Doctors' plot

The "doctors' plot" (Russian: дело врачей, romanized: delo vrachey, lit. 'doctors' case') was a Soviet state-sponsored anti-intellectual and antisemitic (under the guise of being anti-cosmopolitan) campaign based on a conspiracy theory that alleged an anti-Soviet cabal of prominent medical specialists, many of whom were ethnically Jewish, 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 majority-Jewish group of doctors from Moscow were accused of a conspiracy to assassinate Soviet leaders. They were accused of serving the interests of international Jewry, as well as Western (primarily American and British) intelligence. Following this, many doctors were dismissed from their jobs, arrested, and tortured to produce admissions. A few weeks after 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.