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Purely Commentary
Russian Jewry's Precarious Position Has Not Prevented Courageous Resistance
Russia's totalitarian brutalities. its imposition of terror upon its people and its unquestioned
anti-Semitism all are coming home to roost. World public opinon condemns the indecencies. The
di-mlled-up hijacking charge has not found adherents, except perhaps in a few isolated Arab quar-
ters. The Soviet's supporters in many lands, Communist parties in European countries and Commu-
nist periodicals in this country, have joined in rejecting the indecencies and the inanities.
Thus, the emphasis now is on the fact that the Russian act in Leningrad was not to punish
hijacking: since no plane was hijacked and no one was hurt, there is no proof that there was
an organized effort to fly off with a Russian plane anywhere else except where it was destined—to
Finland. The entire drummed-up scheme was to punish Jews for their desire to leave Russia and to
settle in Israel. The Kremlin began to hate when it made alliances with Israel's enemies.
Gideon Hausner, who was the prosecutor at the Adolf Eichmann trial in Jerusalem, stressed
in a speech in the Israel Knesset that the Leningrad trial was a trumped-up case: there were no outside
observers, there was no defense counsel, there were no journalists to cover the proceedings. It was
the usual Soviet procedure of exacting "confessions." And while Hausner hesitated to compare the
Russians of today to the Nazis of the Hitler era, he indicated that even the Nazis permitted Jews to
leave Germany before adopting a program of annihilation.
There are many factors in the current situation affecting the Jews of Russia, so many of whom
are anxious to leave their native land in order to turn to a life of freedom for Jews in Israel. A
very drieratic chapter is being added to the history involving what has emerged as a struggle between
one of the world's strongest powers—the USSR—and one of the smallest nations on earth—Israel.
Harry Schwartz of the New York Times staff and Paul Wohl, a writer for the Christian Science
Monitor, are perhaps the best informed men who are writing today on the Russian situation for the
American press. Schwartz analyzes existing conditions as proving that "Soviet Jews are not the only
discontented minority," and he points to the Lithuanians and to their ethnic groups as rebelling and
seeking havens elsewhere. Perhaps therein lies the secret of Russian policies: the fear lest there will
be many movements demanding the right of exit, thereby creating a vast problem for the USSR.
Wohl presents the view of a Russian Jew who maintains that the Leningrad trial was meant
to intimidate Russian Jews and also to test world opinion. Utilizing the views of this young Russian
Jew, "who must remain anonymous," who was in Russia at the time of the alleged hijacking and
who since has been permitted to leave Russia, Wohl states that "his story sheds light on a new chapter
of the history of Soviet Jews, at once hopeful and tragic," and he proceeds to quote his story:
"It is possible that some hotheads actually wanted to escape," said this young man, a skilled
mechanic in his mid-20s whose identity has been ascertained beyond doubt.
"A stool pigeon probably was used to lure them into a trap and to set a scenario which could
serve to discredit the Soviet Zionist movement and as a pretext for arrest," he added.
That the authorities had advanced knowledge of the alleged hijacking attempt can be seen
from the fact that on June 14, one day before the arrest of the alleged hijackers, employes of
the airport were warned that on the following day there might be such an attempt.
Twelve arrests were made at the airport at 3 p.m. on June 15. Shortly afterward 20 per-
sons, 17 of them Jews, were arrested in Leningrad. During the following night, the apartments of
many Jews all over the country were searched and 27 more Jews arrested. It would seem that
lists of the apartments to be searched must have been prepared in advance.
About 100,000 applications for permission to emigrate are before the Soviet authorities.
Altogether 285 different petitions, signed by more than 1,000 persons, have been sent out
This is the tragic side of the case. But there is another side.
This year about 200 Soviet Jews a month have been regularly permitted to emigrate, most
of them to Israel and most of them elderly.
Neither the Soviets nor the Israelis are inclined to give publicity to this fact; the Soviets
out of regard for Arab opinion (especially as far as young men of military age are concerned);
the Israelis because they hope to see the number quietly raised again to the approximately 500 a
month who were allowed out bifore the Six-Day War.
Furthermore, after the arrests of June 15, some active Zionists, who had signed petitions,
received permission to emigrate which previously had been denied. In November alone, 50 young
protesters were allowed to leave.
So strong is the desire of these young people to identify themselves as Jews that many have
begun to practice the Jewish religion, to observe the Sabbath, and to eat ritual food. All this is
very difficult under Soviet conditions. Several hundred have even had themselves circumcised at
an adult age.
One recent ease is that of Maj. Grisha FeigIn. This war hero of Riga started to practice the
Jewish religion, signed petitions to the United Nations, and returned his war medals.
His case was especially embarrassing for the authorities. He was shadowed and given a
psychiatric examination. Eventually the major received a visit from some "hospital attendants" who
bound his hands and feet and carried him off to an insane asylum.
"Soviet Zionists are not Jewish chauvinists," our informant told this writer. "We would
like to join the family of nations, but cannot see why our people should vanish from the earth.
We are fighting for our human dignity."
According to our informant, the Soviet government is not happy about the whole Jewish
situation. The young man suspects that the government went through with the Leningrad trial
assuming that hijacking was not popular in the West and that this would assure them a modicum
of ,support from world opinion.
The recent case of the non-Jewish mathematician Zhores A. Medvedyev, who was locked
up in an )nsane asylum and released several weeks later as a result of protests within the USSR,
could be a precedent.
But the Leningrad case also brings to mind the trumped-up charges against Jews in the
Stalin era.
A large proportion of Soviet Jews, especially the older ones, are not Zionist, our informant
admitted. They wish to continue to live and work among Russians.
But they are not wholly at ease and they suffer various forms of discrimination, the young man
asserts. For instance, the racial background of any Soviet citizen who applies for admission to a
military or diplomatic academy now is checked, and the applicant is rejected if it is found that
be had two Jewish grandparents.
The Leningrad case—in spite of the commutation of the death sentences of the half-Jew Eduard
Kuznetzov, who insists on calling himself a Jew, and of Mark Dymshits—continues to arouse worldwide
protests and there is every indication that Russia yields to world protests, that she is vulnerable, that
something is happening behind the Iron Curtain to create concern over world public opinion.
Non-Jews are as outspoken as Jews, and there are many within Russia who refuse to tolerate
indecencies and persecutions. There is especially the instance of the pro-Israel position of the father
of the Russian H-Bomb, Prof. Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, who has spoken firmly in defense of Israel
and against the. tactics of his government in the Leningrad trial.
It is noteworthy that Sakharov is surrounded by many Jewish scientists who have become his
friends and that none of these Jews yielded to the Kremlin pressures to sign an anti-Israel state-
ment when the USSR commenced its anti-Israel campaign after the Six-Day War. There are, indeed,
honorable people, and these may just eventually prove the victors—even against the giants who dominate
over the USSR.
The worldwide reaction to the Russian situation continues to be most encouraging. Protests are
mounting, parliamentarians are speaking up, the White House has sent messages in defense of Russian
Jewry and the U.S. Congress continually hears appeals for justice.
Yet, there have been some unpleasant experiences. It is understandable that the extreme Com-
munist groups have defended Russia, and New Leftists have gone to the extremes of giving comfort to
bigots. Especially surprising is a JTA report regarding failure of the World Medical Association to act in
behalf of 18 Riga doctors and nurses who asked for assistance to emigrate to Israel. The JTA reported
regarding this incident:
A spokesman for the medical association told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that under its
bylaws It could' not act in such a case unless asked to by the associated medical group in the
country in question—in this case the USSR Union of Sanitary Workers or one of the various
Soviet scientific and medical academies. The spokesman conceded that government structures
would, probably prevent such institutions from sponsoring the Jewish doctors' appeal. But she said
the appeal—one of several in recent years—bad been forwarded to the United Nations Commis-
sly
By Philip
Slomovitz
Judge Theodore Levin's Notable Career as Judge
and as Legal Expert . . . Russian Jewry's Courage
Inspires Determined Action Against Kremlin Bias
tember. In addition, the British Medical Association replied to
the Riga 18 and forwarded their request to the Soviet Embassy
in London and to the president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences
in Moscow. The Riga plea stated that "An extreme sense of
despair has forced us to appeal to this great (Edinburgh) forum
with a call for help." The petitioners said they had "appealed
over the years to Soviet authorities with the request to be al-
lowed to go to our homeland in Israel to join our relatives," but
had been met with "constant refusals." Declaring that "only on
the soil of our homeland can we live full lives," the Latvians
asked for help to "fulfill our unchallengeable right, the right of
free men to live in the land of their forefathers."
If it will be difficult to secure aid for Russian Jews from profes-
sional groups and from libertarians throughout the world, chances
for relieving USSR Jewry's tragedies will be lessened. This is where
the members of professional groups can step in and attempt action
to counteract discrimination.
C. L. Sulzberger wrote from Paris on "No Obscure Hangings,"
for the New York Times, called it "comforting to believe that public
opinion has the strength sometimes to overcome even such cruel laws
as that in the USSR making it a crime to try to emigrate," and he
added:
One of the Soviet Jews petitioning for permission to emigrate,
Esfira Mostkova, is quoted as saying that it is necessary to make
as much noise as possible to avoid condemnation. This is indeed
true.
Public opinion can never be rallied without first being in-
formed that an injustice is being done. As Voltaire once said,
"Nothing is more annoying than to be obscurely hanged," and
the chances of hanging are certainly increased if one is ob-
scurely tried.
The incident involving Esfira Mostkova is especially moving. She
had tried unsuccessfuly to get a permit to go to Israel. She was out-
side the Leningrad court building when she shouted in defense of
the accused in the hijacking case: "If we are silent they will be
killed." She told newspapermen that she had cancer and was anxious
to get to Israel to see her son.
An AP report also told that the Jewish poet, Iosif Kerler, said:
"The death sentence (on the Leningrad 11) is a death sentence on all
of us who want to go to Israel. We all share one destiny."
Therein is incorporated the basic reality of Jewish unity in Russia,
the common destiny
*
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Leningrad Deportees to Siberia
Russian apologists are the holier-than-thou pawns of the Kremlin
for'whom there can be nothing wrong in the Communist actions. They
keep defending the horrors stemming from Leningrad and we wonder
whether they have any idea about the crimes that are being committed
under their very noses, and also in their names.
Here is an interesting revelation they should think about. On July
31, 1970, Chapman Bincher, in an article in the London Daily Express,
wrote:
The plight of a few well-known Russian intellectuals who are
in prison for criticizing the Soviet system has been widely publicized,
but the magnitude of the Kremlin's latest assault on Russia's "dissi-
dents" has not. A most reliable intelligence source informs me that
this year at least 14,000 people have been deported to Siberia from
Leningrad alone.
The truth about the hijacking charges will no doubt form another
interesting chapter exposing the incredulity of Communist apologists
and the inhumanity of those who carry out the Communist orders.
•
•
•
Theodore Levin—Distinguished Jurist,
Dedicated Participant in Humane Causes
Theodore Levin was an eminent jurist who had the respect and
admiration of the legal profession and of the moat noted men in the
judiciary. Every branch of the federal judicial system, from the at-
torney general's office through the district courts to the very top
of the Supreme Court, looked to him as one of the wisest men on
the federal bench.
These duties matched his devotion to his community. Long before
he had risen to the presidency of the Jewish Welfare Federation, he
was leader and a presiding officer of Pisgah Lodge of Baal Brith.
Judge Levin definitely was a dedicated Zionist. The events in
Israel drew his deepest interest and he labored at every possible
opportimity to assist in Israel's security as a nation able to carry
on the tasks of rescuing Jewish lives and of creating settlement op-
portunities for the dispossessed in many lands.
Judge Levin's rich career as a lawyer and as a distinguished
jurist was marked by many notable achievements. Perhaps
the outstanding one was the role he played in directing the battle
against the alien registration bill that was adopted by the Mich-
igan State Legislature in 1931 and which was signed by Governor
Wilbur Brucker. Theodore Levin, with the aid of several able
lawyers, including the late Judge Patrick O'Brien, won a great
victory when the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared that
law unconstitutional. Had it been enacted it would have created
the greatest hardships for aliens for whom the measure set up
fingerprinting and other restrictions. The country's entire system,
involving restrictions on aliens might have been affected had that
law gone into effect.
The brief Judge Levin, as a young lawyer, prepared for
the high federal court, was a masterpiece.
Thus, it was as a defender of the rights of aliens that the
man destined to become an outstanding jurist emerged as a
humanitarian and a defender of the less fortunate in our society.
He was a devout man. His membership in Cong. Shaarey Zedek, his
services on that synagogue's board of directors, his participation in
many traditional Jewish causes, all have contributed toward his
being so highly regarded in our community. His memory also is blessed
by the achievements of his family, which , resulted from the fittijanee
he provided his children and the devotinn and loyalty he had
entire clan; For all these notable qualities the;;community
Rights for action.
the highest honors that can be given to any 'man, thns',blessittg
The "letter was forwarded to the World Medical Association by the Israel Medical Associa- memory.
one of its members, after it bad arrived too late for consideration by the Third International
Conference on Care of Public Health, Great Britain•Edinburgh, held in the Scottish city in Sep- 2—Friday, Amery .9, 1971
THE DETROIT. k*.
JEWISH ; NEWS
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