Parfenov: Russian history would not be so fiery without Jewish fervor

Parfenov at the presentation of the film
Photo: parfenovonline.ru

Journalist Leonid Parfenov presented the first documentary film from the “Russian Jews” trilogy, which is dedicated to the role of Jews in the history of the Russian Empire.

Premiere of the first part entitled “The First Film. Before the Revolution” took place on March 14 in Moscow.

We offer you an official picture trailer.

Now Parfenov’s team is working on the second and third films, which will tell about the 30-year period of “Soviet Judophilia,” which the authors conditionally limited to 1948, and Judeophobia, which, according to the film’s creators, ceased with the collapse of the USSR in 1991.

The film was shot in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, USA and Israel.
Photo: parfenovonline.ru

In anticipation of the next parts of the trilogy, ForumDaily gathered Parfenov’s most striking remarks about Russian Jews and the role that Jewish fervor played in Russian history and culture.

After the pre-premiere show, some of the first viewers of the film asked Parfenov questions about why the picture paints the assimilation process of Jews in such a positive, in their opinion, way and does not tell in detail about the origins of state anti-Semitism in Russia, says Leonid Parfenov website.

In response to criticism, the journalist and film scriptwriter replied: “Of course, millions of people went to their graves unassimilated. But that’s not what we’re talking about.” And he explained what his film was about: “The history of Russian Jews of the last 150 years is their entry into a Russian career, culture, language, in general - into Russia and beyond, into the world.”

Parfenov expressed his opinions about the significance of Jews in different spheres of existence of the Russian state in an interviewГatete.ru".

On the role of Jews in Russian politics

“It is clear that Russians and Jews founded communism in Russia, but that at the first congress of the RSDLP of eight delegates there were five Jews - I did not know. This proportion will continue in the opposite situation: in 70 years, at the first anti-Soviet demonstration on Red Square, of the seven released, four Jews. Both Soviet and anti-Soviet, they brought Jewish fervor. Without it, Russian communism and dissidence would not be so fiery. This all concerns, as they say, a piece is sold. There were brilliant physicists, filmmakers, songwriters, there were murderers, unscrupulous red propagandists, too. ”

“You see, it was impossible in the 21th century to live in Satanovo among 21 weaving shops, XNUMX grocery stores, two wine shops, one shoe store and one furniture store. This accumulated energy spilled out into everything, including the revolution.”

“There was a transition of Jews from the most loyal to the Soviet power to the most disloyal to the Soviet power. The flow of fervor that Jewry brought into Soviet activity into anti-Soviet activity weakened Soviet power twofold.”

The Potemkin Stairs in Odessa were used to show Jews in different classes of society in the Russian Empire.
Photo: parfenovonline.ru

On the contribution of Jews to Russian culture and their understanding of the Russian soul

“There are three nations - Georgians, Germans and Jews - which at certain stages en masse turned into Russianness. They became Russians in culture, language, work, career — they lived life in Russian. These are millions of people, several generations. ”

“Isaak Ilyich (Levitan is a Russian artist of Jewish origin) turned out to be a more Russian landscape painter than Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin. I, as a Russian person, look, and this nature, this inescapable sadness is a mood that is dear to me, understandable. And Ivan Ivanovich has these... ship pines. He drew everything somehow cheerfully.”

On anti-Semitism and “Jewishness”

“What does the “Jewish question” even mean? By parental origin? Everyone who was afraid of something left. The rest were completely assimilated. Jews do not have any significant presence in Russian life. And so, every nationality has those who don’t like it. There is anti-Semitism, there is anti-Americanism, there are anti-Russian sentiments... Poles traditionally do not like Russians - at the level of mass reaction, and it is clear why. The Czechs have a better attitude now, but they are also not enthusiastic. Few people love us at all, and we also manage to quarrel with those peoples who loved us.”

“Jews have a completely different religion, and at the same time they have always lived side by side with Christians and Muslims, everything has accumulated. But I don’t think that in Russia, let’s say, someone doesn’t use Google, because its founder Sergey Brin is a Jew who left Russia for America. It is unlikely that there are people who, for this reason, are so disgusted by the search engine that they cannot eat. The same with Facebook: there are certainly anti-Semitic users, but they also overcome their aversion to the origin of Mark Zuckerberg. Yes, and he himself seems not to think about his Jewishness ”.

In an interview published on Parfenova site, he talks about how Jewish origin did not prevent him from considering a Russian cultural figure to be Russian.

“It was written: “The great Russian artist Isaac Ilyich Levitan was born into a poor Jewish family.” But the great Russian actress Faina Georgievna Ranevskaya was born into a wealthy Jewish family. She wanted to become Russian and took the surname from her beloved Chekhov: she was proud that she was also from Taganrog.”

The journalist believes that the phenomenon of “Russian Jewry” no longer exists; Jews either moved to Israel or assimilated.

“If someone considers himself a Jew, then he goes to the synagogue. Or moves to Israel. All the rest are the Russian urban population. This happened before - this is the transformation into a second titular nation. It was the same with the Germans. For example, Nabokov has a Tatar surname and grandmother Korf - there are such barons - she raised him. But he didn’t think about the fact that “...I’m a Tatar and was raised by a German grandmother.” Then life made him, to some extent, an American writer too, but that’s another story. And because there were Rukavishnikovs, Tatars and Korfi in his family, there was no suffering. These were all Russian people.”

Read also on ForumDaily:

Russian woman from Los Angeles wrote the music for the film Parfenova "Russian Jews"

Leonid Parfenov shot a large-scale trilogy about Russian-speaking Jews

"Russian Jews". Trailer for a new film by Leonid Parfenov

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