Soviet Russian authorities have renewed the “dollar inquisition” and are making their victims large numbers of Jews, Chaim Nachman Bialik, famous Hebrew poet, informed the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Bialik, who is the head of a Tel Aviv Committee, seeking to arouse public opinion to act against the recurrence of the “inquisition”, stated that he has received letters from victims attesting to the torture to which they were subjected by Soviet officials seeking foreign currency.
The following letter submitted to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency by Bialik is typical of the communications received by him, he stated: Bialik accepts full responsibility for the authenticity of these communications.
The first communication comes from Moscow and the second from Kiev.
“You have no doubt been surprised that I have not written you for so long. There is now a great deal to write, but I do not know whether any man can describe all that he has lived through in the past years in the free country.
“Never before in history have we read or heard of an inquisition similar to that occurring here. I, myself, did not believe it until I experienced it myself. I came from there only yesterday, and it is difficult to remain quiet, when I know that. I have left there many men in my own situation and who are faced with misfortune.
“Everyone walks about like demented, waiting for them to come for him. They take him, either at night from home or straight from work, so that he hasn’t even a chance of bringing anything with him. When he gets to the appointed place, he is put into a room in which there are 120 or 130 people.
“The room is about fifty square metres in area, and there one is compelled to stay for as long as appointed—some a month, but the majority as long as three or four months. I, myself, was there for two months.
“You can imagine the temperature and the human sweat, the whole of the time. The underwear and the upper clothing simply corrode. Nor is anyone allowed to take exercise. So that you can picture what it is that one breathes. Sleeping is not allowed, and when one collapses and lies on the hard floor, falling asleep for an hour, he is awakened with a shout and he is compelled to get up.
“As regards the food, they issue about three-quarters of a pound of black bread, from seven to eight spoons of soup and from two to three spoons of
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.
