The plot of the white blouses (Russian: Деловрачей; literally “the business of the doctors” ) indicates alleged a Complot of Médecin S Soviet, almost all Juif S, which would have assassinated two Soviet leaders and would have envisaged to assassinate others of them. It was about an assembled machination of any part by the Stalinist mode, and the business is abandoned in 1953 after the death of Stalin.

Context

Because of Cold war and suspicions of Stalin about possible a " plot Zionist " , a campaign Antisémite is launched in 1952, and the members of the Comité Jewish antifascist are eliminated this same year.

At the conclusion of the Lawsuit of Prague, organized by the communist president Czechoslovakian Klement Gottwald in November 1952, 14 frameworks of the Czechoslovakian Communist party suspected of having organized a “plot titoist” is condemned to death. Among them, 11 are Jewish, of which Rudolf Slánský.

Since the beginning of the years 1950, Stalin suspects the chief of the secret services MVD Lavrenti Beria of wanting to harm to him. A " complot" whose Beria would be unaware of the existence would give a good pretext to Stalin to show it incompetence and to draw aside it from the capacity. It will be replaced by Viktor Abakoumov and its close relations will be mixed with the business.

The business

December 1st, 1952, Stalin announces with the Politburo:

“Any Zionist is the agent of the American service of intelligence. The Jewish nationalists think that their nation was saved by the United States, where they can become rich there, middle-class. They think that they have a debt towards the Americans. Among my doctors, there are many Zionists. ” .

The January 13rd 1953, the Soviet propaganda sheet, the Pravda ( Truth in French) publishes a long article entitled “Under the mask of the university, the spies killers and vicious doctors” . This article, inspired of a dispatch of the agency HEAP denounces a " plot of middle-class man sioniste" , organized by the international Jewish organization world Jewish Congress , which, to believe Pravda of it, would be financed by the CIA!

Precise details come: a group of 11 doctors (of which 7 are Jewish) having looked after members of the Communist party would have poisoned Andreï Jdanov (death naturally in 1948) and Aleksandre Chtcherbakov (death in 1945). According to the same sources, these doctors were at the time of their arrest about to assassinate important Soviet personalities, such Ivan Koniev, Aleksandre Vassilievski or Leonid Govorov.

Arrests

Among the accused doctors, there was Miron Vovsi (personal doctor of Stalin). He is off-set with the Gulag.

Many Jews, doctors and other pharmacists, shown to have taken part closely or by far are stopped. At beginning 37, but the figure reaches several hundreds quickly.

February 12th, 1953, the sister of Chaim Weizmann (first president of Israel), Maria Weizmann, is stopped.

It is at the same period as a violent propaganda anti-semite campaign is set up in the Eastern bloc.

Reactions in the world

The Western Block

The business had an important international repercussion, and made indignant the block of the west

February 11th 1953, Israel breaks its diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and points out its ambassador.

Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill and other personalities sent telegrams of judgment to the Soviet ministry of the foreign affairs, and required an investigation.

Parties of Cominform

The parties of the Kominform of the Western countries have of good part constant the judgment of the doctors. The French Communist party (PCF), by the person of Auguste Lecœur, published as of on January 22nd an official statement in the communist newspaper Humanity: “When, in Soviet Union, the group of the doctors assassins working on behalf of the Anglo-American terrorist services of espionage is stopped, then, the working class applauds of all its forces. ” This official statement was added that of doctors members of PCF, by the person of Raymond Leibovici (surgeon, former member of the communist resistance movement National front): " The French doctors estimate that a very great service was rendered to the cause of peace by the setting out of state to harm of this group of criminals, all the more odious as they deceived natural confidence their patients to make an attempt on their vie." Boris Souvarine reports that Annie Kriegel, then person in charge of the ideology of the federation PCF of Paris, spoke about " doctors terroristes" , accessory to the " sionisme" and the use of tortures approved to extort from the " assassins in blouse blanche" phantasmagoric consents, is a prelude to with a " solution finale" pogromist . Raymond Guyot, member of the political office and deputy of bets, asked the French doctors close to the party to join the judgment Soviet doctors implied in the " complot".

End of the business

March 1st 1953, Stalin dies of a brain hemorrhage but the arrests continue until the 5 where Stalin dies " officiellement". Malenkov was elected president of the council and Lavrenti Beria vice-president. Beria made put an end to the business doctors. Pravda of March 28th published a decree of the presidium which amnestied tens of prisoners of common right, and on April 4th, it published an official statement announcing that the plot of the doctors had never existed and that the latter from now on were rehabilitated. Beria was shot later.