Sergey Georgiyevich Lapin (; – 4 October 1990) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

apparatchik __NOTOC__ An '' apparatchik'' () was a full-time, professional functionary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union or the government of the Soviet Union, Soviet government ''apparat'' (Wiktionary:аппарат#Russian, аппарат, appar ...

newspaper editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held account ...

and

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

. Lapin was born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. From 1930 to 1932 he studied at the Leningrad Historical Language Institute, and after graduating he went on to work in various positions, including deputy editor, of various Leningrad newspapers until 1940. From 1940 to 1942 he was a student at the Higher Party School of the

All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks) The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

. From 1945 to 1953 he was Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Broadcasting, when in 1953 he began a career in

diplomacy Diplomacy is the communication by representatives of State (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, non-governmental institutions intended to influence events in the international syste ...

as Counsellor at the Embassy of the Soviet Union in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. In 1955 he returned to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

to work in the European Department of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

, whilst also holding the position of Secretary of the

CPSU The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

at the MFA. From 19 October 1956 until 16 June 1960 he was located in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, as Ambassador of the Soviet Union to Austria, and then relocated back to Moscow as 1st Deputy Chairman of the USSR State Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, whilst also holding the position of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

. In 1962 he was promoted as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, and held this position until 6 April 1965. From 13 April 1965 until 12 April 1967 he was Ambassador of the Soviet Union to the People's Republic of China. After the completion of his

mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, he returned once again to Moscow as Director-General of

TASS The Russian News Agency TASS, or simply TASS, is a Russian state-owned news agency founded in 1904. It is the largest Russian news agency and one of the largest news agencies worldwide. TASS is registered as a Federal State Unitary Enterpri ...

, and held that position until 24 April 1970. For a short period of time, until 12 July 1970 he was Chairman of the Committee for Broadcasting, when he was appointed as Chairman of the State Committee for Television and Radiobroadcasting, and held this position until his retirement on 16 December 1985. Lapin was criticized for alleged

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

at the Central Television and

Radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

of the USSR. Many popular Soviet artists of Jewish descent, such as Nina Brodskaya, Emil Gorovets,

Maya Kristalinskaya Maya Vladimirovna Kristalinskaya (; 24 February 1932, Moscow – 19 June 1985, Moscow) was a Soviet-Russian singer. In 1957 she performed at the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow with an amateur ensemble under the direction of Y ...

Larisa Mondrus Larisa Izrailevna Mondrus (, , ; born 15 November 1943) is a Soviet singer (soprano), who was popular in the USSR in the 1960s. In 1973 she emigrated to West Germany. She sang in Latvian, Russian, English and German. Biography Mondrus was born i ...

, Vadim Mulerman, and Aida Vedishcheva, met numerous obstacles in their careers. They were gradually banned from TV, their names were not making into movies' credits, they faced cancellation of concerts and prohibition of concert tours abroad, and tapes with their recordings on the radio were erased.Светлана Федотова, Фёдор Раззаков.
''А думать буду я!''
. «Вечерняя Москва» № 149, 12.08.2004 (in Russian).
, Culture populaire de l'Union soviétique (in French). Lapin died in 1990 in Moscow.

References