ABSTRACT
The closing of the JAFC in November, 1948, was the first step in a dramatic and tragic sequence of events, which eventually resulted in the execution of its most prominent members in August, 1952. More than one hundred people, “party and government personnel, scientists, writers, poets, journalists, artists, state and industrial employees”, 1 allegedly connected to the “JAFC case,” were arrested and tried between 1948 and 1952. The decision to close the Committee, but not to detain its members, was short-lived. Numerous arrests were carried out within the next few weeks. The writer David Hofshteyn, arrested in Kiev two months before the closing of the JAFC, was accused of his positive attitude toward Hebrew. After his transfer to Moscow, he would be charged with additional “crimes,” such as his cooperation with the Cabinet of Jewish Culture in Kiev. 2 He would eventually be included in the “JAFC case” and perish with his colleagues. Nusinov and Dobrushin, both literary critics and JAFC members, were arrested around that time.
