By Freddie Rotman

In the winter of 1905, the Jewish community of St. Petersburg was in turmoil. During the first year of the Russian Revolution, a wave of bloody pogroms swept across the Russian Empire, and the tsarist authorities seemed to have no objection to the violence against the Jewish population. Jewish students, outraged by the Romanovs' position, decided to organize a protest rally in one of the capital's large halls. Representatives of various political movements gathered: from Social Democrats to Bundists, from Communists to Zionists. However, the hall soon descended into chaos that threatened to turn into a fight. Marxists clashed with Zionists, and the chairman of the meeting failed to restore order.

Three people stepped forward to restore order. One of them was the future famous historian Max Soloveichik, the second was Vladimir Jabotinsky, who later became the leader of Revisionist Zionists. The third was Jabotinsky's friend, a law student at St. Petersburg University, Victor Kugel.

Kugel and Soloveichik lifted Jabotinsky onto their shoulders. Rising above the audience, the future leader of revisionism shouted "Basta!" (Enough!) – and everyone immediately sat down.

It's unknown what influenced the audience – was it Jabotinsky's authority? Or the height to which his comrades had lifted him? Victor Rafailovich Kugel, nicknamed "one and a half Jews" by his university companions for his gigantic height, could calm any troublemaker by his mere presence.

Unfortunately, the role of this outstanding personality in the history of the Jewish national movement has been practically forgotten, which we will gladly try to rectify.

Victor Kugel was born on February 15, 1884, in Mozyr, Belarus, into the family of state rabbi Rafael Mikhailovich Kugel and housewife Khanna Vigdorovna Rabinovich. Victor was Rafael Mikhailovich's son from his second marriage. Besides performing his direct duties as a state rabbi, his father owned a small printing house in the city and ran a Russian language school for Jews. He believed that even religious Jews needed to keep up with the times and acquire modern knowledge, including the official language of the state in which they lived.

Victor studied not in his native Mozyr, but at the Sumy gymnasium. After receiving his certificate, he moved to Kharkiv, where he enrolled in the university to study law. Like many of his peers, the young man was captivated not only by sciences but also by revolutionary romanticism. For participating in anti-government student unrest, Victor was even arrested and expelled from the city by the police several times. But his thirst for knowledge prevailed, and student Kugel would return to his studies.

In 1905, thanks to a stroke of luck, Victor Rafailovich was able to move to study in St. Petersburg. Transferring to the capital's university was not easy for a Jew, but his half-brother, a popular journalist, helped. While interviewing the St. Petersburg governor-general, he dared to ask for a personal favor – permission for his younger brother to transfer to the St. Petersburg Imperial University. The governor-general unexpectedly agreed.

In Petersburg, the law student became even more involved in politics. His heart was turned toward the historical homeland of the Jewish people – Eretz Israel. It was there, as Jewish leaders said, that a solution to the Jewish question could be found. Victor Kugel agreed with this position and threw himself completely into the Zionist movement.

From November 21-27, 1906, Victor Kugel participated in the Third All-Russian Zionist Congress in Helsingfors (as Helsinki was called then), where Russian Zionists formulated the idea of "synthetic Zionism" – combining settlement activities in Palestine with active political engagement in Russia.

In St. Petersburg, the young man had to not only study but also earn his living. Fortunately, his half-brothers Alexander, Osip, and Iona had already established themselves in the city. Together with them, Victor began publishing magazines that quickly gained popularity. Victor Rafailovich worked as a secretary for the "Theatre and Art" magazine. Simultaneously, he managed the publishing houses of "Satirikon" and "Blue Journal."

While actively participating in the Zionist movement, Victor Kugel also engaged in publishing works by Jewish authors. For example, in 1906, he published a separate brochure featuring a story by Joseph Perelman (writing under the pseudonym Osip Dymov) about Jews hiding in a cellar during Jewish pogroms. The story was aptly titled "Pogrom." In the same year, Kugel translated and published David Pinski's drama "Days of Pogrom," as well as a work by Avrom Rozin, one of the leaders of the Socialist Jewish Workers Party, titled "The Jewish Question as Viewed by K. Kautsky and S. N. Yuzhakov." Following this, he printed Otto Krause's "Socialism and Zionism," translated from German, at Volpin's lithographic printing house.

Gradually, Kugel's affairs prospered, and his publishing work brought in good income. In 1908, he married Maria Abramovna Shmulevich, his fellow countrywoman from Gomel, and two years later, their firstborn son was born, whom they named Rafael, after his grandfather.

Jabotinsky was a frequent guest of the Kugels, often visiting Victor Rafailovich and Maria Abramovna with his wife, Anna Markovna, and son Eric. Kugel had another close friend – Joseph Trumpeldor. At one time, Trumpeldor even courted Maria Abramovna's sister, Eda Shmulevich, but was rejected. It was said that the reason was the injury Joseph received during the Russo-Japanese War.

When World War I broke out, Victor Rafailovich didn't join the army due to his very poor eyesight. In 1918, when Petrograd became quite unstable, he left for Crimea with his wife and son Rafael. The Kugels had a summer house in Balaklava.

Victor planned to emigrate to Palestine from Soviet Russia but didn't manage to do so. He remained in Crimea. When the Bolsheviks arrived there, he began working in various newspaper editorial offices and the printing department of the Crimean Council of National Economy. In 1922, he was invited to Moscow: the State Publishing House of the RSFSR was being established and needed first-class specialists.

Throughout the 1920s-30s, Victor Kugel was engaged in publishing activities. His last workplace was the Scientific Publishing Institute of the Great Soviet World Atlas under the USSR Central Executive Committee, where he held the position of production consultant.

However, in June 1931, he published a book "Essays on Publishing and Printing," and a scandal suddenly erupted. A devastating review appeared in the "Paper Worker and Printer" newspaper, signed by two unidentified pseudonyms. The reviewers were little concerned with professional issues, but noting the absence of a party definition of the role of the press, they denounced Victor Rafailovich's book as "opportunistic and class-hostile." The tone of the review made it clear: Soviet authorities had marked old specialists and would not tolerate dissent.

Indeed, Victor Kugel never abandoned politics. Maintaining connections with Palestine, Victor Rafailovich was among those who continued to promote the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel within the Soviet Union.

Around 1930, Kugel's acquaintance, Mark Efimovich Bronstein, who had once worked with him at the State Publishing House, suggested he join a group called "Algemein-Zion." Victor Kugel, who never hid his attitude toward Zionism, supported the idea. Soon, the well-known Moscow doctor and equally passionate Zionist Joseph Kaminsky joined their group. Someone named Sasha, a man about thirty-five years old and a member of the Zionist Labor Party, also took an active part in the organization.

Meetings usually took place at Victor Rafailovich's apartment or at Joseph Kaminsky's place. During these meetings, they talked extensively about Palestine, the latest news from Jewish Yishuv life, and read materials from the "Davar" newspaper and other Palestinian publications.

The group members had a very negative attitude towards Soviet power. How could it be otherwise, when the country banned teaching Hebrew and forcibly detained people who wanted to leave for Palestine? Moscow Zionists rejected the idea of creating a socialist-based Jewish analog to Palestine within the Soviet Union – the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Birobidzhan. It was clear to everyone that this was an attempt to distract Jews from solving their problems and exile them to one of the most remote corners of the USSR.

In 1933, at one of the meetings, the Zionists decided to publish a bulletin. Previously, the Central Committee of the Zionist Labor Party, represented in the "Algemein-Zion" group by Sasha, had distributed its own bulletin. He took charge of all organizational and technical aspects of the publication.

It was decided to sign the new bulletin on behalf of the "United Merkaz of Zionist Organizations in the USSR." According to the general decision, the bulletin was to contain exclusively Palestinian chronicles. The Central Committee of "Algemein-Zion" planned to distribute information about the construction of the Jewish homeland in Palestine among Jews. But later, articles of a more general nature began to appear in the bulletin. Kugel and his companions also counted on the emergence of Zionist groups in other USSR cities.

From this point on, Victor Kugel and his associates effectively assumed the functions of the central body of Zionists throughout the Soviet Union, which was supposed to coordinate Zionist activities locally. They also sought to inform the Yishuv about the situation of the Jewish population in the USSR.

Soon, on behalf of the "merkaz," Victor Kugel established contact with Joseph Rosen, director of the Agro-Joint corporation. He visited him at his home on Spiridonovka Street. From him, he received money sent from Mandatory Palestine three times, which he passed on to Sasha. The entire sum of 12,000 rubles was sent from Tel Aviv by Benjamin-Hertz West, a representative of the Zionist Labor Party who had moved to Palestine in 1924. The money was intended to help political exiles. This was substantial assistance: a liter of milk, for example, cost about 3 rubles at that time.