murderous plans for them.
They neither ignored or de-
nied their Jewishness in ac-
cepting them as Danes. Bayer
said that the tortuous Soviet
inversion of concepts of Jew-
ishness and citizenship be-
came evident in discussions.
"This issue was raised
simply by Rabbi Melchior's
presence," he said. "And when
he raised the problem of how
to keep alive the memory of
the Holocaust in the Second
Generation — those who
There may have
been more to the
Moscow meetings
than first reports
indicated.
didn't live during the time, in-
cluding himself — it really
struck home. The Soviets ad-
mitted they have the same
problem.
"At a certain point, one
general said, 'Look, that's a
matter of policy, which we are
not capable of making. It's
beyond our control.' It was
almost a pained admission,
without saying it, that there
was justice in the argument
but it was beyond their power
to affect change in the policy.
Wiesel told The Jewish
News that officials acknowl-
edged such policy decisions
could only be made "at the
top
The seven-person western
delegation met openly and ex-
tensively with Soviet Jewish
refuseniks throughout the
Moscow visit. A luncheon
hosted by Ambassador Ar-
thur Hartman at the U.S.
Embassy enabled them to
meet with Vladimir Slepak
and other prominent re-
fusenik friends of Wiesel. The
seven participated in Simchat
Ibrah services at the Moscow
Synagogue at which the new-
ly designated Nobel peace
laureate addressed the con-
gregation. (See. side bar.)
Wiesel and all his asso-
ciates walked through the
streets of Moscow to the
synagogue, all the men wear-
ing yahnulkas, and Rabbi
Melchior carrying the lulav
and essrog. Bayer estimated
that 20,000 people crowded in
and around the synagogue,
twice as many as had come
once before when he had been
present during Simchat
Thrah.
The impact of Elie Wiesel's
return visit to Moscow — he
first reported the spiritual
rebirth of Soviet Jewry in the
late 1960s in his book Jews of
Silence, and counts the cause
of the Soviet Jewish emigra-
tion among the "most ex-
alting" he has championed —
seemed to have a dramatic
impact on the refuseniks,
Bayer said.
"Can you imagine," he
asked, "what if would have ,
meant if somebody from out-
side could have parachuted
into Aushwicz or Buma or
Birkenau, and stayed there
with Elie or his father or Sig-
mund Stracher for just an
hour, and held their hands,
and said, 'Don't give up. Hold
on until the armies come, un=
til the Americans and Rus-
sians come.' A lot of people in
the camps did give up. They
may even have been in good
physical health, but psychol-
ogically they were demoraliz-
ed because they believed no
one knew. We've learned
something in 40 years if the
U.S. Ambassador can give a
luncheon for a Jewish Nobel
Peace Prize winner who is a
Holocaust survivor and
comes to Moscow to see his
people."
,
r • MI INI • • In SW NO MO
IIM MI SNP MI MN • WM OM • • • MN Ell MN MI • UM UM OM OM • • MN IMO MB I
I The Jewish News
1 20300 Civic Center Dr., Suite 240
1 Southfield, Mich. 48076
1 year - $21 — 2 years $39 9— Out of State - $23 — Foreign - $35
$
I Gentlemen:
I Please send a (gift) subscription to:
I NAME
I ADDRESS
CITY
Country singer Johnny Cash displays the Jewish National
Fund's Shalom_Peace Award, presented to him in Memphis,
Tenn. by Dr. Samuel I. Cohen, left center, JNF executive vice
president. Also pictured are Sen. Albert Gore, Jr. (D-Tenn.), left
and singer-actor Kris Kristofferson.
STATE ....ZIP .
I From
If gift state occasion
• SO MEI ell Ell IN MI •
Ell IN SW IIIM MI MI NM NM UM MI
------ MEI • MI all SE la IN ON UM UM MI OM NI MS
I
109