Empire or USSR. The second focused on the evil agent who brutally distorted and thwarted Russia's development. The third emphasized that this malevolent agent continued to be a force throughout Russian history. Thus the struggle against this agent was and continues to be Russia's raison d'etre. Russian history was seen to be both cosmic and messianic, with the Russian people serving as the savior of humanity.

In this context, the history of the Khazar Kaganate, which played an important yet not clearly understood role at the earliest period of Russia's state formation in the 9th-10th centuries, met quite well the demands of the Russian nationalist myth of the past, especially because the Khazar nobility converted to Judaism. This fact provided an appropriate pretext for arguing that Jewish intrigues and dominance were to be found from the very beginning of Russian history. This argument particularly affects Russian nationalists because the Russian state and culture were just emerging at that time and were especially vulnerable to external attacks and influences. For the Russian chauvinists this presents a good opportunity to accuse the Jews of encroaching on Russia from its very birth. This argument also conforms to the Jewish world-conspiracy "logic" of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and explains why the Khazar problem became a focus for antisemitic invective.

The following accusations about the Judeo-Khazars were and are made and elaborated by advocates of the Russian Idea:  They brazenly occupied the southern steppes that were originally the homes of the Slavs.  They engaged in financial exploitation and benefited from the trade in Slavic slaves.  They hindered the formation of Kievan Rus, and then forced it to convert to the oppressive Christian religion. Hence the Khazars supposedly subjugated the Russian people and doomed Rus to 1,300 years of backwardness. At the end of this period, in order to destroy Russian culture, they organized the Bolshevik revolution and established a secret dictatorship that used Stalin as a puppet, with Lazar Kaganovich as the actual ruler (as if this "kagan" were a true heir of the Khazar ruler or "khaqan"). This myth was elaborated by some Russian nationalists in the 1970s and 1980s and disseminated widely in "patriotic" periodicals in the 1990s, when the Jews (Khazars) were blamed for breaking up the USSR.

The "Khazar version" of Russian history provided the old myth of Jewish conspiracy with new, seemingly powerful arguments, as well as a justification for Russia's leading role in the struggle against this mortal threat. This view of the past was manifested in several ways. It was developed in the early 1950s by some patriotic archaeologists who tried to prove that the Khazar Empire was just a "parasite state."

The historian Lev Gumilyov made a special contribution to this development by depicting Khazaria as a "chimera" whose goal was to exploit mercilessly the subjugated Slavic population. The Khazars or their most active segment were indiscriminately identified with the Jews. Ironically the book of Arthur Koestler, who argued that the Khazars were direct ancestors of the East European Jews, played a role in this development.

My book analyzes how and why the "Khazar issue" has been treated in Soviet and post-Soviet historiography, belles-lettres, mass media, and textbooks, and how this issue is related to antisemitic discourse. Science fiction and belles-lettres are especially important in this respect since neo-Nazi trends expressed in these types of literature have become prominent and have contributed to preparing the ground for "scientific antisemitism" in contemporary Russia.

Ethnocentric myth-building is considered in terms of its content and meaning, social and ethno-political context, its producers and their strategy. This book demonstrates how the "Khazar myth" is embedded into antisemitic discourse and related to the idea of a "Judeo-Mason plot."  It also illuminates major differences between various factions within Russian nationalism in their attitude and interpretation of the "Khazar episode." Finally, I argue that the "Khazars" became a euphemism commonly used by those Russian antisemites who would like to avoid being accused of antisemitism.

Note.  Victor Shnirelman is a research associate of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. Until November 1991 he is Visiting Professor at the National Museum of Ethnology, 10-1 Senri Expo Park, Suita, Osaka 565-8511, Japan.

Ко-мент: век живи = век учись. Честно говоря никогда не слыхал о такой теории. Мб, кто просветит? На форуме РБК пользуют термин  средиземноморцы  для политкорректности ;)

From: JRL RESEARCH AND ANALYTICAL SUPPLEMENT, Issue No. 1
Editor: Stephen D. Shenfield

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