Editing Doctors' plot (section)

{{Short description|1951–1953 Soviet anti-semitic campaign}}
{{Distinguish|Doctors' trial}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Antisemitism|Canards}}
{{Stalinism|history}}
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The "'''doctors' plot'''" ({{langx|ru|дело врачей|link=no|lit=doctors' case|delo vrachey}}) was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] state-sponsored [[Anti-intellectualism|anti-intellectual]] and [[Rootless cosmopolitan|anti-cosmopolitan]] campaign based on a [[conspiracy theory]] that alleged an anti-Soviet [[cabal]] of prominent [[Healthcare in Russia|medical specialists]], including some of [[Jews|Jewish]] ethnicity, intended to murder leading government and Communist Party officials.<ref>{{Cite web|date=20 July 1998|title=Doctors' Plot {{!}} alleged conspiracy, Soviet Union [1953]|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Doctors-Plot|url-status=live|access-date=|website=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906021014/https://www.britannica.com/event/Doctors-Plot |archive-date=6 September 2015 }}</ref> It was also known as the case of '''saboteur doctors, doctor-poisoners''' or '''killer doctors'''. 

In 1951–1953, a group of doctors from [[Moscow]] were accused of a conspiracy to assassinate Soviet leaders.<ref name="Encyclopaedia Judaica 1972 pp. 144–145">{{cite encyclopedia |title=DOCTORS PLOT |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediajud06jeru/page/n85/mode/2up |url-access=registration |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]] |publisher=Encyclopaedia Judaica |publication-place=Jerusalem, Israel |year=1972 |oclc=651524877 |pages=144–145 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> They were accused of working for Western (primarily [[United States|American]] and [[United Kingdom|British]]) intelligence.<ref name="Vicious Spies and Killers under the Mask of Academic Physicians" /> This was later accompanied by publications in the media which talked about the threats of [[Zionism]] and condemned certain people who were Jewish.{{sfn|Medvedev|2003|pp=68–170}} Following this, many doctors, both Jews and non-Jews, were dismissed from their jobs, arrested, and [[Forced confession|tortured to produce admissions]].

A few weeks after [[Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin|Stalin's death]] in 1953, the new Soviet leadership dropped the case due to a lack of evidence. Soon after, the case was declared to have been a fabrication.