Lina Shtern

Biochemist and physiologist, the author of pioneering scientific research. Academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. Born in Latvia. From 1898 to 1925, she studied and worked in Switzerland. From 1925 onward, she worked in the USSR, serving as Director of the Institute of Physiology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. She was a member of the Presidium of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC), established in 1942 to raise support for the Soviet Union from ‘Jewish brothers throughout the world’. The Committee's activities helped facilitate the opening of the Second Front.

She was arrested in January 1949 in connection with the ‘Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee case’. She was charged with treason and espionage. She was the only defendant sentenced to 3.5 years in labor camps followed by internal exile; all the other defendants were executed. She served her exile in Kazakhstan. In 1953, she returned to Moscow under an amnesty. She was rehabilitated in 1958. From 1954 until her death in 1968, she worked at the Institute of Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

1950s

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The Final Statement

‘My arrest has caused far greater harm to the Soviet Union than all the activities of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, because it has made it possible to discredit my work and destroy everything that had been achieved.’

I wish to offer the court an explanation regarding my attitude toward Western culture. I want to say that my attitude toward Western culture and science was never one of servile admiration, but rather of deep gratitude and respect for those scholars from whom I learned as my teachers. This in no way diminishes the respect I have for the leaders of the Soviet government and the Party. I will always be grateful to them for everything they have given me.

Whereas in the past Russians had to turn to the West for knowledge, today the center of science has shifted to the East. Nevertheless, I believe this does not mean that we should refuse to make use of the scientific discoveries being made there.

Soviet science is the most advanced science, surpassing Western science, but there is nothing servile about making use of the scientific achievements of bourgeois science. What is imputed to me as cosmopolitanism is, in my view, internationalism. Our science develops on the basis of the principles of Marxism-Leninism, and that is its fundamental distinction from bourgeois science. I ask the court to give me the opportunity to put my 50 years of experience to use in solving the problems on which I have been working.

My arrest has caused far greater harm to the Soviet Union than all the activities of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, because it has made it possible to discredit my work and destroy everything that had been achieved. I regard this work as a new chapter in medicine, and I do not believe I have the right to take everything I know with me to the grave. I believe that my work is of great importance to the people. My second project, in the field of heart disease treatment, is almost complete. My third project concerns the development of effective therapeutic medicines.

I do not consider myself guilty, and once again I ask to be given the opportunity to continue my work together with my colleagues. If, however, the court finds me guilty, I ask that I be allowed to meet with the secretary of the Party organization at the institute where I worked for 29 years, so that I may provide guidance for its future work.

I ask the court only not to find me guilty of treason or of deceiving the Party and the Soviet government.

My work is what matters most to me, and in order to carry it out properly I need the restoration of trust and full rehabilitation, so that I may continue serving the people and our Motherland. I regard as my Motherland not only the territory of the Soviet Union but also the territories of the new people’s democracies.

11 July 1952,
Military Collegium of the Supreme Court, Moscow, USSR.
Source: Unjust Trial. The Last Stalin-Era Execution.
Further reading: Wikipedia.
Photo: Evgeny Berkovich’s portal.