“The Soviet soul can’t tolerate the former traders.” This is the Ozet’s reply to the thousands of Jewish ex-traders who have been ruined and who are now besieging the Ozet office with applications to be settled in the Crimea.
Thousands of Jews, including many from Siberia and the Volga region, where Jewish trading has been flourishing since the Nep was declared legal, are now storming the Ozet offices and demanding that they be transferred to the land. The “Emes,” Yiddish communist daily, relates that their applications are simply flooding the Ozet office.
“We trusted the Soviet when the Nep (New Economic Policy) was declared and entered into trading because it was legal. Why should we suffer now?” these people are lamenting. They add that they are in danger of physical extermination if they are not settled on the land.
The Ozet, however, is rejecting their applications without ceremonies. Its standard reply is, “The Soviet soul cannot tolerate your type,” according to the “Emes.”
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.
