Soviet Premier Pledges to Ease Emigration of Jews to Join Families

PARIS (JTA) — Soviet Pre-
mier Alexei Kosygin said here
Dec. 3 at a press conference
that "we `will do everything to
enable" reunification of Jew-
ish families in the Soviet
Union with members living in
other countries.

In what was believed to be his
first statement on the problem as
premier, Kosygin. in Paris on a
state visit. made the comment in
a reply to a question by one of the
newsmen. lie was asked whether
the Soviet Union would give per-
mission to Jews in Russia to join
their families in ; other countries.
He coupled his reply with a denial
of anti-Semitism in the Soviet
Union.

He also said—in reply to another
question — that a Soviet-sponsored
peace' conference in the Middle
East was not possible because the
"belligerents" did not want it.

In reply to the question about
permitting the reunification of
Jewish families, the Soviet Pre-
mier said:
"Many people in the world
have already raised this ques-
tion. Some are speaking about
anti-Semitism in the So viet
Union. Others speak about reuni-
fication of Jewish families. I
have to say to you that there is
no anti-Semitism in the Soviet
Union. That is pure imagination
and not a very brilliant way of
struggle . agai n s t the Soviet
Union. That is not serious. •
"Concerning the problem of
families and their reunification,
we will do everything to enable
this. We will make it easy: we will

' open the road for those who want
to leave. There is no problem
about reunification of families.
There is not a single country in the
world which found a solution to
the problem of interior nations as
did the Soviet Union. We have in
the Soviet Union very many na-
tions and all of them are equal.
We take care of the interests of
all nations represented in the
Soviet Union. This concerns Jews
as well as all the others."
The question posed to the Soviet
premier about arranging a Middle
East peace conference referred to
the peace talks arranged by the
Soviet Union in Tashkent between
India and Pakistan which brought
a cease fire in the war between
those two countries.
Replying to the question, Pre-
mier Kosygin said: "There is no
question of a Tashkent conference
for the Middle East. You must
understand that there can be such
a conference only in case that both
sides, that means both belligerents,
would agree on such a conference.
This is impossible in the Middle
East because there they do not
want it."
(Israel gave a favorable recep-
tion to the Kosygin statement.
(However, it was noted here that
the Kosygin statement must be
taken cautiously, pending practical
implementation of the presumed
pledge. Observers pointed out that
unofficial promises of that kind
have been made previously in the
Soviet Union but, so far, only a
trickle of Jewish emigration from
the Soviet Union has been per-
mitted.)
Meanwhile, in New York, a panel
of American religious and civic

* * *

leaders called on the leaders of Conference of American Rabbis,
the USSR to permit large-scale expressed "cautious optimism."
emigration of Soviet Jews to
"The American Jewish Confer-
Israel.
ence on Soviet Jewry said it noted
The call came in a "verdict" `with great interest the positive
issued by members of the Ad statement made in Paris on Dec.
Hoc Commission on the Rights 3, 1966, by Soviet Premier Alexei
of Soviet Jews based on testi- N. Kosygin that Soviet Jews who
mony and reports presented at wish to do so will be allowed to
a public hearing here last March be reunited with members of their
families living outside the Soviet
18.
Bayard Rustin, Negro civil rights Union. The reunion of families has
been one of the major requests of
leader, chaired the tribunal and
our conference and we anxiously
headed the list of signers. They
await the translation of the Pre-
were Dr. John C. Bennett, presi-
mier's promise into practical deeds.
dent, Union Theological Seminary;
"Too often in the past have
The Rev. George B. Ford, pastor
emeritus, Corpus Christi Church; 'promises failed to be followed by
performance. The impleriienta-
Emil Mazey, secretary-treasurer,
tion of this promise would be in
United Automobile Workers; Tel-
conformity with the Universal
ford Taylor, professor of law, Co-
Declaration of Human Rights of
lumbia University; and Norman
the United Nations and would be
Thomas, veteran Socialist leader.

welcomed by men of good will
Gratification over the state-
throughout the world. We also
ment made by Premier Kosygien
reiterate our appeal, as ex-
was expressed by Murray I. Gur-
pressed in the International Dec-
fein, president of United Hias
laration on Soviet Jewry, that
Service. The leader of the
full cultural and religious rights
world-wide Jewish migration ag-
be restored to the Jews of the
ency termed the news "very en-
USR."
couraging."
In Montreal, an appeal to Soviet
"We hope the policy will be car- authorities
on behalf of Russian
ried out immediately," Gurfein

The timing. for the protest cor-
responds w ith the observance of
Hanuka - and United Nations Day
(Sunday ), combining "to awaken
the conscience of humanity to the
continued cultural and religious
discriminations under which the
Je ws of Russia have lived for the
past 40 years." Rabbi Israel Miller
of New York said.

Rabbi Miller is national chair-
man of the American Jewish Con-
ference on Soviet Jewry, of which
the Detroit Jewish Community
Council's Subcommittee on Anti-
Jewish Discrimination in the Sov-
iet Union is a part. Irving Pokemp-
ncr is chairman.

On Sunday, at 10:30 p.m. over
station Will. the "In Contact"

program will present Maurice
Samuel, author of "Blood Accu-
sation." the story of the notorious
Beiliss Case in the Soviet Union.
Samuel, who appeared here re-
cently under the auspices of the
council. will discuss in depth the
conditions of the Jews in the
Soviet Union today and the na-
ture of anti-Semitism itself.

sored by the American Jewish Con-
ference on Soviet Jewry.

The 90 Senators expressed an
"insistent demand that the 3,000,-
000 Jews of the Soviet Union be
allowed to live creatively and in
dignity as Jews."

Pointing out that "Soviet policy
seems to be aiming at the oblitera-
tion of the Jewish community and
Jewish culture," the statement
said that "Jews, alone among all
Soviet ethnic groups, are forbidden
schools and other institutions of
Jewish learning and research,
though all are required if the

ancient heritage of the Jew is to be
perpetuated."
The Senators also urged that
the tens of thousands of Jews
living in the Soviet Union be
allowed to rejoin their families
in the United States, in Israel
and in other countries after the
upheavals and tragedies of the
Nazi era that have -marred their
lives. Among the 90 were Philip
A. Hart and Robert P. Griffin
of Michigan.

Most of the meetings held in
other cities will be linked together
in a nationwide telephone hook-up
featuring Dr. Martin Luther King,
civil rights leader, who will speak
from his home in Atlanta. Dr. King
will be introduced from the New
York meeting at Cooper Union Hall
by Rabbi Miller.

Saturday - evening, the citywide
Jewish Youth Planning Committee
Hanuka program at the Jewish
Center will include a dramatic
presentation on the conditions
The New York meeting will be
under which' Soviet Jews have
preceded by a parade of over 10,-
been forced to live.
000 youth marching from the
At 4:30 p.m. Dec. 18, over Chan- United Nations building.
nel 4, there will be a special show-
ing of the film. "The Price of
On Wednesday, central Jewish
Silence." with Edward G. Robin- communal organizations in 18
son, again presenting the tragic countries of the world issued "An
International Declaration on Soviet
story of Russian Jewry.
On Sunday. 90 members of the Jewry." Among them were France,
Italy, Israel, Japan, Ireland and
U.S. Sena t e expressed their
"staunch support of the American Mexico. The statement, declaring
Jewish community's protests that "all human beings are born
against the anti-Semitic policies of free and equal in dignity and
the Soviet Union" in an advertise- rights," urged the Soviet Union to
ment published in the New York "abolish discriminatory practices
against its Jewish citizens which
Times.
The advertkement • was spon- are, in fact, violations of human

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Detroit Takes Part in Nationwide Protest
Against Anti-Jewish Policy of USSR

Detroit w ill join 31 other com-
munities throughout the United
States in a nationwide protest next
week against the continued cul-
tural and religious, discriminations
against .Jews in the Soviet Union.

Jewish Congress in major news-
papers in Montreal, Toronto, Ot-
tawa and Winnipeg.
The appeal cites the occasion of
the 18th anniversary of the Uni-
versal Declaration of Human
Rights and the observance of
Ilanuka as the time when Canadian
Jews remember "in particular"
their kinship with the millions of
Jewish citizens of the SoviA Union
"who are denied many of these
rights and who cannot freely prac-
tice and perpetuate their culture
and religion as guaranteed in the
constitution of the Soviet Union."

rights." The statement was issued
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