Spassky, an Anti-Semite

 

     According to traditional Jewish law, someone is a Jew if they are born to a Jewish mother. Probably the most infamous example is Bobby Fischer. 

     Fischer was known for his bizarre behavior and for both his virulent anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism. He steadfastly claimed he was not Jewish and even wrote to the Encyclopedia Judaica demanding that it remove its biography because, among other things, he was never circumcised. Fischer stated, “I suggest rather than fraudulently misrepresenting me to be a Jew…you try to promote your religion on its own merits – if indeed it has any.” 

     A vehement Holocaust denier who argued that “Jewish parasites” invented the “Holocaust myth,” Fisher began his public campaign against Judaism and Zionism in the 1980s when he began distributing Institute for Historical Review revisionist pamphlets in front of the Los Angeles Public Library. 

     He studied anti-Semitic classics such as Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and he became obsessed with German history and the Third Reich.

     In spite of all of that, in 1984, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schnnersohn, requested Samuel Reshevsky to try and help Fischer in relation to his Judaism. Reshevsky agreed and when in Los Angeles to play to play an eight-game match against Larry Christiansen (who won 4.5-3.5) he contacted Fischer and the two met for three hours, but Reshevsky was unable to convince Fischer to return to his Jewish roots. As Reshevsky stated, "He has his opinions, I have mine."

     The Jewish Info website noted that in the late 1970s, when Viktor Korchnoi defected from the USSR he made charges of anti-Semitism in the Soviet chess establishment. In an effort to counter those charges the Soviet government newspapers published a list of famous Soviet Jewish players which it was claimed proved the absence of any such bias. The lists of Jewish, or partly Jewish, players did not include Boris Spassky who some have claimed was born to a Jewish mother. 

     Spassky was born in Leningrad. His father, Vasili Vladimirovich Spassky, served in the military. He came from the family of Vladimir Alexandrovich Spassky, a prominent Russian Orthodox priest. His mother, Ekaterina Petrovna Spasskaya (nee Petrova), was a school teacher who was the illegitimate daughter of Daria Ivanovna Ivanova (a local peasant) and Andrei Kupriyanovich Kupriyanov, a landlord who owned houses in Saint Petersburg. 

     After some time Daria fled to Saint Petersburg, leaving Spassky's mother with a relative who raised her under the surname of Petrova. She joined her mother later on. 

     Is Spassky Jewish or not? According to Spassky himself, the rumors that his mother was Jewish are not true. In any case, Spassky is no friend of Jews. 

     In 2005, Spassky, along with some 5,000 Christian Orthodox activists in Russia, signed a petition that called for a ban on Jewish groups and argued that Jewish literature, such as the book Shulchan Aruch (a repository of Jewish Law written originally by Rabbi Yosef Karo in the 1560's,) foments religious hatred.

     Backed with quotes from 19th century anti-Semitic literature, the petition branded Judaism as satanic, anti-Christian, and inhumane; accused Jews of committing ritual murders; and warned of a hidden campaign of genocide against the Russian people and their traditional society and values. The petition was sent to the State Prosecutor's Office and the Russian government ultimately condemned it. 

     After facing criticism in both the chess world and from religious leaders, Spassky never denied signing the letter, but like a politician, he sought to distance himself from the campaign by expressing meaningless platitudes about continuing to “fortify and unite the multinational kingdom of chess.” 

     Russian master and writer Evgeny Gik publicly condemned the petition in a Russian newspaper, stated that one time when Spassky was the guest of honor at a dinner party, he remarked that “Everything is good in Russia, but I don’t know how the Russian people can have allowed so many big-nosed people into government.” According to Gik’s account, several GMs walked out in protest.

     Regarding Spassky, Boris Gorin of the Jewish Communities Federation of Russia said, "people who have achieved success in life and hold certain status in society must understand they are putting their name to shame when they sign such petitions."