Letter: In brief

Sir: In his obituary of Ilya Musin (10 June), Martin Anderson writes that Stalin forbade Jews to enlist in the Soviet army. About half a million Soviet Jews served in the Second World War and an estimated 200,000 were killed in action. Many prominent Soviet scientists, musicians and actors (some Jewish) were indeed evacuated to the eastern territories where they could work in relative safety. It is only in this sense that "Musin was in no danger of conscription".

VITALI ROSMAN

Manchester