DETROIT
Activist Sees Anti-Semitism
Increasing In The Soviet Union
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Assistant Editor
oviet anti-Semitism
has increased since
Mikhail Gorbachev
came to power and is likely
to continue worsening as the
nation plunges into the dep-
ths of poverty, according to
former refusenik Mark
Kotlyar.
Soviet anti-Semites are
"animals. They don't realize
what they do. They just
hate," said Mr. Kotlyar, who
visited Detroit this week.
Americans see only Soviet
politicians who speak of
change and openness, Mr.
Kotlyar said. Americans
"see the white gloves, but
these white gloves cover dir-
ty hands that are ready to
strangle."
Mr. Kotlyar, 42, was born
in Kiev, two months after
the Soviet Union recognized
the new State of Israel. His
mother and father, a
dedicated soldier who taught
Marxism and Leninism at a
S
It was very, very
dangerous to
speak up, he said.
There was always
the chance that
someone could be
an informer.
local college, were not obser-
vant and did not give their
son a Jewish education.
"But nevertheless we
managed to maintain a Jew-
ish personality through tiny
words, meals and habits,"
Mr. Kotlyar said.
The family was well off,
"because we managed to
survive the 1930s —the
famine and the purges and
the executions and the war,"
he said. "Then we found a
communal flat, which meant
we shared the apartment
with eight families, 20 peo-
ple.
"Still, there were families
living in a basement; 10
people shared two rooms."
As a boy, Mr. Kotlyar join-
ed the Komsomol, Commu-
nist Youth, and believed in
Marxism because, "there
was no other religion."
But when Nikita
Khrushchev came to power,
Mark Kotlyar changed his
mind.
Khrushchev allowed
previously forbidden books,
among them Alexander
Solzhenitsyn's One Day In
the Life of Ivan Denisovich,
to be published in the coun-
try. Mr. Kotlyar read the
book, which describes life in
a Soviet work camp and was
appalled.
By the time he entered the
Moscow Institute of Physics
and Technology in 1966, Mr.
Kotlyar had abandoned all
interest in communism. He
met in secret with friends to
discuss the nation's politics.
"It was very, very
dangerous to speak up," he
said. "We said it was like
Russian roulette, because
there was always the chance
that someone you talk to
could be that bullet — an in-
former."
In 1978, Mr. Kotlyar re-
quested permission to
emigrate. To make the ap-
plication, he was forced to
give up his job. He re-
members a policeman corn-
ing to his apartment and
warning, "If you don't want
to be charged as a 'parasite,'
you better find a job for
yourself."
So he took a position as a
math tutor and worked part-
time as a professional
horseman. His constant
companion was the KGB; "I
could always feel them
breathing down my back."
Refused because of his
alleged access to "state
secrets," Mr. Kotlyar
became close with American
Soviet Jewry activists, in-
cluding a number in Detroit.
Such contacts help
refuseniks survive, he said.
Mr. Kotlyar participated
in hunger strikes and dem-
onstrations. In 1989, he was
apprehended outside the
Lenin Library, just down the
street from the Kremlin. He
and other refuseniks held
signs reading, "Let us
emigrate!" They were ar-
rested in two minutes.
In June, Mr. Kotlyar
received permission to par-
ticipate in the Commission
on Human Rights, held in
Copenhagen. He left with
one bag, one briefcase and
every intention of returning
to the Soviet Union.
But in Copenhagen,
former refuseniks and repre-
sentatives of the Union of
Councils of Soviet Jews urg-
ed him not to go home.
Finally, Mr. Kotlyar agreed.
He was reunited with his
wife and son, who already
received permission to
emigrate, on Aug. 31 in the
United States.
Now Mr. Kotlyar, who
lives in California, is work-
ing to help other Soviet Jews
emigrate. Among his allies
are Ukrainian nationals,
members of the Ukrainian
Nationalist Movement,
Ruah (movement), who have
participated in Soviet Jew-
ish demonstrations. He is
glad for all friends of Soviet
Jews because the future ter-
rifies him.
"In Russia in every corner
you can hear the word
`kike,' " Mr. Kotlyar said.
"A recent poll showed that
18 percent of Soviet citizens
support (the anti-Semitic
Mark Kotylar (second from left, back row) at a rally for Israel In-
dependence Day, held last April in Kiev. The sign on the right reads,
"Our Homeland Is Israel."
organization) Pamyat, and
another 45 percent are
neutral.
"And Pamyat is getting
worse. It used to be they said
to the Jews, 'Get out.' Now
they are saying, 'You want
to destroy our country. You
will be punished for what
you are doing.' "
❑
Township Officials Still Angry
Over Lubavitch Path Into Property
SUSAN GRANT
Staff Writer
W
est Bloomfield
Township officials
are disturbed at the
Lubavitch Foundation for
violating a woodlands or-
dinance, but foundation
representatives say the
violation was merely a
mistake.
To clear up the matter, the
foundation is seeking an
after-the-fact permit from
the township Woodlands Re-
view Board which is ex-
pected to consider the re-
quest Nov. 8.
In June, 20 trees and 1,513
seedlings were illegally
cleared away to make room
for an 8-foot-wide path on
the foundation's 40-acre site
on Maple Road, west of the
Jewish Community Campus.
Although no plans have
been submitted to the
township, the foundation
hopes to build a synagogue
and educational retreat
complete with a museum,
library, student housing,
classrooms and an ad-
ministration building on the
site.
Barry Stulberg, the
group's consultant, said a
foundation employee hired a
bulldozer to clear a path
through the wooded property
without checking first with
township officials. The path
allows foundation members
and potential donors "to see
the beauty of the property,"
Mr. Stulberg said.
"He didn't know he had to
get a permit even if it's just
clearing a path," Mr.
Stulberg said. "It was an
honest mistake. We have
apologized to the Woodlands
Board."
Mr. Stulberg calls the
issue "a non-event."
Of the 24 acres of
woodlands on the property,
only two-tenths of an acre
was disturbed, he said. Mr.
Stulberg points to a
forester's report done shortly
after the clearing which
states, "The extent of
damage to the woodlands is
minute."
But Steven Budaj,
Woodlands Board chairman,
is upset by the incident. Last
"It was an honest
mistake."
Barry Stulberg
month, the board toured the
site to inspect the damage.
"They cut an 8-foot path
through the woodlands and
took out 1,500 trees," he
said. "A tree is a tree, isn't
it? I know if those seedlings
were left alone they would
turn into trees."
Mr. Budaj wouldn't make
any predictions on the out-
come of the Woodlands Board
hearing, but said the board
has options when it con-
siders the after-the-fact re-
quest. The board can ap-
prove the request with con-
ditions which would require
the foundation to plant 1,500
seedlings on the site once
final plans are approved. If
the petition is not approved,
the foundation could face a
fine.
Mr. Stulberg said it is
unlikely the foundation will
be fined. "We would have
been permitted to do this
had we applied for a permit
ahead of time," he said.
Mr. Budaj said the board is
not willing to let the inci-
dent pass by unnoticed. "If
we let it go everybody will
try to get after-the-fact ap-
provals," he said.
In the meantime, the
foundation awaits an opi-
nion from township at-
torneys whether its
"Campus of Living
Judaism," as the complex is
called, can be built within a
residential area zoned for
single family homes.
Foundation represent-
atives argue the complex
will primarily be a religious
center, not a college. The col-
lege is only an extension of
the synagogue, they say.
Churches and synagogues
are allowed in areas zoned
for residential use, but col-
leges are not. If the township
decides the complex will
primarily be a college, the
foundation faces a rezoning
battle. ❑
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
15