Ashkenazy Defies
Soviet Union for •
Home in Britain
LONDON, (JTA))— Vladi-
mir Ashkenazy, the prominent
Soviet Jewish concert pianist,
w a s reported
traveling i n -
cognito some-
where in Eng-
land after the
British g o v -
ernment grant-
ed him and
Mrs. Ashken-
a z y permis-
sion to remain
in t h e coun-
t r y . Ashken-
a z y had de-
nied he was
seeking politi-
cal asylum.
A spokes- .
m a n for the
Home Office,
stressing that Ashkenazy
political asylum was not in-
volved, said that Ashkenazy's
wife, Dodie, a native of Iceland,
was a resident of Britain for 17
years before she married and
had asked to be allowed to take
Up residence in Britain again.
The spokesman said this was
granted and, in accordance with
custom, the same privilege was
extended to her husband.
The New York Times edi-
torially speculated that the Ash-
kenaszy incident may fan anti-
Semitism in the USSR. The edi-
torial, headed "Mr. Ashkenazy's
Decision," follows:
"The gifted young Soviet
pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy is
making a valiant but unconvinc-
ing effort to avoid having po-
litical conclusions drawn from
his decision to stay in Britain
rather than return to his native
land.
"His wife, a foreigner, found
it dicicult to adjust to Russia
and prefers to live in England.
This must have played a major
role in Mr. Ashkenazy's action.
But it has been many years
since a renowned Soviet citizen
abroad had the right to decide
whether to return home on the
basis of personal considerations
alone. Mr. Ashkenazy was per-
mitted to leave the Soviet Union
temporarily with his family be-
cause of the political .--"advan-
tages Moscow sought to gain
from the respect for his artis- .
try. His decision to remain
away has political significance.
"The young pianist seeks to
avoid any suggestion of dissi-
dence. He apparently has rela-
tives in the Soviet Union upon
whom revenge might be taken.
He is a Jew, and the Soviet
Government might retaliate by
using his action to fan Russian
anti-Semitism. And in this pe-
riod of tighter Soviet controls
over artistic freedom his action
can be used as a weapon by the
most reactionary Stalinists in
Moscow. But those tighter con-
trols in Moscow may well have
played a larger role in Mr.
Ashkenazy's choice than he is
willing to admit. To be aware
of these factors is to under-
stand how difficult his decision
must have been."
Meanwhile, however, Ashken-
azy stated in England this week
that, with the USSR's permis-
sion, he plans to make periodic
trips to Russia.
Jewish Charities
in Chicago Left
Millions by Hart
Fifty-seven-year-old bachelor
Henry N. Hart, philanthropist
and former steel company execu-
tive, left the bulk of a $4,000,000
estate to Chicago Jewish chari-
ties, according to a will filed last
week in probate court.
He died on April 2. He had
retired from business life after
World War II to devote his time
to serving charities. He served
for many years on the boards of
the Jewish Federation and the
Jewish Community Centers.
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Famous Hebrew Library of 33,520
Books Purchased for California U.
The S. S. Velasco docked at
the Port of Los Angeles Tues-
day after a 47-day voyage from
I Haifa and unloaded 151 large
crates containing 33,520 books.-
These were not ordinary vol-
umes but the foundation of a
great Judaica and Hebraica col-
lection at UCLA, said Chancellor
Franklin D. Murphy who an-
nounced the acquisition.
"This important purchase was
made possible by the generosity
of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Cum-
mings of Beverly Hills," he said,
"and reflects their deep respect
for learning and scholarship.
In the collection are such
items as Bibles (many of them
first editions and rarities), Tal-
muds and Talmud-commentaries,
Rabbinica, rare Hebrew periodi-
cals, modern Hebrew literature,
studies and histories of various
Jewish communities, an Old Yid-
dish collection, several hundred
books in Rumanian, volumes of
The Jewish Chronicle, important
dictionaries, and many other
such items.
The books were purchased
from the firm of Bamberger and
Wahrman in Jerusalem, whose
clients are to be found all over
the world—including the Hebrew
National and University Library
in Jerusalem, the New York
Public Library, the Library of
Congress, Brandeis University,
Harvard University and the Bib-
liotheque Nationale in France.
The purchase was suggested to
UCLA officials by Prof. Arnold
Band, assistant professor of He-
brew, who is. in Jerusalem on
sabbatical leave.
4 Jews in Moscow Jail on Matzoth
Char ge; 1 Goes on Hunger Strike
LONDON, (JTA)—Four Rus-
sian Jews are still in prison
in Moscow for trying to dis-
tribute matzoth there before
last Passover, and one of them
is in danger of death because
he is on a virtual hunger
strike, refusing to eat the non-
kosher food, according to high-
ly reliable information from
Moscow.
The man who insists on not
partaking of the non-kosher
prison fare is Wolf Bogomolin,
a graduate of the Yeshiva
which had been conducted at
Moscow's Central Synagogue.
While ordained as a rabbi,
young Bogomolin has been act-
ing as a ritual slaughterer for
the Moscow Jewish community,
making his headquarters at the
Central Synagogue.
Part of the information was
confirmed by an obscure, pure-
ly local newspaper published
in Moscow as the house organ
of the Moscow Militia. This
newsp ape r, "Na Boyevom
Postu," reported in its issue of
March 28 that four Jews had
been arrested and indicted on
charges of. "illegal commercial
activities" and "speculation in
prices."
Originally, it was learned,
eight Jews were arrested in
Moscow for trying to distribute
matzoth. Four were released,
while • the remaining four, in-
cluding young Bogomolin, may
face more serious charges.
One- hundred - twenty - mil-
lion Americans attend cultural
events every year.
HUDSON'S
SUMMER SHOPS
ARE OPEN
NOW
Israel Constructs
Access Roads to Aid
Village Settlers
AFULA, Israel—The construc-
tion of a new three-mile long
access road to Mey Ami, the first
village of the Iron Region of
Samaria, whose settlers are soon
to arrive at their new home,
was completed recently by the
Jewish National Fund.
The JNF is now working at
the reclamation of an area of
1,300 dunams for Mey Ami
which will be partly planted with
deciduous fruit trees and partly
serve for tobacco growing.
Another access road, over four
miles in length, has been added
by the Fund on Mount Gilboa,
to connect the new outpost set-
tlement of Ma'aleh H a g i 1 b o a
with Beyt Alfa and other vet-
eran villages of the Harod and
Beyt She'an valleys. The JNF,
which bears the responsibility
for this new- border village in
its initial years, is now carrying
out experiments with fruit grow-
ing on Mount Gilboa. The set-
tlers have received a large herd
of beef cattle as a present from
their religious sister villages
Tirat Tsevi and Sedeh Eliyahu,
in the nearby Beyt She'an Val-
ley.
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