Stalin Exonerated. Fact-Checking the Death of Solomon Mikhoels

Examination of the documents that purport to prove that Solomon Mikhoels, a famous Soviet director of the Yiddish theater, was murdered by the order of Joseph Stalin in January, 1948, in Minsk, Belorussia. This study shows that these documents are forgeries. On the night of January 12-13, 1948, Solomon Mikhailovich Mikhoels, a prominent actor and director in the Yiddish language Soviet theater and winner of the Stalin prize in 1946, together with a friend, Vladimir Golubov, were killed in a hit-and-run accident on a dark street in Minsk, Byelorussian SSR. Mikhoels was buried with honors and praised in the Soviet press. Nevertheless, rumors that he had been murdered by the Soviet state began to circulate almost immediately. During the 1960s these rumors multiplied, occasionally being repeated in official sources. Beginning in 1991 documents began to appear claiming that Joseph Stalin had ordered Mikhoels murdered. These documents continued to appear during the 1990s. Several of them have now been inserted in Soviet archives to give the impression that they are genuine. Today the story that Stalin ordered Mikhoels murdered is repeated by all researchers and popularizers of Soviet history. Our investigation into the Mikhoels case began in 2004-5, continued in 2015-6 and 2021-3. Now it is complete. The evidence is Mikhoels was not killed by Stalins order. The documents on which this allegation is based are fakes. Several well-known anticommunist historians of Soviet history have forged these documents in order to falsely accuse Stalin of murdering Mikhoels. The Mikhoels murder case is an unusually blatant example of fraudulent scholarship intended to smear Stalin and the Stalin-era Soviet Union. Contents Acknowledgements and Dedication Introduction 1. Before the Beria Letter 2. The "Beria letter" 3. Documents from Viktor Levashov's novel 4. Shubnyakov and the Pitovranov Trial 4a. 'New materials concerning Mikhoels' fate' 5. Official Documents that Disprove the "Stalin Had Mikhoels Murdered" Story 6. Critical Study of Kostyrchenko 6a. Kostyrchenko, Mikhoels' Death, fm Tainaia politika Stalina — tabled 6b. Kostyrchenko, Mikhoels' Death, fm Tainaia politika Stalina Tainaia ... novaia versiia (2015) 7. Kostyrchenko, Mukhin, Medvedev 8. Conclusion 9. Appendix of Russian Texts Appendix: The Primary Documents in the Mikhoels Case in Russian and English #1. The "Beria Letter" from Kostyrchenko, ed. Gosudarstvenniy Antisemitizm #2. Awards Ukase, from Levashov #3. Awards Ukase, from Kostyrchenko #4. Ogol'tsov Confession #1 — 18 March 1953 #5. Ogol'tsov Confession #2 — 19 March 1953, fm Levashov 2002, 402–3 #6. Tsanava Interrogation — 16 April 1953, fm Levashov 2002, 403–5 #7. Shubniakov Letter, 18 March 1953 #8. Kruglov Letter — 14 January 1948, Gosudarst. Antisem., p. 106 #9. Bodunov Report, 11 February 1948 Bibliography link Bibliography Index