Friday, July 27, 1945 Page Three THE JEWISH NEWS Soviet Citizens in Palestine Unharmed, Reporter Learns Not One Single Incident Found to Substantiate Charges that Jews Are Persecuting Russians in Attempt to Keep Them from Returning to USSR, By BERL CORALNIK JERUSALEM, (JTA)—An investigation conducted by this cor- respondent has uncovered not a single incident to substantiate the charges that "reactionary Jewish organizations" in Palestine are persecuting Soviet citizens and attempting to induce them not to return to Russia, which was charged in a Tass dispatch from Cairo. According to a reliable source, the Soviet repatriation mission, under the leadership of Lt. Col. Karassov, received all possible cooperation and the fullest information concerning the whereabouts of any children who might be considered Soviet citizens. The mission visited them and spoke with them. The children, the JTA informants say, were not coached by anyone and, in fact, were unaware that the Russian officials were going to visit them. With the exception of one girl, however, all the youngsters signified a desire to remain in Palestine. It is reported that only 40 Soviet citizens have registered for repatriation, the majority of them non- Jews. The influential Laborite daily Davar, commenting on the Mos- cow charge, says that "somebody evidently is interested in de- grading prestige of the Moscow radio in Palestine, and is, therefore, spreading lies and insinuations." Davar reviewed the Soviet ac- cusation that one Michal Shulkin had been ousted from his apart- ment because he was a Soviet citizen and sympathizer, and says that these "strange efforts to ascribe political significance to a tenant's quarrel seem ridiculous." The entire Hebrew press has not attacked Russia in any way or form in recent years. In fact, it has often stated that the Soviet Union has been one of the most important factors in combatting fascism and defeating Germany. I interviewed both Shulkin, who is a Polish refugee, and his landlord, whose name is Cohen. Shulkin asserted that Cohen had refused to allow him to use a balcony attached to the house and had called him a Soviet spy. When a Sov?et repatriation mission came here recently Shulkin complained to them. Cohen, on the other hand, denies he ever abused Shulkin and said that his chief objection to him was that he was illegally occupying an apartment which had been rented by Cohen for single occupancy by a kindergarten teacher who is now Shulkin's wife. I was unable to turn up any other instances of "persecution" of Soviet citizens. The entire matter seems to be a tempest in a teapot, resulting from someone misleading the Cairo correspondent of Tass, from whom the story emanated. Weekly Review of the News of the World (Compiled From Cables of Independent Jewish Press Service) AMERICA PALESTINE Meyer W. Weisgal, Jewish Agency repre- sentative in the United States and personal representative of Dr. Chaim Weizmann, presi- dent of the Jewish Agency, left for London July 15, to participate in the first world Zion- ist conference since the war. WAC Corporal Lester, 24 year-old daughter of Mrs. Bertha Lester of Brooklyn, is serving as personal switchboard operator for Presi- dent Truman at the "Big Three" Conference at Potsdam. Cpl. Lester handles all of the Presi- dent's transatlantic calls. The Jewish background of George Gershwin is diluted in the Warner Brothers motion pic- ture version of his life, "Rhapsody in Blue," Manny Farber intimates in a review of the film in New Republic, liberal weekly. "The Jewishness of the Gershwins is made vaguely evident by fearfully playing an occasional Jewish melody in the background and by using, for comedy purposes, a limited number of Jewish attitudes some of which are pretty funny. Robert Aida, who plays the Gershwin role, is much less virile, eloquent and Jewish than Gershwin," Mr. Farber writes. A group of native fascists have filed libel suits, totalling $140,000, against the Chicago Jewish Sentinal. A $50,000 suit was filed by George Vose, former Gerald K. Smith aide, who claims he was libeled by statements in the paper based on an expose published in Reader's Scope, a party to the suit. Another suit asking ► total of $90,000 was filed by Joe McWilliams, ex-Yorkville "fuehrer," George E. Deathridge, Eugene N. Sanctuary, ErneSt F. Elmhurst, Robert E. Edmondson, Lawrence Dennis, E. J. Parker Sage, William H. Lyman Jr., and Charles B. Hundson, leaders in the native fascist, anti-Semitic movement. Seven hundred textbooks at Harvard Uni- versity are now being examined by the educa- tional committee of the National Conference of Christians and Jews "with a view to purging them of contents, if such be. found, tending to increase prejudice," Dr. Henry Noble Mac- Cracken, president of Vassar College, revealed. A resolution demanding that the United Nations try, as war criminals, all German scientists who forced Jews to act as "guinea pigs" in dangerous medical experiments, was adopted by the Jewish Palestine Medical As- sociation at their annual convention in Tel- Aviv. The national day of mourning, Tisha b'Ab (Ninth Day of Ab), marking the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple, was more noticeably observed by Jewish Palestine this year than in previous years, especially in Je- rusalem. Huge crowds flocked to the Wailing Wall July 7 in the evening, particularly new- comers, including survivors of Dachau, Buch- enwald, Belsen and other concentration camps. All plaCes of entertainment, restaurants and cafes were shut down, and the Jerusalem radio broadcast a special Ninth of Ab program of Hebrew readings from the Lamentations.' Wide searches, - apparently for arms, were carried out by army and police July 17 in the vicinity of the Petauch-Tikvah-Tel Aviv road, where a daylight curfew was imposed for sev- eral hours. . OVERSEAS Municipal officials in Slovakia, contrary to the Government's assurances to UNRRA, dis- criminate against the Jews in the distribution of UNRRA foodstuffs, it was charged in an ap- peal addressed by Slovakian Jewry to Jewish leaders in Prague. Dr. Chaim Weizmann, Lord Samuel and Dr. Rabbi Baeck, Germany's Chief Rabbi recently released from a concentration camp, were amOng the participants at a reception held at Palestine House in London for the Board of Governors of the Hebrew University. Dr. Israel Goldstein was received by Con- sistory of the Jews of France, official religious body, at a reception in his honor at their headquarters in the Rue de la Victoire Syna- gogue building in Paris. He promised to im- press American Jewry with the need, in Eu- rope, for religious books and material. (See Also Page' 17) 2,000 Greek Jews Return, Ignored By Government Only 10,000 Remain Alive Out of Prewar Population of 80,000; Needs Cited ATHENS, (JTA) — Two-thou- sand Greek. Jews repatriated from Polish death camps have been confined in a reception center for more than a month awaiting transportation to their home towns, and the Greek Government has taken no steps to remedy the situation. The repatriated deportees are living under what an UNRRA representative described as "de- plorable conditions," and there is a strong possibility that they may be compelled to remain in the camp for an indefinite period as no ships or vehicles have been provided for their transportation. Reports reaching here daily tell of how the Jews of Salonika, for instance, are being terrori- zed by the "Epsilom Epsilom," an anti-Semitic group with fascist tendencies. In Salonika there are only 1,000 Jews re- maining of the prewar popula- tion of over 45,000. In all of Greece, according to Rabbi Eli Barzilani, head of the Jewish community in Athens, only 10,000 Jews remain of the 80,000 who lived in the country before the German occupation, including the 2,000 who have re- turned. The prewar Jewish population of the principal cities and pro- vinces of Greece and the present population is given as follows. Salonika Athens Larissa Volos Corfu Crete Jennina Thrace Castorla) Florina ) PREWAR 45,000 7,000 1,500 2,000 3,000 1,000 3,500 . 6-7,000 4,000 PRESENT 800-1,000 3.800 850 1,000 80 None 40-50 None 300-400 A Jewish delegation arrived here recently to request the gov- ernment to facilitate the emigra- tion to Palestine of those Jews desiring to settle there. 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