Thus, the revised Esperanto edition[2] on which this English transla- tion is based takes into account numbers of newly discovered docu- ments, among them materials from the Soviet NKVD to which Russian researchers had access as of 1990 for a (limited) time. I have also tried to take into consideration relevant studies that have appeared in various countries and languages over the past 25 years. At the same time, I have decided to reduce the length of some chapters, for example in the section on the Soviet Union, and also discussion of persecutions of Esperantists aimed primarily at their political activities, for example in parts of Eastern Europe, and in China and Japan.
My research has benefited greatly from material preserved in the German Federal Archive in Berlin, including papers newly available following German reunification. For several years my work has been assisted by con- sulting the Hector Hodler Library in Rotterdam, the Planned Language Collection and Esperanto Museum of the Austrian National Library in Vienna, and the library of the Japanese Esperanto Institute in Tokyo. Also extremely helpful has been my easy access to the University Library and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Library, both in Bonn. I remember with particular thanks the fact that Teo Jung, before his passing in 1986, presented me with collections of Esperanto periodicals from the 1920s and 1930s and that Kurisu Kei put at my disposal particularly valuable material on the Soviet and Japanese Esperanto movements. I am grateful to SAT and Eduard Borsboom who allowed me to consult unpublished letters to and from Eugene Lanti. In addition to those mentioned, I owe thanks to many people, among them former Soviet citizens, who provided me with information and clarifications that helped in the preparation of the present text. The names of many of these individuals are mentioned in the footnotes. Finally, I am grateful to all those who helped in the technical preparation of the book.
I cannot begin to measure the constant support provided by my wife Akie and from which the present study has greatly benefited. And I am very grateful to Professor Humphrey Tonkin, who has long taken an interest in publishing an English version of the book and who has devoted himself to the task of translating it with unmatchable care and enthusiasm. My thanks go also to Ulrich Becker, who has hunted down references to English-language translations of works cited.
October 2015 U.L.
Contents
Part I A Suspicious New Language 1
The Emergence of Esperanto 3
War and Its Aftermath 35
Part II 'Language of Jews and Communists' 85
The Rise of a New Enemy 87
An AUy of World Jewr/ 109
Part III 'Language of Petty Bourgeois and Cosmopolitans' 157
Finding a Place for Esperanto in the Soviet Union 159
Schism and Collapse 205
Socialism and International Language 237 Bibliography 279 AuthorIndex 287 Subject Index 295
Abbreviations
ASE Asocio de Sovetiaj Esperantistoj (Association of Soviet Esperantists)
BEA Bulgara Esperantista Asocio (Bulgarian Esperantist Association)
BIL P.E. Stojan, Bibliografio de internacia lingvo (Geneva: UEA, 1929;
reprint Hildesheim & New York: Georg Olms, 1973) BLEA Brita Laborista Esperanto-Asocio (British Workers' Esperanto Association)
CK Centra Komitato (Central Committee)
CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union
EACSR Esperanto-Asocio en Cehoslovaka Respubliko (Esperanto
Association in the Czechoslovakian Republic) EdE L. Kokeny & V. Bleier (ed.), Enciklopedio de Esperanto (Budapest:
Literatura Mondo, 1933-1934, reprints 1979 and 1986) EeP Ivo Lapenna and others, Esperanto en perspektivo. Faktoj kaj analizoj
pri la Internacia Lingvo (London & Rotterdam: UEA, 1974) EKRELO Eldon-Kooperativo por Revolucia Esperanto-Literaturo
(Publishing Cooperative for Revolutionary Esperanto Literature) GDR German Democratic Republic
GEA Germana Esperanto-Asocio (German Esperanto Association)
GLEA Laborista Esperanto-Asocio por la Germanlingvaj Regionoj;
Germana Laborista Esperanto-Asocio (German Workers' Esperanto Association) GPU Gosudarstvennoe politicheskoe upravlenie (State Political
Directorate, i.e. the Soviet secret police 1922-23)
IAREV Internacia Asocio de Revoluciaj Esperanto-Verkistoj (International
Association of Revolutionary Esperanto Writers) ICK Internacia Centra Komitato de la Esperanto-Movado
(International Central Committee of the Esperanto Movement) IEL Internacia Esperanto-Ligo (International Esperanto League)
IPE Internacio de Proleta Esperantistaro (Proletarian Esperantist
International)
ISA International Federation of the National Standardizing Associations
ISE Internacio de Socialistaj Esperantistoj (Socialist Esperantist
International) IWA International Workingmen's Association
JEI Japana Esperanto-Instituto (Japanese Esperanto Institute)
JEL Jugoslavia Esperanto-Ligo (Yugoslav Esperanto League)
KP Komunista Partio (Communist Party)
LEA Laborista Esperanto-Asocio (Workers' Esperanto Association)
LKK Loka Kongresa Komitato (Local Congress Committee)
LPLP Language Problems and Language Planning (periodical) MEH L.L. Zamenhof, Mi estas homo, ed. Aleksander Korĵenkov
(Kaliningrad: Sezonoj, 2006) MEM Mondpaca Esperantista Movado (World Peace Esperantist Movement) n. note
NDEB Neue Deutsche Esperanto-Bewegung (New German Esperanto Movement)
NKVD Narodnyi komissariat vnutrennykh del (People's Commissariat for
Internal Affairs) n.s. new series
NSDAP Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist
German Workers' Party) OGPU Ob'edinennoe gosudarstvennoe politicheskoe upravlenie (Joint State Political Directorate, i.e. Soviet secret police 1923—1934) Orig Iom reviziitaplena verkaro de L.L. Zamenhof. Originalaro, ed.
Ludovikito (= Ito Kanzi), 3 volumes (Kyoto: Ludovikito, 1989-1991)
PEK Proleta Esperanto-Korespondanto (Proletarian Esperanto
Correspondent)
PIDE Policia Internacional e de Defensa do Estado (International Police
and State Defense, i.e. Portuguese secret police) PIV Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto (Paris: SAT, 1970)
PVZ Ludovikito (= Ito Kanzi, ed.), Plena verkaro de L.L. Zamenhof, 58
volumes (Kyoto: Ludovikito, 1973-2004) REGo Rusia Esperanto-Gazeto (Russian Esperanto Journal) RSDLP Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party RSHA Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Security Main Office) SA Sturmabteilung (the paramilitary wing of the NSDAP)
SAT Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda (Worldwide Non-national Association)
SD Sicherheitsdienst, the Security (Intelligence) Service of the SS
SEJM Sovetia Esperantista Junulara Movado (Soviet Esperantist Youth Movement)
SEU Sovetlanda Esperantista Unio (Soviet Esperantist Union), as of
1927 Sovetrespublikara Esperantista Unio (Esperantist Union of the Soviet Republics), the main organization of Soviet Esperantists; in Russian: Soiuz Esperantistov Sovetskikh Stran (Soiuz Esperantistov Sovetskikh Respublik) SS Schutzstaffel, the central organization of the police and security