Командировка за океан: Поездка Ильи Эренбурга в США в 1946 г. [Mission over the Ocean: Ilya Ehrenburg in America in 1946]

Abstract

The article discusses Ehrenburg’s visit to the US in the spring of 1946 which, despite its importance, has fallen out of the focus of scholars as well as his biographers. Ehrenburg and two of his colleagues (Konstantin Simonov and Мikhail Galaktionov) were sent to the United States by the Soviet leadership to participate in the work of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. During his two-month stay in the US Ehrenburg gave many talks and interviews, travelled to the southern states and wrote for influential American papers. As he enjoyed a high reputation in post-war America, his visit was covered by many newspapers. The article demonstrates how in criticizing the American press, the American way of life, etc., Ehrenburg tried to hide the acute problems in his own country: antisemitism, xenophobia, lack of press freedom. His visit to America reveals his anti-Americanism, which will grow at the end of the 1940s.