Khrushchev's Attacks on Israel Stir New
Tensions as U. S. Jews Pray for Kinsmen
LONDON. (JTA) — Two cen-
trally located Moscow bookstalls
have been selling black market
reproductions of anti-Semitic ma-
terials, it was reported author-
itatively from Moscow. The dis-
closure was made in an evening
newspaper in the Soviet capital,
Vechernyaya Moskva, which said
one of the stores adjoined the
National Hotel, while another was
next door to the Moscow Art
Theater.
Another Moscow dispatch re-
ported that a Jew, Iosif L. Klein-
pert, had been condemned to death
after being convicted by the Rus-
sian Supreme Court of alleged em-
bezzlement of government pro-
perty. Klempert and two brothers,
Pavel and Boris, both physicians,
had been reported arrested in the
Russian press last January on em-
bezzlement charges. However, the
results of the trial of the Klem-
pert brothers had not• been re-
ported in the Soviet press.
The Soviet feature agency
Novosti reported that the edi-
torial board of Sovietisch Heim-
land, the bi-monthly Yiddish peri-
odical, is traveling to various Jew-
ish centers in the Soviet Union,
trying to interest more readers
and writers to back the publica-
tion. At one meeting in Vilna,
1,000 Jews reportedly attended a
meeting promoting the periodical,
enhanced by a concert of Yiddish
folksongs.
The works of Isaak Babel, one
of the Jewish writers who disap-
peared during the purges of the
Stalin era, are apearing for the
first time since then in the Soviet
Union, it was reported from Mos-
cow-
One of the most popular Soviet
writers in the 1920s, Babel disap-
peared in 1938. His death occurred
in 1941, according to recent Soviet
biographical sources which do not
include any information on
whether he was executed or died
of disease or privation in a Soviet
forced labor camp.
Soviet Store Sells
Drums With Skins Made
From Torah Scrolls
NEW YORK (JTA)—A Moscow
store, operated by the Soviet gov-
ernment, recently sold to a West-
ern tourist a snare drum which
used a portion of a Torah parch-
ment as one of its skins, thus
desecrating the Holy Scroll, the
New York Herald Tribune re-
ported.
The newspaper, reproducing a
photograph of the drum-skin,
showed that the bottom of the
drum had stretched a piece of
Torah parchment inscribed with 35
verses from Chapters 17 and 18
of Genesis. The drum had been
bought for 50 rubles (about $55)
from the Moscow store No. 32, a
store where Soviet residents leave and Israel. The premier said that
personal articles for sale by the the "imperialists apparently
learned nothing" from the 1956
government outlet.
action.
Anti-Jewish Bias In
Khrushchev on Tuesday again
Soviet Russia Evokes
told Egyptians in the presence
Protest in Belgium
BRUSSELS (JTA)—The Belgian of President Nasser that Israel
League for Human Rights adopted is a "menace" not only to the
a resolution against religious policy Arabs but to the whole world,
according to Cairo dispatches.
in the Soviet Union referring spe-
cifically to anti-Jewish actions by He spoke to a mass rally at
Martyr s Square in Port Said
Soviet authorities.
The resolution protested the where he laid a wreath at the
foot of the obelisk there com-
closing of synagogues, the ban on
matzo baking two years in a row memorating the 6,500 Egyptians
and the anti-Semitic book, "Ju- killed in 1956 during the war
daism Without Embellishment," between Egypt and Israel,
published under auspices of the France and Britain.
Ukrainian Academy of Science.
Calling Israel an "agent of west- '
The resolution' called on the Soviet ern imperialism" the Soviet leader
authorities to act to prevent a , said that the "imperialists appar-
repetition of such measures.
ently learned nothing" from the
New York Jewish Communists
1956 action. While attacking the
West in general, he focused his
Oppose Khrushchev's
major denunciations against Israel.
Views on Jordan Waters
NEW YORK (JTA)—The pro-
He had already, in another
Communist Freiheit, a daily Yid- speech in Egypt Monday night,
dish newspaper, has declared edi- promised Egypt that "if there is
torially that, contrary to the back- a request for arms from the Nasser
ing of the Arab views by Soviet government "we shall s up p 1 y
Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev, them." That statement was made
"Israel has the right to draw off during an address at the Armed
waters from the Jordan River." Forces Club in Cairo where
Ref erring to the Khrushchev Khrushchev departed from his pre-
speech made in Egypt last week, pared text to offer further arms
when the Soviet leader took the to Egypt if asked to do so.
position that the Arab nations are
Other dispatches received here
correct in opposing Israel's water from Egypt reported that Presi-
project, the Freiheit declared:
dent Nasser has been pressing the
"Israel's right to use the north- Soviet leader during the latter's
ern waters to irrigate its southern current visit to join Egypt in an
regions does not rob the Arab ultimatum to Israel. The joint ulti-
neighbors. The fact is that Jordan's matum would warn Israel that she
King Hussein, with the help of must implement United Nations
funds obtained from Washington, resolutions and must discontinue
has already started drawing water its project for drawing Jordan
from the Yarmuk River, north of River waters for irrigation of the
the Jordan, and is thereby robbing upper reaches of Israel's Negev
water from Israel kibbutzim. That desert. According to the Nasser
forced Israel to consider urgently proposal the Soviet Union would
the matter of providing water for threaten that it would sever diplo-
irrigation of the arid Negev and
the south in general, where 50 per
cent of Israel's land area is located
and which can use only 15 percent
of Israel's water resources. Just
as the Arab neighbors have rights,
so Israel has the right to regulate
its land's water resources in order
to transform its wilderness into a
blooming region."
Nikita Makes Another Attack
on Israel at Cairo Ceremony
matic relations with Israel unless
the Israeli government complied
with the terms of the USSR-Egyp-
tian ultimatum.
In his Port Said speech, Khrush-
chev said that "a reasonable and
just solution must be found for
Palestine." Referring to the 1956
Suez-Sinai crisis, he said that the
Franco-British goal at that time
was the destruction of Egyptian
independence.
ishe Heimland is planning to be-
come a monthly, quotes the maga-
zine's editor Aron Vergelis asp
stating that new Yiddish books art(
to be published soon, and
nounces plans for a tour of Russian
cities by a Russian Jewish drama
group which was established two
years ago in Moscow by 70-year-
old Benjamin. Shvartser.)
* * *
Yiddish Actor's Role
in 'King Lear' Put in
Soviet Documentary
Only 3 Anti-Israel Lines
in 48-Page Speech by K
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to the Jewish News)
JERUSALEM—Mrs. Golda Meir,
PARIS — A scene from "King
Israel's foreign minister, reported Lear" played in Yiddish by the
Monday to the Cabinet on her late Jewish actor Solomon Mikhoels
evaluation of Soviet Premier has been included by Soviet pro-
Khrushchev's address in Cairo in ducers in a documentary film on
which he asailed Israel's national Shakespeare.
water carrier project. She also re-
The 20-minute film, including
ported to the Cabinet on her meet- fragments o f a
ing on the matter with Soviet Am- dozen famous
bassador Mikhail Bodrov.
performances by
It was indicated that only three Soviet Shake-
lines in a 48-page address were de- spearean actors,
voted by the Soviet leader to Is- was shown on
rael. Observers here also were re- Moscow televi-
ported as pondering the signifi- sion and ran in
cance of the Soviet leader's re- several movie
marks on Saturday calling on the theaters in Mos-
Arabs to achieve unity on the basis cow as part of
of working class solidarity rather the 400th anni-
than Arab nationalism. They also versary of Shake-
Mikhoels
were reported as wondering about speare's birth.
the extent to which those remarks
It is believed to be the first time
were meant by the Soviet leader that a performance by Mikhoels
to be a warning to Egyptian Presi- has been exposed to a mass audi-
dent Nasser against the continu- ence in the Soviet Union since the
ation of his style of neutralism be- Jewish State Theater was closed
tween East and West.
by Stalin in 1949. His perform-
(The New York Times reported ance in "King Lear," premiered
from Moscow on Monday that "an in 1938, was hailed by critics as
increase in Jewish cultural activity one of the outstanding Shake-
has been evident here since the spearean interpretations of the So-
recent publication abroad of viet period.
charges that Soviet authorities are
Mikhoels was killed on Jan. 19,
discriminating against Jews." The 1948, in an auto accident now
Times report states that the bi- known to have been engineered by
monthly Yiddish magazine Soviet- Soviet secret police.
Pope Expresses Concern Over Fate of USSR Jews
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to the Jewish News)
Soviet Premier
LONDON
Khrushchev Tuesday again called
Israel an "agent of Western im-
perialism" during his visit to
Egypt and said that he considered
Israel a menace not only to the
Arabs but also to the whole world,
it was reported here from Cairo.
The Soviet premier made his
charge while laying a wreath at the
foot of an obelisk erected by
Egypt at the northern end of the
Suez Canal to mark the 1956 action
against Egypt by Britain, France
—
Soviet Authors, Intellectuals Protest
Sentencing of Young Jewish Writer
LONDON (JTA)—A number of
leading Soviet writers and intellec-
tuals made an unprecedented pro-
test against the arrest and sentenc-
ing of a young writer, Josef Brod-
sky of Leningrad.
According to reports received
from Moscow, Brodsky's home was
searched by the political police in
1962 because of charges he had
been involved with two men ar-
rested on charges of exerting
"harmful influence on young peo-
ple to whom they preached yoga
philosophy and anarcho-individual-
ism." Brodsky, 24, was not ar-
rested.
However, last November, the
evening paper, Vercherny Lenin-
grad, attacked Brodsky as a "dis-
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, May 22, 1964
40
solute and cynical parasite." Last
February, Brodsky returned to
Leningrad from a Moscow psychia-
tric clinic where he was treated for
reactions to the persecution. He
was then "arrested in the street."
The reports indicated he was
tried on trumped-up charges and
sentenced to five years' exile at
forced labor. He was sent with con-
victed thieves and murderers to a
state farm in the Archangel pro-
vince in the far north.
During the trial such noted per-
sons as poet Samuel Marshak, au-
thor Korney Chukovsky and com-
poser Dimitri Shostakovich sent
telegrams to the court to plead for
Brodsky, asking that "young and
still developing talent" should be
saved from "undeserved and slan-
derous accusations."
Pope Paul VI, with National Jewish War Veterans Conunander Daniel Neal Heller of Miami and
past JWV Commander Abraham Kraditor of New York, in the Pope Paul V Room at the Vatican. The
Pope expressed concern over the fate of Soviet Jewry at this historic meeting.
Pope Paul VI chose a private
audience with the national com-
mander of the Jewish War Vet-
erans to announce his deep con-
cern over the fate of 3.5 million
Jews in the Soviet Union.
In a 15-minute audience, held in
the Chamber Room of Pope Paul
V on April 14, JWV National Com-
mander Daniel Neal H e 11 e r of
Miami, and Past National Com-
mander Abraham Kraditor of New
York City, were "gratified and
elated" over the Pope's deep con-
cern for the 3.5 million Jews in
the Soviet Union, who are suffer-
ing under a stepped-up anti-
Semitic campaign.
The meeting has been character-
ized as one of the most significant
face-to-face meetings involving the
leaders of an American Jewish
organization and the spiritual
leader of 600,000,000 Catholics
throughout the world.
According to Heller, the pope's
pronouncements on the fate of
Soviet Jewry have put the church
on record as expressing for the
first time the Pope's awareness of
the existence of Soviet anti
-
Semitism and his disapproval of
such discrimination as well as his
deep feeling for and understand-
ing of the predicament of the
Soviet Jews.
" 'Those poor poor people,' ex-
claimed the Pope, 'we must all
pray very very hard for them. I
will personally pray for them'."
Observers of Catholic affairs
interpret the Pope's arrangement
of this audience as the vehicle
through which he chose to tell the
world of the Catholics' interest and
concern over the plight of the
I Soviet Jews.
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