[justsomejew]

Easy to claim, only that the claim is false. It was not so much about jews being jews (would you claim that there were no jews in science, engineering, hospitals?). Having quotas in top universities is what you try to do now with asian students (by this I do not mean to negate the fact that lives of many jews were ruined because of these quotas). And the true nature of "Zionism" can be seen by everyone today. The "zionists" do not even try to hide it. I mean Zionism in the "Zeev" Zhabotinskiy sense. Go read his "Wall of Iron".

[throwaway3060]

Funny you mention Jabotinsky. Jabotinsky's beliefs were formed from the proof playing out in front of him, that not even the Ukrainians, the second largest ethnicity in the Russian empire, could get even a semblance of fairness out of the Russian empire. If the Ukrainians failed, what chance did the even fewer Jews have? Trying to understand Jabotinsky without understanding the world he was born into is like trying to put modern beliefs onto Alexander the Great.

If you were a Jewish person of ordinary means, certain engineering paths were completely barred to you in the USSR. Keep in mind, engineering and math were the most prestigious forms of STEM for the Soviets.

So are you trying to claim the Doctor's Plot case, the assasination of Solomon Mikhoels, the rootless cosmopolitan campaign, Soviet "Zionology", that all those just didn't happen? People were around for those you know.

[justsomejew]

To the person who replied, saying "some engineering paths were barred". I have not negated the facts, just tried to put them in true perspective, which I think is lacking in your response.

[throwaway3060]

You said that my claim is false. I'm not sure what true perspective you are referring to that could show that. The situation was far more severe than just "quotas at top universities". That the Stalin years ended in a campaign of barely disguised antisemitism is also just fact.

[justsomejew]

Again, cannot reply directly. What I said was false, is saying, or suggesting, that what happened to the jews in Soviet Union was like what happened to the jews in nazi Germany. It was not.

By this I am not negating not Stalin repressions, not the "Doctors affair", not the fact that many gifted people could not realize their potential in a way they could have had otherwise.

[throwaway3060]

If you open the comment separately as its own page, it should allow you to reply there.

Not trying to claim that they're the same at all, especially not in a physical sense. Maybe in a spiritual or cultural sense the consequences could be compared, and maybe Stalin was planning something more (we'll never know). The goals were completely different. As I mentioned somewhere else, the full scope of the Nazis goals were so much worse than most people know.

The only claim here is that Soviets did not have racial laws at all - they essentially did.

[justsomejew]

Ok, they "essentially had racial laws", with Gelfand and Landau being godlike in the Soviet science, Kantorovich having his prizes, not speaking of the jews with the title of "Hero of Soviet Union". Not speaking of people who founded the Israeli science (together with jews from other European countrues). Where did they go to university? In some parallel world?

This is not to negate the facts, but to put things in perspective.

Yes

[throwaway3060]

I don't know why the topic of Soviet universities specifically is so touchy, out of everything else. Notice a detail I mentioned earlier - "Jewish person of ordinary means". As with most things in the Soviet Union, bribes, or even just who you know, can make problems go away. But not every family had the sort of means or connections.

Before you compare to American tuition - I'm not talking about the top universities. I'm talking about effectively being completely barred from an entire career path, despite having the talent for it.