Solomon Lozovsky

Solomon Lozovsky (Russian: Соломон Абрамович Лозовский, family birth name: Dridzo Russian: Дридзо, 1878–1952) was a prominent Bolshevik revolutionary, a high official in various parts of the Soviet government, including as a Presidium member of the All-Union Central Council of Soviet Trade Unions, a Central Committee member of the Communist Party, a member of the Supreme Soviet, a deputy people's commissar for foreign affairs and the head of the Soviet Information Bureau (Sovinformburo). He was also the chair of the department of International Relations at the Higher Party School.

Born in 1878 in Ukraine of Russian Jewish parents (of possibly Sephardic lineage), he joined the Bolshevik party in 1901 and, as was common for members of the underground movements of the time, adopted a pseudonym, Lozovsky (from the town Lozovaya, near Kharkov, Ukraine). He was twice expelled from the Bolshevik party (in 1914 and 1917–18), but readmitted. His second expulsion was related to his stance in support of independent trade unions following the October Revolution.

Lozovsky was General Secretary of the Red International Labour Union (Profintern) (1921–1937). In May 1939 Lozovsky was appointed (along with two others) as a deputy people's commissar for foreign affairs of the Soviet Union under Vyacheslav Molotov, tasked with handling the Far East and Scandinavia. During World War II (Great Patriotic War) he was vice-chairman of Sovinformburo, tasked with handling all information from the Soviet battlefronts to foreign press. In 1941, upon being told of foreign news reports that German soldiers could see Moscow with their binoculars, Lozovsky famously retorted: "the Germans would undoubtedly see Moscow, but as prisoners of war." He was also a member of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, organised as a part of Sovinformburo, which sought to influence international public opinion and organise political and material support for the war campaign, especially amongst Jews in Allied countries. From 1945 to 1948 he was chairman of Sovinformburo.

He was arrested at the age of seventy and tortured during the Soviet antisemitic campaign of the late 1940s-early 1950s. Despite incredible pressure, Lozovsky never admitted his guilt or accused others. The closed trial lasted for two and one-half months. Another month was spent on death row awaiting execution. Lozovsky was executed on August 12, 1952, together with thirteen other members of Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, an event known as the Night of the Murdered Poets. The stenographic report of the trial was published only in 1994 and in a highly edited form.

Following the release of the documents, it also emerged that Nikita Khrushchev issued a posthumous pardon to Lozovsky and all executed members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist committee stating that the trials were conducted in "flagrant violations of the law".