The dramatic events of the past two weeks in Moscow, in which leading Jewish activists have been severely beaten and arrested because of their open demands for exit visas, have brought this issue’ to a head just at a time when the Kremlin would most have liked things to remain dormant—on the eve of the … Read more
What is the current situation regarding Jews in the Soviet Union? It is a matter of life and death for them to be out of the country because of the catastrophic growth of anti-Semitism. Despite requests from the west, there has been no improvement at all in the religious facilities available for those who wish … Read more
Although the Russians are continuing to harass their Jewish citizens, they appear to be refrain-ng from resorting to blatant cruelties which could form the nucleus of an issue between them and the Americans in the US presidential campaign. Last year, there were eight known trials of Jewish activists. Pour were young men tried for evasion, … Read more
In the lull before the elections in the United States, the situation of the veteran refuseniks, appears to be as unchanging and heartbreaking as ever. A particularly tragic case is that the Slepak family in Moscow, Although Vladimir has been given numerous excuses for not being allowed to leave, the main one usually quoted by … Read more
Soviet Jews have been watching the American Presidential election campaign with great interest. Though technically neutral, it is no secret that they do not view with great enthusiasm the efforts on their behalf of the present White House Administration. This stems from what they consider to be the antagonistic attitude shown by Richard Nixon and … Read more
EIGHTY NINE JEWISH activists in the Soviet Union, together with Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov, have appealed to ‘the two American presidential candidates, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, to defend human rights in the Soviet Union. The Jews pointed out that the Kremlin had not lived up to its promises given at the time … Read more
THE MASARYKS: the making of Czechoslovakia, by Zbynek Zeman. 230 pages (Weidenfeld and Nicholson). £6.50. There has long been a feeling of mutual identification between the peoples of Czechoslovakia and Israel. Both achieved independence during the same period of history after countless centuries in the service of other nations. Since he Second World War, the … Read more
THE POWER, by Robert G. Raiser. 499 pages (Seeker and Warburg). £5.90. A CHRONICLE OF CURRENT EVENTS, Numbers 32 and 33. 192 pages (Amnesty International 11.95) Bullying harassment is the price a good journalist has to pay when he attempts to write about something that does not have official Soviet blessing. Soviet Jews learnt the … Read more
SHORT STORIES (W THE LONG DEATH, by Yechezkel Pulerevitch. 293 pp (published in Israel by former Prisoners of Zion from the USSR). AN AMERICAN IN THE GULAG, by Alexander Dolgun. 370 pages (Collins/Harvill) 370pp £4.50. Yechezkel Pulerevitch was a member of Betar, the youth group of Herut, when the Red Army invaded Lithuania in 1940. … Read more
7,000 exit permits were granted to Soviet Jews during the first six months of 1976—about the same figure as 1975. A few prominent people—including Tamara Galperina and Vitaly Rubin—have been given permission to leave, yet permits have been refused to most of the major activists. Moreover the KGB has waited two years to announce that … Read more