international state propaganda campaign, the Jewish population there never reached 30% (as of 2003 it was only about 1.2%). The experiment ended in the mid-1930s, during Stalin's first campaign of purges. Jewish leaders were arrested and executed, and Yiddish schools were shut down. Further persecutions and purges followed. The training of rabbis became impossible until the early 1940s, and until the late 1980s only one Yiddish periodical was published. Because of its identification with Zionism, Hebrew was taught only in schools for diplomats. Most of the 5,000 synagogues functioning prior to the Bolshevik Revolution were closed under Stalin, and others were closed under Khrushchev. The practice of Judaism became very difficult, intensifying the desire of Jews to leave the Soviet Union. See also Index of Soviet Union-related articles Council for Religious Affairs Culture of the Soviet Union Demographics of the Soviet Union State Atheism Soviet anti-religious legislation Soviet Anti-Catholic Campaigns Persecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countries Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union Persecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XII USSR anti-religious campaign (1917–1921) USSR anti-religious campaign (1921–1928) USSR anti-religious campaign (1928–1941) USSR anti-religious campaign (1958–1964) USSR anti-religious campaign (1970s–1990) Eastern Catholic victims of Soviet persecutions Persecution of Muslims in the former USSR Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Soviet Union Soviet Orientalist studies in Islam Religion in Russia Bezbozhnik Enemy of the people Russification Sovietization Red Terror References Notes References Bibliography Ramet, S. P. (1984). Religion and Nationalism in Soviet and East European Politics. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ——. (1992). Religious policy in the Soviet Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Soviet culture