UN Learns More About Anti-Semitism in USSR By SAUL CARSON (JTA Correspondent at the United Nations) (Copyright, 1964, JTA, Inc.) UNITED NATIONS, N.Y.—Dip- lomats and Secretarial members who understand the field of human rights (and, incidentally, not all do) as well as those who under- gtand Soviet Russian trickery (an ever-widening circle here) are studying two apparently con- tradictory phenomena. On the one hand, they note, the USSR is show- ing that it is sensitive to increasing foreign criticism of its persecu- tions against Soviet Jews. On the other, hand, the Soviet Govern- ment continues its anti - Semitic barrage in the spirit of "Judaism Without Embellishment," an in- famous piece of anti-Semitic writ- ing, published last year by the Academy of Science in Kiev. The Kremlin's sensitivity is seen in various Soviet publications USSR-Soviet Life Today, which the Moscow authorities publish in the United States as part of a cultural exchange agreement. Twice in the last few months, this handsome periodical included in its "Queries from Readers" de- partment some questions relating to the position of Soviet Jewry. In the August issue, a Solomon Fisher, presumably an American, asked: "How is it that the Soviet Union, with so many scientists and generally learned people of all nationalities, has no Jewish people in the Government?" The answer: "This is not so. The assistant to premier Khru- shchev is Venqamin Dymshits, chairman of the USSR Economic Council, a Jew by nationality. For a more detailed answer to your question, we refer you to the Ed- itor's Note' in our March issue." The answer in the March is- sue contained the usual Soviet apologia—without showing that, on the basis of population in areas heavily populated by Jews, fully printed monthly magazine, the Jews have far less repre- sentation even in lower govern- ment organs than do other "na. tionalties." Then there is a copy of "Soviet APPLICATIONS FOR Weekly," a propaganda organ pub- lished in London. Here, a long ARE NOW BEING TAKEN article. appeared, entitled: "Jews On New or Existing Homes in the USSR: Assimilation? Yes! It's a Natural Process." The au- QUICK SERVICE thor, identifying himself as one Phone Us Today of Jewish "nationality," is Pro- FRANKLIN fessor Braginsky, a well-known So- MORTGAGE CORP. viet Orientalist and an expert— Approved FHA Mortgagee not on Hebraica or Judaica, but 915 First National Bldg., Det. 26 Tajik literature and Tajik-Iranian WO 3-4890 culture. which the USSR delegation to the United Nations is kind enough to supply to correspondents here. One of the publications is the beauti- MORTGAGES VA or FHA If lack of cash has forced you to spend a stay-at-home summer this year, start putting next year's vacation money aside now in a ••. His thesis is simple; it is em- braced in the subtitle. Soviet Jews are assimilating in greater num- bers and should do so because assimilation is in the essence of the "Jewish spirit, that wonderful alloy, which we think of as the progressive culture of the whole of humanity." (If that makes sense to an American reader, he must be an expert on Tajik—which this writer is definitely not.) The real significance of these writings lies not so much in what they say—but in the very fact that they are printed in Soviet organs. Such inclusion in the So- viet propaganda organs shows that the USSR, annoyed by the charges of anti-Semitism, is on the de- fensive. The USSR feels called upon to explain—something it sel- dom bothers to do, unless the protests are widespread enough and' originate in sources that can- not be ignored. One such source is the body of organs at the United Nations. And one such major organ is the Economic and Social Coun- cil (ECOSOC) with its subsidiary Human Rights Commission. The recent meeting of ECOSOC, at Geneva, heard a lengthy address by Israel's observer there, Am- bassador Moshe Bartur. Eyes there —as well as here at New York Headquarters—were opened by Mr. Bartur's disclosure that "Ju- daism Without Embellishment" was not the only anti-Semitic book published recently by the Soviet Union. Mr. Bartur quoted at length from two other recent Soviet works. Both were issued by the State Publishing House for Politi- cal Literature, at Moscow. One was • a book called "Image of the Saints," by Paul Henri Thiry, Baron of Holbach. You may won- der who he is. Well, he isn't— he was—the author of an infa- mous 18th Century anti-Semitic tract which stated among other things that "the Jews have al- ways, due to their religion, been the enemies of the rest of man- kind" and saw the Jews as "al- ways cruel, perfidious, rebellious, intolerant and false." This is the thing published by Moscow in 1962, in 175,000 copies of a popular edition. By digging up this canard, and issuing it in 1962, the Moscow publishing House, as Mr. Bartur noted, left "the reader with the impression that he is confronted with a mod- ern, up to date exposition of the case" against the Jew. Then, in 1963, the same pub- lishing house in Moscow issued another popular edition, in 105,- 000 copies, of a book entitled "Catechism in Its True Color," by a Mr. Osipov. Here, the So- viet reader was told, among other things, that the rabbi- nate is "a greedy, silver-loving clergy, afraid to leave a single piece on somebody else's plate." In the face of such disclosures, how can Soviet intellectuals look any man straight in the eye and deny that there is anti-Semitism in the USSR, officially condoned if not indeed encouraged and at times fomented by the authori- MANUFACTURERS HATOOHAL EMI% DETROIT •DEARBORN •HIGHLAND PARK • AVON TWP. • BLOOMFIELD TWP • CARLETON • CLINTON TWP. • DEARBORN HTS. • FARMINGTON TWP • GROSSE POINTE WOODS • HARRISON TWP. • MELVINDALE NANKIN TWP. • NORTHVILLE • PLEASANT RIDGE • REDFORD TWP. ROMULUS TWP. • SHELBY TWP. • SOUTHFIELD • STERLING TWP. WARREN • WOOD CREEK FARMS—Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corp- oration. Montreal Assn. Granted $760,000 Loans Last Year MONTREAL (JTA) — The Hebrew Free Loan Association of Montreal announced that a total of $760,355 was loaned in the past year. Loans varying in amounts from $25 to $1,000 were granted during the year to 1,038 people. Figures showed 69 per cent of the money has already been refunded. THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, August 21, 1964 7 . . • you may now send appropriate GIFT CARDS to your friends for memorials, and on happy occasions, etc. . .. These attractive GIFT CARDS are now available upon receipt of a special contribution to the For further details call UN 4-7094 or write to HISTADRUT, 19161 Schaefer Hwy., Detroit 35 ties? Prof. Branginsky, who refers to himself as an intellectual (as in- deed, he obviously is) should try to answer that question, asked here again and again. But then, a man who sees the Jewish spirit as one directed to- ward assimilation obviously has his own method of computation. To honest people here, who can also count, this kind of arithmetic is simply not intelligible. 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