Antisemitism endures in Putin’s Russia, where tsarist myths and Soviet anti-Zionism meet - analysis

On June 17, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived by boat to watch three flags being raised over the Gulf of Finland: those of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation. Gazprom had erected three flagpoles, each nearly 180 meters tall. The empire overthrown by the Bolsheviks and the state they subsequently built coexist comfortably in Putin's Russia. They even stand at the same height.In Rostov-on-Don, acknowledging that Jews were murdered at a major Holocaust massacre site proved more difficult. In 2011, municipal authorities replaced the inscription at the memorial in Zmiyovskaya Balka, the site of mass executions. The words “Jews” and “Holocaust” disappeared. What remained was a reference to “Soviet civilians and prisoners of war.”After two years of disputes and protests by Jewish organizations, the plaque was replaced again. The reference to Jews was restored. The word “Holocaust” was not.In contemporary Russia, Soviet anti-Zionism coexists with Orthodox monarchist mythology. The state officially commemorates the Holocaust, while its history also serves as ammunition in political disputes.Antisemitism in tsarist Russia and the Soviet UnionIn the Russian Empire, Jews were confined to the Pale of Settlement – the territory where most Jews were legally required to reside – accused of ritual murder, and killed in pogroms. “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” also gained widespread circulation there.The blood…