Did anti-Jewish mass violence exist in the Soviet Union?-Anti-Semitism and collective violence in the USSR during the war and post war years

The aim of this article is to describe and analyze the forms, character and extent of anti-Jewish violence in the Soviet Union, both on the part of the population and on the part of the Soviet regime, between the years of 1943 and 1953. Primarily the historical context, in which hatred towards Jews takes on particular significance, shall be reconstructed, and possible causes and motivations for the use of anti-Semitic violence discussed. Hence, the analysis of antiSemitism in the Soviet Union plays an important part in the article. Finally, after the general assessment of the phenomenon of "collective violence," it shall be asked whether and to what extent it is perhaps reasonable to speak of anti-Semitic mass violence in the Soviet case for the time period discussed.