Sharp Drop in Soviet Jewish Emigration Arouses Worldwide Concern

Jewry in various lands;• and
the status of Jewish educa-
tion in the Diaspora.
The weekend's meeting
was presided over by Mrs.
Charlotte Jacobson, acting
chairman of COJO and chair-
man of the World Zionist Or-
ganization-American Section.
Participants included Leon
Dulzin, acting- chairman of
the Jewish Agency and WZO
Executives; Jacques Torczy-
ner, chairman of the World
Congress-American
Jewish
Section; Rabbi Israel Miller,
chairman of the Conference
of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organiza-
tions; and Stanley Lowell,
chairman of the National
Conference on Soviet Jewry.
A session on Soviet Jewry
was addressed by Sonia Ler-
ner, 20-year-old daughter of
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Prof. Aleksandr Lerner, who
6—Friday, May 10, 1974
was allowed to emigrate to
Israel although her father, a
Moscow activist, is still
denied a visa. "Only pressure
from abroad has made it pos-
sible for people to leave the
Soviet Union," she said.
According to figures sup-
plied to COJO, only 6,270
Jews left Russia in the first
four months of 1974 compared
to 10,270 in the same period
of 1973. The declaration
adopted after the meeting ex-
pressed appreciation for "the
continued strong support
which the fight for the rights
of Soviet Jews is receiving
throughout the world" and
resolved "to intensify our
efforts on behalf of Jews in
the Soviet Union."
Addressing a press confer-
ence, Dulzin accused Soviet
authorities of double-dealing
on the emigration issue.
He said that while the au-
thorities claim that 95 per
Cent of visa applications are
granted, would-be applicants
are barred from making their
applications by crude bureau-
cratic devices, and many
others are deterred by fear
of harassment.
Rabbi Miller disclosed that
during the meeting in Wash-
ington April 25 between a
ALEX CARU ANA
score of leaders of the Con-
1974 International
ference of Presidents of
and Michigan State
Major American Jewish Or-
ganizations and Secretary of
Team Champion
State Henry A. Kissinger, the
1973-1974
problem of Soviet Jews was
A Man and His Image Champ the main topic of discussion.
(After the April 25 meeting,
Also Featuring:
a statement was issued not-
ing that the meeting "par-
ticularly focused on the sec-
1974 International Trophy
retary's forthcoming visit
winner and 1973
and negotiations in the Mid-
Master Champion
dle East" but did not indicate
and
that the issue of Soviet Jewry
had been discussed.)
In Tel Aviv Dr. Nahum
Proprietor
Goldmann, president of the
World Jewish Congress,
MANICURES by
warned Sunday night that if
U.S.-Soviet trade relations
foundered over the issue of
SHOE SHINES
the Jackson Amendment "the
AVAILABLE
may be a total stop-
For Appointment Coll: result
page of aliya from Russia."
Speaking to reporters at
•
Ben-Gurion
Airport, Dr.
AS OF JUNE 1
Goldmann, however, con-
OPEN TUES. thru SAT.
ceded that the Jackson legis-

LONDON (JTA) — World
Jewish leaders meeting here
last weekend expressed seri-
ous concern about the sharp
drop in the number of Soviet
Jews perniitted to leave for
Israel during the first four
months of this year and the
continuing harassment of
Jews who apply for exit
visas.
The matter of Soviet Jews
topped the agenda at the
meeting of the Presidium of
the Conference of Jewish
Organizations (COJO) attend-
ed by Israeli leaders and
representatives of Jewish
communities all over the
world.
The COJO agenda also in-
cluded the plight of Jews in
Syria and other Arab coun-
tries; the position of Diaspora

boneyweii

barber
sawn

GUY MINNELLA

MICHAEL KELLY

•

SARAH

424-8466

SAY I
WI H

lationcould possibly have the
opposite effect and lead to a
more liberal Missian policy
on the Jewish question. "But
it is a very serious gamble
that may endanger aliya
from Russia," he said.
For that reason, Dr. Gold-
mann said he favored reach-
ing some sort of compromise
on the Jackson Amendment
linking trade to Soviet emi-
gration policies that the
amendment's supporters
could accept.
He also expressed the opin-
ion that "there is no chance
of an agreement with Syria
without an agreement with
Russia as well."
14 Jews Renounce
Soviet Citizenship
LONDON (JTA) — Jewish
sources in the Soviet Union
reported that 14 Jews went
to the reception hall of the
presidium of the Supreme
Soviet in Moscow to hand in
applications to release them
from Soviet citizenship on the
grounds that they all wished
to emigrate to Israel.
They pointed out in their
applications that they had
been unable to obtain the
necessary forms for the re-
nunciation of citizenship from
the- ovir or any other govern-
ment agency. They had been
told the issue was not im-
portant enough.
Among those who want to
renounce their Soviet citizen-
ship are Valery Kryzhak and
his wife, Valeria, Lev Kogan,
Lev Gendin, Michael Gold-
blat, Boris Tsitlionok and
Leonid Tsipin.
Some 200 Jews who sought
to a ss emble at Rumbuli
Forest near Riga on May 2
were prevented from doing
so by local police, it was
reported by the National
Conference on Soviet Jewry.
The Jews, who arrived on
buses at the cemetery to
commemorate the massacre
that occurred there in 1942,
were met by police who or-
dered -them to reboard the
buses, but detained several
of the known activists, the
NCSJ said.
Lev Gendin, a 33-year-old
Jewish activist from Moscow
was beaten by hooligans who
provoked him while he was
standing in line for a drink
of water, the National Con-
ference on Soviet Jewry re-
ported.
As he was being beaten
around his head, he called
for help, but no one came to
his aid.
An electronics engineer, he
applied in April 1971 for an
exit visa.
In another incident, the
NCSJ reported that 25 Kis-
hinev Jews, who had lost
their jobs because they ap-
plied for exit visas, were
warned against participating
in a May Day parade in that
city.
The group had gone to the
Kishinev municipal building
to ask how they could partic-
ipate in the parade for work-
ers when they were unem-
ployed. The deputy mayor
told them that if they left

their homes on May Day they
might not return.
Eitan Finkelshtein, a 32-
year-old scientist, was taken
off a plane in Vilna as he
was about to leave for Mos-
cow reportedly to press his
case for an exit visa.
A group of Minsk Jews, in-
cluding two former Red
Army colonels, have called
for a Byelorussian poet to be
tried for alleged anti-Semi-
tism in a poem about the
Second World War, according
to a Moscow report.
An open letter, signed by
13 Jews in the Byelorussian
capita 1, said the poem,
"T hrough -the War," by
Maxim Luzhanin described
friendly relations between
various Soviet national
groups at the front and
claimed everyone could be
met there except "the cow-
ardly ferrets."
The letter's authors sug-
gested that Luzhanin had
chosen the word "ferret" to
represent Jews because the
sharp-faced animal was as-
sociated in the public mind
with "the Jewish counten-
ance." The poem, according
to the letter, said the "fer-
rets" sat in the rear in the
war, but if by 'accident they
were sent to the front "they
sewed themselves up in
storehouses and kitchens."
At the same time their wives

Beth Din for Agunot

TEL AVIV (ZINS) — The
chief rabbinate has set up a
special Beth Din to hear the
cases of 810 agunot whose
husbands are missing in
action from the Yom Kippur
War, but their remains were
never recovered for burial in
Israeli soil. Some are expec-
ted to still be alive.

"keenly grabbed hold of pa- Soviet Union was published
tient Tashkent."
only with official approval.
Many Jewish families were
evacuated from European
WANT TO BUY A HOME?
Russia to Tashkent in Cen-
tral Asia during the war, and
EXCLUSIVE
the charge that they "took
MATCHMAKER
over the city" is often heard
BROKER
from ordinary Russians. The
letter alleged that Jewish
CALL 559-8333
children were subjected to
taunts and insults even in AETNA REALTY CO.
nursery schools. It pointed
24469 Greenfield Re
out that literature in the
Southfield

U

—J

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