(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Anatole Lunacharsky, Soviet Commissar of Education, regarding whose attitude toward the Hebrew language several contradictory reports were published in the Soviet press, made clear his stand in a statement he issued in reply to an inquiry of the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency here.
“Under no circumstances would we introduce dead Hebrew as a language of instruction, regardless of the desires of the population,” Lunacharsky declared. ” Morcover, I doubt extremely whether it is possible to find anywhere a Jewish population, except small groups, who would demand this. Hebrew, like Latin, should be permitted, I believe, if the population somewhere demanded that in a certain school Hebrew be introduced among other subjects on the curriculum.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.