The poem explicitly deplores the anti-Semitism of Soviet regime – those who “pompously called themselves / the Union of the Russian People!” – for its callous disregard. The speaker insists at the poem’s conclusion that, though he has no Jewish blood, “Nothing in [him] shall ever forget,” which to him means that “all antisemites / must hate [him] now as a Jew.” Yevtushenko’s speaker distinguishes his humane perspective from that of callous Soviet ideologues, by incorporating it into an identity claim that distinguishes him from their regime: his ability to feel and resist the suffering of Jewish people is the “reason / [he is] a “true Russian.” 4 Unquestionably, Shostakovich used his profile – he was one of the only living Russian composer who was internationally recognized – as a platform for Yevtushenko’s radical poetry. The composer would have been well aware that Yevtushenko’s words would likely bring scrutiny to his symphony and himself. The poet was a known western idealist, having been expelled from the Gorky Institute of Literature in Moscow for “individualism” (Fainsod 433). It was unsurprising, then, that the Soviet censors would not allow more than two performances of the symphony (and that only on an “unofficial” basis). The nature of the Soviet regime’s objections is evident in the changes Yevtushenko was compelled to make to the poem (Wilson 361). He published a second, longer, and “politically correct” version of "Babi Yar" in 1963. The changes made to the lyrics of the symphony were limited to eight lines, all of which are reflected in the block quotes above [lines 5-9; lines 53-56]. Instead of feeling himself a Jew, Yevtushenko’s speaker now says, Here I stand at the fountainhead that gives me faith in brotherhood Here Russians lie, and Ukrainians Together with Jews in the same ground (line 5-9) The religious imagery of Exodus and the New Testament is removed, and Babi Yar is reimagined not just as a site of a Jewish massacre, but also as the origin, or “fountainhead” of the new speaker’s Soviet nationalism, implied by his “faith in brotherhood.” The ravine is no longer just the burial place of Jewish victims, but also of Russian and Ukrainian nationals. The implication is that the brotherhood, the Soviet collective, subsumes these other claims to identity. Instead of hearing the “gigantic soundless screams” and experiencing the deaths of every old man, and every child (lines 53-56), of the original lyrics, Yevtushenko’s new speaker says that Babi Yar calls to mind: 4 My italics. 76
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