Russian War Relief: Moses Finleys Evidence

The article publishes and analyses the "Finkelstein Memorandum", an important testimony about the humanitarian assistance that U.S. public organizations provided to the Soviet people during the final period of World War II. The author of the document is Moses Finley (Finkelstein), one of the most famous historians of Antiquity, and in the period in queston – a member of the U.S. Communist Party, an active organiser of assistance to the Soviet Union. Since 1942 Finley worked as Executive Secretary of the Jewish Committee of the non-profit organization “Russian War Relief” (RWR). Finley considered his activities in this organisation to be extremely important, as confirmed by an interview he gave in 1980 to the BBC. In a memo written at the end of 1944 and addressed to the leaders of the “Russian War Relief” (“Memorandum of the Executive Secretary of the Jewish Committee of the Russian War Relief Finkelstein on the National War Fund”), he actively defended the interests of the USSR. Finley strongly opposed the practice of diverting assistance collected by American citizens for the Soviet people to emigrant organisations hostile to the Soviet Union. The “Finkelstein's Memorandum” was translated into Russian by a staff member of the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs in August 1945, ahead of the visit of the leaders of the “Russian War Relief” to the Soviet Union. The published document makes it possible to shed light on the interstate relations between the USSR and the United States during the final period of World War II, as well as characterises the political views of the historian.

Keywords

Soviet-American relations, the Second World War, humanitarian relief, “Russian War Relief”, Moses Finley, Finkelstein's Memorandum

Received

05.02.2021

Publication date

21.04.2021

Number of characters

22835

Cite

GOST	Karpyuk S. “Russian War Relief”: Moses Finley's Evidence // Novaia i noveishaia istoriia – 2021. – Issue 2 C. 109-117 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://nni.jes.su/S013038640014272-7-1 (circulation date: 26.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013038640014272-7
MLA	Karpyuk, Sergey "“Russian War Relief”: Moses Finley's Evidence." Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 2 (2021):109-117. DOI: 10.31857/S013038640014272-7
APA	Karpyuk S. (2021). “Russian War Relief”: Moses Finley's Evidence. Novaia i noveishaia istoriia (2), pp.109-117 DOI: 10.31857/S013038640014272-7

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