«ПРОИЗВЕДИТЕ НАС В ЖИДЫ!»: ÉMIGRÉS’ DEBATES ON JEWISH DIASPORIC SOLIDARITY

The article examines the evolution of a discourse on Jewish solidarity in Russian émigré communities during the 1920s. It explores the reception of Soviet plans for Jewish colonization in Crimea, as well as the debates triggered by the works of Shul’gin, who systematized this notion, and Amfiteatrov’s “Stena Placha”. This discourse is crucial to understanding the rise of anti-Jewish sentiment among the Russian intelligentsia in exile, even within the liberal faction. Additionally, a parallel emerges between the Russian and Jewish exilic experience, which prompts a reflection on the very identity of the Russian diaspora. The perception of a supposed “cohesion instinct” of the Jewish people becomes a mirror in which émigrés attempt to define (or redefine) their own sense of belonging and national solidarity, thereby showing how dynamics of self-representation intertwine with the construction of new stereotypes and xenophobic sentiments.