Doctors' plot

The "doctors' plot" (Russian: дело врачей, romanized: delo vrachey, lit. 'doctors' case') was a <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet</a> state-sponsored <a href="/facts/Anti-intellectualism/vgKWU8Yx">anti-intellectual</a> and <a href="/facts/Rootless_cosmopolitan/lBpqlCp7">anti-cosmopolitan</a> campaign based on a <a href="/facts/Conspiracy_theory/sNr2Kmh8">conspiracy theory</a> that alleged an anti-Soviet <a href="/facts/Cabal/hhFDAgFx">cabal</a> of prominent <a href="/facts/Healthcare_in_Russia/vJlIVEcn">medical specialists</a>, including some of <a href="/facts/Jews/T9Y4wE6A">Jewish</a> ethnicity, intended to murder leading government and Communist Party officials. It was also known as the case of saboteur doctors, doctor-poisoners or killer doctors.
In 1951–1953, a group of doctors from <a href="/facts/Moscow/AcFYpQUR">Moscow</a> were accused of a conspiracy to assassinate Soviet leaders. They were accused of working for Western (primarily <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">American</a> and <a href="/facts/United_Kingdom/kuPAILt2">British</a>) intelligence. This was later accompanied by publications in the media which talked about the threats of <a href="/facts/Zionism/kL92sl76">Zionism</a> and condemned certain people who were Jewish. Following this, many doctors, both Jews and non-Jews, were dismissed from their jobs, arrested, and <a href="/facts/Forced_confession/yPc7KgCV">tortured to produce admissions</a>.
A few weeks after <a href="/facts/Death_and_state_funeral_of_Joseph_Stalin/j6ENe4ee">Stalin's death</a> 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.

Doctors' plot open-in-new

Doctors' plot