Soviet Jews Stage Hunger Strike at Kremlin
NEW YORK (JTA) — More than
100 Soviet Jews staged a sit-in
and hunger strike in the reception
room of the presidum of the Su-
preme Soviet in Moscow, vowing
to stay until there was action on
their emigration applications.
According to reports, estimates
of the number of demonstrators
ranged from 102 to 110. Most of
them — some 60 to 90 — were
said to be from Riga, Latvia, with
the others from Kovno and Vilna,
Lithuania; Lvov, Ukraine; the
Caucasus, which includes Tbilisi;
and probably Moscow. One report
said that 45 Vilna Jews were sit-
ting in at the Central Committee
building.
Sixteen of the hunger strikers
returned to the Supreme Soviet
office Thursday. No newsmen were
allowed. The rest of the Jews are
staging strikes elsewhere.
The Riga Jews reportedly at the
presidium were said to include Riv-
London Youth Groups
to Picket Red Chorus
AU,
LONDON (JTA) — The Red
Army Chorus will give a series of
concerts here later this month—be-
ginning with one in Golders Green
in the northwest sector, one of the
city's "Jewish districts."
Official Jewish groups here have
no policy regarding boycotts of
Soviets, but several Jewish youth
groups said they would picket the
theater and urge a boycott "by
all those who value freedom."
In addition, some Jewish organ-
izations have quietly asked their
members not to attend the con-
certs, as a protest against the
treatment of Soviet Jews.
The impresario for the British
appearances of the chorus is Mau-
rice King, a supporter of Soviet
policies.
Rabbi Leslie H. Hardman, spirit-
ual leader of the large (Orthodox)
Hendon Synagogue, has endorsed a
boycott of the chorus.
Speaking over the radio, Rabbi
Hardman said: "We know now that
Russian Jews themselves want the
world to be aware of their plight.
A boycott of a Russian theatrical
group is one of the means of
making the plight of Russian Jews
known. I heartily endorse the sug-
gested boycott."
Concurrently, Rabbi Dov Marmur,
head of the North Western Reform
Synagogue, has -written to the im-
presario, voicing disappointment at
his willingness to promote the ven-
ture.
ka Aleksandrovich. mother of im-
prisoned activist Ruth Aleksandro-
vich; Gershon Valk, said to have
been applying for emigration per-
mission for 14 years; and Eva Men-
delevich, mother of Yosif M. Men-
delevich, who was sentenced to 15
years in the Leningrad "hijacking"
trial. Yosif Mendelevich is the
brother of another arrestee, Meri
Mendelevich Khanokh, whose hus-
band, Leib G. Khanokh, was sen-
tenced to 13 years at Leningrad.
According to reports, police
surrounded the building and
sealed it off by locking the doors.
At least 57 Jews were in the
reception room at the time.
Police entered the building and
cleared out the Jews, who had
been reading prayers in Hebrew
and some translating them into
Russian for those who did not
know Hebrew.
Police gave the demonstrators
two minutes to clear out after Rus-
sian authorities turned out the
lights.
Wednesday's reported demon-
stration is the fourth of its kind in
the past two weeks. A group of
24 to 30 Soviet Jews sat in at the
Supreme Soviet on Feb. 24 and
again on March 1. Twenty-four
Riga Jews reportedly sat in at the
Ovir (visa) office in Riga Feb. 26.
These demonstrations are unprece-
dented. Some of those at the Sup-
reme Soviet Wednesday said they
would go on a hunger strike. The
sit-in comes three weeks before the
opening of the Soviet Communist
Party Congress in Moscow. The
Kremlin is believed to be embar-
rassed at the recent series of major
demonstrations by Jews, especially
at this time.
Fate of Five Jewish Prisoners
in Soviet Union Still Unknown
LONDON (JTA) — A traveler
returning from the Soviet Union
told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
that there was still no news of the
five persons arrested in connection
with last summer's alleged hijack-
ing attempt in Leningrad and not
in the dock at the December Lenin-
grad trial.
The five are Lev Leibovich Kor-
eablit, Lassal Kaminsky, Gregory
Ilya Butman, Lev Naumovich Yag-
man and Vladimir Osherovich Mog-
ilever.
The traveler said that on Jan. 8,
several friends of the five ap-
proached the deputy prosecutor in
Leningrad, the KGB (secret po-
lice), the interior ministry and the
Leningrad party secretary, none of
whom could or would give any in-
A Greeting for Soviet Jewry
OT EBPEEB CILIA —
HPHBET EBPERM CCCP
Miyi BAC HE 3ABbIJIH!
A Jewish woman in Riga, who
has been petitioning authorities
since 1960 for an exit visa so
that she could join relatives in
Israel, was jailed for 10 days
last month after visiting the local
Ovir (visa) office, according to
reports reaching here from the
Soviet Latvian capital.
According to the reports, Mrs.
Feige Simakova, the mother of two
daughters and described as a sick
person, was one of a group of 24
Riga Jews who went to the Ovir
office Feb. 26 to find out why their
visas were being delayed.
The head of the Riga Ovir, whose
last name was given as Kaija, was
reportedly rude to the applicants
and harangued them for wanting
to leave the Soviet Union. The wo-
man's brother and sister live in
Israel.
Dr. Gregory Katz, the Soviet
Jewish dentist who landed in Lon-
don unintentionally with his wife
and 18-month-old son Sunday be-
cause of Soviet red tape, left with
them for Israel Monday afternoon.
Dr. Katz, a 30-year-old Muscovite
who speaks Yiddish as well as Rus-
sian, told the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency before his departure that
he was worried about the fate of
Soviet Jews under arrest, and that
anxiety about their fate was
mounting throughout the Soviet
Jewish community.
Urinal connection with Judaism
or Jewish culture, who have been
the leaders in demanding free-
dom and the right to emigrate.
The most alarming symptom
now is Pravda's declaration that
any Soviet Zionist i.e., a Jew
who wishes to migrate to Israel
— is automatically "an enemy of
the Soviet people." This is the
language of the Stalinist purges
of the 1930s when millions were
killed or sent to slave labor.
There are unconfirmed reports
that Moscow is thinking of re-
viving its moribund Birobidzhan
project and forcing large num-
bers of Jews whose loyalty is
suspect to settle in that sensitive
border region next to China. Any
such tactics would only further
alienate world opinion. Moscow
would be far better advised to
permit its dissident Jews to leave.
Soviet Jewry Rally Held at MSU
Two hundred campus youth and
faculty members participated Sun-
day in a march and rally sponsored
by MSU Struggle for Soviet Jewry,
affiliated with Hillel Foundation-at
Michigan State University.
In a public display of support for
Soviet Jews and their right to emi-
grate, the faculty and students car-
ried placards and sang songs of
freedom.
A rally in Wilson Auditorium was
addressed by Jay Masserman, a
student at the University of Michi-
gan who related his experiences as
a traveler to the Soviet Union. Mas-
ter of ceremonies David Bale, MSU
Soviet Jewry movement leader,
read Martin Luther King's 1966
The Katzes had no intention of
visiting London. Having received
their Russian exit permits they
booked a flight to Israel by way
of Vienna. Their luggage, includ-
ing the baby's buggy, had al-
ready been placed on the Vienna-
bound airliner. But Russian offi-
cials held the Katzes back for
questioning and the plane depart-
ed without them. Friends col-
lected enough money to buy
them tickets for a flight to
Lcndon.
They were allowed to disembark
following intervention by Israeli
Embassy counselor Yitzhak Rager,
who went to Heathrow Airport to
meet them.
A young Jew was arrested in
Moscow by two Soviet policemen
as he walked with an American
correspondent on a crowded street,
according to reports here from the
Soviet capitaL
The arrest took place last Fri-
day, shortly after Roger Ledding-
ton, an Associated Press corres-
pondent, met Mikhail Spivak in
front of the Lenin Library. As
Leddington attempted to follow Spi-
vak, two policemen plus live ad-
ditional plainclothesmen moved out
of the crowd, surrounded him and
ordered him to leave, the report
stated. Spivak was placed in a car
and driven away.
♦
GREETINGS FROM THE JEWS OF USA
TO THE JEWS OF USSR.
credible lengths to show Its rage
at this meeting. Crude Soviet
diplomatic pressure has been
employed to try to force the Bel-
gian Government to prohibit the
conference, a delegation of pro-
Kremlin Soviet Jews has been
flown to Brussels to engage in
counterpropaganda activities
there and Pravda has come out
with the most vicious anti-Semi-
tic propaganda — disguised as
anti-Zionism—that it has printed
since the days of Stalin's infam.
ous "doctors' plot" in 1953.
This far-flung campaign is
comprehensible only on the as-
sumption that Moscow believes
that a very large traction of the
3,000,000 or so Jews in the Sov-
iet Union would leave if given
the opportunity. It is young
people, many of whose parents
had long since given up any emo-
formation about the prisoners.
KGB officials, according to the
traveler, said the matter was not
their business. The wives of the
prisoners then approached the pub-
lic prosecutor Jan. 22 and were
told that he would give them a
reply within three weeks. Six
weeks later, he still had not re-
plied, according to the traveler.
Human Rights Day oration, a film
was shown, songs led by Howard
Deitch and a dramatic rendition of
the poem "Babi Yar" presented by
Ellen Y. Radner. Cantor Wetzel of
Cong. Shaarey Zedek of East Lan-
sing, recited a prayer for Soviet
Jews.
State Sens. Jack Faxon and Dan-
iel Cooper sent telegrams of sup-
port, and a proclamation drafted
by Rep. Joseph Forbes was read
by Brian J. Yagoda.
The Forbes proclamation, un-
der the seal of the state of Mich'.
gin, called for an -end to injus-
tices against Soviet Jews and for
worldwide efforts to convince the
Soviet Union to allow those who
desire to emigrate to Israel to
do so. _
"I congratulate the Michigan
State University students on their
protest rally," Forbes said. "I
would hope that all state leaders
join the students and myself in
proclamations and protest letters
addressed to this totalitarian na-
tion. Hopefully, an outcry and pro-
test from free peoples of the world
will influence Soviet leaders."
The rally was to kick off long
term letter-writing and financial
support campaigns on behalf of
Soviet Jews.
Those in attendance at the rally
signed a resolution condemning the
attempts of the Soviet government
"to oppress her Jewish citizenry
in violation of the Soviet constitu-
tion and the public aims of the So-
viet government" The resolution
also urged free emigration or- the
freedom to practice religion or cul-
tural heritage within the Soviet
Union.
The resolution, read by Herb
Konstam, was to be sent to Soviet
leaders.
Bale, who organized the demon-
stration, said this was only a be-
ginning for Soviet Jewry on- cam-
pus. "Hopefully," he said, "this
community will never be silent
again when it comes to Russian
persecution of Jews . . . The Soviet
officials will hear about the outcry
that took place in East Lansing. If,
upon hearing that news, they are
softened enough to free only one
Jew, we will have been incredibly
successful."
Maj. Feigin Sees Error
in Not Letting Kahane
Speak in Brussels
.
TEL AVIV •(JTA)—Maj. Grischa
Feigin, the Soviet Jew who par-
ticipated in the Brussels confer-
ence on Soviet Jewry, told news-
men here that "It was a mistake
not to have let Rabbi Meir Kahane
Weak at the conference."
Speaking to reporters after his
return from a visit - to London,
Feigin said that. -while he _dis-
agreed with Rabbi Kahane's - meth-
ods, nonetheless , - be felt that
"Kahane's views should have been
heard." "
Feigin blamed "organized Jewry"
for the development- of an organ-
ization such as the , Jewish De-
fense League: It was because
"organized Jewry" bad done very
little for the cause of Soviet JewrY,
he declared, that A_ group such as
the JDL had come into existence.
• •
NY Times Mocks _
Soviet Attack on
Brussels Parley
Special to The Jewish News
WASHINGTON — The latest of
the
Russian releases regarding the
This is the greeting in Russian included in the cards being
Brussels conference sounded rather
sent by American Jews to their kinsmen in the Soviet Union, under
in its statement that:
immature
the auspices of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. Three weeks "The real aim of the conference
ago, Soviet emigre Luba Bershadskaya declared at Sinai Temple
. . . is to divert world attention
in Los Angeles: "You cannot imagine how much courage and spirit
from the imperialistic intrigues in
the (1970) cards gave us when we felt alone in the Soviet Union." the Middle East and- make a new
She said she had received 60 cards in Moscow and 1,000 more "contribution to anti-Sovietism."
later in Israel. `cThe Russians kept 900 cards and only let me have
No argument to the contrary
60 of them," she said, " but they knew that Luba Bershadskaya had
sufficed, especially when friends
1,000 friends in America. They couldn't touch me after that."
Another recent Soviet emigre, Dr. Esther Alsenstadt, said: "The most of Russia, supporting Jewish pro-
tests, made it known that there
important thing you can do is send holiday greetings to your Jewish
brothers in the Soviet Union. When I received them, it was then is an urgent desire to establish
that I realize that the Russians would never defeat us. The cards friendship with the Soviets.
The New York Times editorially
gave us courage and hope." The new drive—the fourth of its kind—
is being launched in Europe, South America, Africa and Israel, in ridiculed the Zionist bogey charge
on the eve of the Brussels con-
addition to the U.S.
ference and stated:
The Kremlin has gone to in-
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
44—Friday, March 12, 1971
WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOU!
Bilingual chalk-talk shows Chaplain Bernard Tnialtel
,
(center)*
Jewish chaplain assigned to Commander Fleet . Aeffelity,,ilfekosuka.
Japan, discussing the Hebrew rendition of the commandment, "Honor
Thy Father and Tby Mother,"ith
, wChaplain Gordon S. Cook (lat),
Protestant chaplain at the U.K. Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, who pro-
vided the accompanying Greek version. Chaplain Lyle Predmore
listeiis in. This project is among the many special activities which
Chaplain Frankel and other Jewish chaplains served by. the National
Jewish Welfare Board commission on Jewish chaplaincy conduct
throughout the year. Chaplains Frankel and Cook have been meeting
for almost 12 months, studying chapters 20 and 21 of. Exodus in
Hebrew and Septuagint , Greek.
ty_
1