How the Soviets Tried to Suppress Jewish Nationalism Within Its Borders Second installment of seri- alized expose of Jewish tragedy in Russia from "Between Hammer and Sickle" by Ben Ami, pub- lished by Jewish Publica- tion Society of America. BY BEN AMI Soviet law and usage require everyone living in the Soviet Union to be recognized as a member of a nationality. No person is merely a "citizen of the Soviet Union" without his nationality being known generally, or at least to the Soviet authorities. Every member of the Union is registered in his identity card as belonging to a specific nationality. We shall not discuss here the problem, interesting in itself, why of all people it is the Soviets who, though opposed from the start to every form of discrimination, have introduced a system which requires the registration of national- ities within their own country. It is a fact, however, that citizen Ivanov, registered in his identity card as Russian (russkii), and citizeness Ivanova, registered as Russian, (Continued on Page 40) HE JEWISH NEWS The Bigots Who Pose as Libertarians Under Guise of Nonviolence A Weekly Review Editorial Page 4 Tragic Death of JDC's Top Official Mourned by World Jewry MICHIGA N of Jewish Events Commentary Page 2 Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper — Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle VOLUME LI — No. 23 27 $6.00 Per Year; This Issue 20c 17100 W. 7 Mile Rd., Detroit —VE 8-9364—August 25, 1967 Charles H. Jordan's Death Mourned by World Jewry; Investigations Demanded Czechs Accused of Siding the Truth , A Farewell to SNCC Direct JTA Teletype Wires to The Jewish News BY THEODORE B I KEL WASHINGTON—Secretary of State Dean Rusk was asked Tuesday to consider whether to continue validating American passports for tourist travel in Czechoslovakia in view of the conduct of Czech authorities in connection with the death of Charles H. Jordan, executive vice chairman of the American Joint Distribution Committee. The request came from Rep. William S. Broomfield, Michigan Republican, a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. EDITOR'S NOTE: Actor-folk singer Theodore Bikel, long active in the civU rights movement and a veteran sup- porter of SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), has written the following open letter to the leadership of SNCC explaining why he can no longer be put of that organization. Bikel is a national vice presi- dent of the American Jewish Congress. Although his letter Is a personal one and does not speak for the Congress, We are publishing it because it is an eloquent, a passionate, statement by an American and a Jew deeply committed to the unity of the Jewish people and the brotherhood of all men. You know me well—or ought to. I am the fellow who, long before it was fashionable or safe, followed SNCC's call for help and advice. I am the man who helped organize money and "bodies" at the bidding of Jim Forman, Robert Moses, Chuck McDew and John Lewis; who went to Ala- bama and Mississippi because SNCC needed his presence; who slept in a different loft each night because he would not sleep or eat where his Negro brother could not and because the sheriff resented his presence. I am the man who was called "kike nigger- lover" both to his face and in print. You owe me nothing. I did what I did as a corn- . S l mitment of conscience, a corn- mitment that is as real to me Theodore Bikel now as it was then and one which will continue as long as I breathe. But you do owe yourselves a reappraisal of recent actions and recent pronouncements. You who spoke of a "philosophical concept" behind your position on "Jewish oppressors" owe both friend and foe a clearer definition of such "philosophy." It appears from your statement that you have ar- rived at your position after exhaustive research which took you as far afield as the Arab embassies and the Atlantic Public Library; the latter pre- sumably because no Jewish, Israeli or Zionist posi- tion was available to be explored. Since you speak of the establishment of the "illegal" State of Israel in 1948, of population figures and movements, of conquest and of oppression, one must presume you are guided by historical, political, socio-economic and demographic considerations. One must also hope that as a matter of principle you are engaged in an earnest search for truth—and justice. Unfortunately, such hope comes to grief when confronted with your stated position. Let us briefly consider the "illegal" State of Israel. Palestine was, from 1922 until 1948, a British Mandate. The Mandate gave the Jewish people the political right to re-establish Palestine as a Jewish State. It was neither a gift of land to the Jews nor did it take land from the Arabs. Lands were pur- chased—often at excessive prices—from their holders. Never in all history had Palestine been an Arab state. Turkish yes, British yes, and certainly from time immemorial Jewish. When in 1948 the UN voted to accept Israel as a sovereign state, was that an "illegal" act? Surely the Rothschild who (Continued on Page 5) The body of Mr. Jordan, who disappeared last Wednesday evening in Prague after he left his hotel room to buy a newspaper, was discovered Sunday in the Zoltava River in Prague, the State Department reported. The body was found at 1:30 p.m. local time by a civilian in a rowboat. It was floating at a water barrier downstream from the May 1 Bridge. The civilian notified the police, who informed the American Embassy. U.S. Consul Norbert J. Krieg viewed the body on the river bank and identified the clothing, jewelry and the general features as those of Jordan. In a letter to Rusk, Congressman Broomfield said that "In view of the Charles H. Jordan callous and arrogant disregard for the United States displayed in the Czecho- slovakian official attitude, I feel that our government should make immediate and firm representations." Rep. Broomfield said the U.S. Embassy's request to have a representative at the autopsy was dealt with in such a manner as to indicate that the Czechs UN's Fact-Finding Envoy Met With Israeli Demands Defending Jerusalem Status Direct JTA Teletype Wire to The Jewish News JERUSALEM—Ambassador Ernesto Thalmann, the Swiss diplomat appointed by United Nations Secretary-General U Thant to a fact-finding mission regarding Jerusalem, held his first conference here Tuesday with Foreign Minister Abba Eban. Thalmann arrived Sunday night. In greeeting him, Eban said: "I welcome you in Israel's capital, the City of Eternal Peace." The ambassador is here officially for a two-week visit, the aim of which is "to provide information for the secretary- general's report to the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council on the situation in Jerusalem." In his greeting, Eban stressed the importance of the unification of the city of Jerusalem and "the liberty accorded to all its inhabitants." He also stressed Israel's protection of all places of worship in the city and free access to these places of worship. Ambassador Thalmann declared upon his arrival at Lydda Airport that he intends to perform his mission with complete objectivity, stating that his visit was "entirely fact-finding in characer." He expressed his "sincere gratitude to the Israeli authorities who received me so kindly and offered their assist- ance." (Continued on Page 30) might have something to hide in connection with Mr. Jordan's mysterious death. He told Risk can see no other reason why Czech authorities did not convey a timely and proper notice of the autopsy to American authorities in response to their prior request." He said that "if this is to be the attitude of Czechoslovakia toward the United States in this case involving the death of a distin- guished American citizen, the time has come to review validation of passports for travel by our citizens to that country. The least we can expect is a strong apology and convincing explanation of the suspicious and evasive conduct of Czechoslovakian authorities." It was learned here that the American Embassy refused to comment on charges that Czechoslovakia was guilty of "covering up a vile crime" by refusing to delay the autopsy. JDC Chairman Louis Broido had stated in New York City that the conduct of Czecho- slovakia was improper. A U.S. Embassy (Continued on Page 10) War Heroes Return Medals to Communist Countries Direct JTA Teletype Wire to The Jewish News TEL AVIV—In protest against the pro-Arab, anti-Israel actions of all the East European, Communist countries, except Romania, 2,500 Israelis who were formerly residents of those countries Tuesday returned their medals, decorations and other honors accorded to them for bravery and gallantry during their service as soldiers in the armies of the lands concerned in World War II. The medals and decorations were handed here Tuesday to the charge d'affaires of Finland. who represents the interest of the Soviet Union, which broke diplomatic relations with Israel as a result of the USSR's charges that Israel was the "aggressor" in the June war. The Swiss diplomat was asked to return the decorations to the governments of the Soviet Union, Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Many of the honors were the highest military awards in the respective countries. One man, formerly a high-ranking officer in the Soviet army, told the diplomat: "We don't need decorations from governments which actively endorsed the policy of destroying Israel and supporting the Arabs."