Vladimir Yakovlevich Begun (; 1929–1989) was a prominent official Zionologist in the

Soviet Union 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 ...

. He was a senior writer and researcher at the Institute for Philosophy and Law of the

Belarusian Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB; ; , , ) is the national academy of Belarus. History Inbelkult - predecessor to the Academy The Academy has its origins in the Institute of Belarusian Culture (Inbelkult), a Belarusian acade ...

, a state

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

propagandist, and a member of the Union of Journalists of the USSR. Begun's works focused on themes such as the Jewish conspiracy against communist countries. He characterized Zionism as the worst enemy of communism and an extended arm of Western imperialism. Together with other propagandists, he blamed

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

and

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

as the roots of the Zionist danger. He maintained that it legitimized a "chosen people" ideology of racial superiority. One of his controversial books, "''The Encroaching Counter Revolution''," caused some controversy. In November 1975, the leading Soviet historian, academician M. Korostovtsev, criticized it, stating, "...it perceptibly stirs up

anti-Semitism 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 ...

under the flag of

anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the Palestine (region) ...

." According to Wolf Rubinchyk, a researcher based in Minsk, Begun's notorious book ''The Invasion without Arms'' was used not only by official propagandists but also by some members of the counter-elite, young Belarusian nationalists, who were suspicious about Zionism. Rubinchyk also pointed out falsifications of

Simon Dubnow Simon Dubnow (alternatively spelled Dubnov; ; rus, Семён Ма́ркович Ду́бнов, Semyon Markovich Dubnov, sʲɪˈmʲɵn ˈmarkəvʲɪdʑ ˈdubnəf; 10 September 1860 – 8 December 1941) was a Jewish-Russian Empire, Russian h ...

's ideas by Begun. Begun gained a certain position in the Soviet

hierarchy A hierarchy (from Ancient Greek, Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy ...

and was transferred from provincial

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

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 ...

. Until his death, he staunchly opposed bringing

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal; – 28 March 1985) was a Russian and French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with the School of Paris, École de Paris, as well as several major art movement, artistic styles and created ...

's exhibition to

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, the famous artist's place of birth, on "anti-Zionist" grounds.

Notes

1929 births 1989 deaths Belarusian academics Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Soviet academics Russian atheists {{russia-academic-bio-stub