Susan Jacoby's Russian Interviews
Throw Light on USSR Jewish Status
Susan Jacoby proves her
skill as an excellent reporter
and interviewer in "Moscow
Conversations," a truly not-
able book about the USSR
and its people, published by
Coward, McCann and Geog-
hegan.
The people she spoke to
told the story of life behind
the Iron Curtain, their re-
actions to internal affairs
and to foreign relations.
She spoke to Jews and non-
Jews, and she reveals the
true minds of Russians of all
faiths.
The chapter on "Yosif and
Marina," the Jewish couple
she interviewed, is especially
impressive as an indication
of the true events affecting
Jews in Russia and the hesi-
tancy with which Jews who
are affected by government
policies speak about them.
The children of Yosif and
Marina had "dragged their
stuffy parents out of the
house" to be at the Simhat
Torah celebration of the
Moscow synagogue, and
there they witnessed many
Jews identifying themselves
with their people. There was
dancing, singing, a spirit of
joy in their Jewishness.
There is no doubt that this
couple, like many others, de-
sired affiliation with Jews.
But there were other factors,
and because the children de-
sired to remain in the USSR
there was no urge of emi-
grate.
Nevertheless, f rom the
story of this couple emerges
the experience of Jews who
suffered from anti-Semitism.
Marina and Yost' "feel anti-
Semitism is still stronger in
the Ukraine than in the rest
of Russia, although they
know the absence of • mark-
er at Babi Yar for so many
years was dictated by cen-
tral as well as Ukrainian
government policies."
Mrs. Jacoby points out that
"there are conflicts between
being a Jew and being a So-
viet citizen; Soviet policy on
what some officials still call
'the Jewish q uestion' is
fraught not only with tradi-
tional Russian anti-Semitism,
but with modern anti-Zion-
ism as well."
The effects of the Six-Day
War were discussed with
the two Jews, and Marina
said, "For every Jew who
was proud, there must base
been one who was scared
and tried to declare himself
of being of another national-
ity."
Recalling the horrors of
the Hitler era, Marina said:
"Anyone who lived through
what we did, and still thinks
you can forget about being
a Jew, is crazy. We would
have liked our children to
learn something about Jew-
ish culture in a more organ-
ized way than we were able
to provide at home. But that
is impossible in the Soviet
Union."
Among those interviewed
by :Mrs. Jacoby is Dmitri,
who "is known to his friends
as a samixdatchik—one who
regards the writing of under-
ground short stories and nov-
els as his most important
work." She relates the fol-
lowing about the hero of this
chapter in her book:
I beard my first Soviet
anekdot (joke, usua l l y
with a political flavor) at
a party given by Dmitri.
The figures in the joke
were never accurate and it
is sot politically outdated,
but its bite was typical of
underground political hu-
mor, Brezhnev and Mae
Tse-tung have ■ meeting
to discuss Sins-Soviet dis-
agreements. Mao says to
Brezhnev, "Leonid Ilyich,
you should begin to worry
about us more because we
are seven hundred million
and you are only two hun-
dred and forty million."
Says Brezhnev: "Do you
remember the Six-Day
War?"
UNITED NATIONS (JTA)
— Israel reaffirmed its
pledge to support the "legiti-
"Of course, Leonid II-
mate aspirations" of subject
ylch."
people seeking to throw off
"And how many Is- the yoke of colonialism, "par-
raelis were there?"
ticulary the peoples of Afri-
"One million, Leonid II- ca, victims of persecution and
yich."
racial discrimination like
"And how many Arabs?" the Jews."
"Six hundred million,
Leonid Ilyich."
A statement deploring the
fact that "more than 40 ter-
"Well, In Russia we ritories have not yet succeed-
have three million Jews. ed in gaining their independ-
So who should be afraid, ence" was made by Ambas-
Chairman Mao?
sador Ovadia Softer at a ses-
Dmitri, who was not sion of the General Assem-
Jewish, pointed out to me bly where implementation of
that much Russian humor the "declaration on the grant-
either resembles Yiddish ing of independence to colo-
folk humor or is concerned nial countries and peoples"
with Jews - themselves, as was the subject of debate.
in the Brezhnev-Mao joke.
The Israeli ambassador
"That's probably because quoted black nationalist led-
such ■ high proportion of ers William E. B. du Bois
the creative intellectuals, and George Padmore who
Including t he comedians, drew parallels between the
are Jews. Of course, Pan-African movement and
there's also an old Russian Zionism. Soffer noted that
tradition of anti-Semitic "The cooperation between
humor, if you want to call Israel and the developing
it that. Even some of the
countries started from the
anti-Semitic jokes sound
first days of their independ-
Jewish, though. All you'd
ence, particularly with those
have to do is switch the
of the African continent."
villain around and they'd
make a perfect anti-Rus-
sian joke. We do it all the
time."
Mrs. Jacoby was in Rus-
sia with her husband, a
Washington Post correspon-
dent, for two years during
which time she gathered
material for her book. She
was previously her self a
Washington Post reporter. A
graduate of Michigan State
University, she had lived
here for a time.
Her book is a most note-
worthy addition to material
about Russia, adding Impres-
sively to an understanding
of USSR conditions. —P.S.
* * * * * * * * * * * **
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American Visitors
`More Critical'
TEL AVIV (ZINS)—Amer-
icons visiting Israel are be-
coming less enthusiastic
about what they see and
more prone to criticism and
even envy, according to a
story filed by the New York
correspondent for the He-
brew daily, Haaretz.
The reporter's impression
is that even well-to-do tour-
ists are shocked by affluence
and the absence of thrift and
austerity in the homes they
visit.
The reporter said visitors
are struck by the large num•
ber of private cars on Is-
rael's highways.
They also read about
scandals in large govern-
mental corporations, t h e
growing incidence of drug
addiction and crime.
They often express con-
cern, according to the press
report, over the fact that the
young Israelis are carefree
and mindless of the ultimate
consequences of this trend,
which has led other older
nations into deep trouble.
The correspondent writes
that American Jews will
continue to support Israel,
but some support will be lost
because of the disillusion-
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observing unexpected social
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a country still at war.
10—Fridey, Nev. 3, 1972
Israel Pledges Fight
Against igtonialisan
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