Experts on Soviet affairs and Jewish leaders here have expressed serious concern that the recent detention and interrogation of Eliahu Chazan. Israeli diplomat in Moscow, might be the first step in a design of new large-scale persecution of Soviet Jews.
The Kremlin seems to be aroused and perturbed by the warm reception that Soviet Jews gave the Israel delegation to the Moscow Youth Festival at a time when all organs of Soviet public opinion had been geared to attacks against Israel. The Kremlin’s displeasure has been particularly aroused by the news of widespread deliberate discrimination on against Soviet Jews in education and the professions which was reported by members of the Israel youth delegation.
“Only public anticipation of events can forestall a new wave of persecutions,” one expert said. “The Soviets must be forewarned that a repetition of 1948-1953 will not be countenanced by world public opinion without the profoundest revulsion.”
Fear was expressed here today that the detention of the Israeli diplomat– who this week returned to Israel–might be followed up in Russia by wholesale raids on the homes of Soviet Jews who have been in contact with the Israel delegation. Thousands of Jews are embraced in this category. Anyone possessing souvenirs, widely distributed by the Israelis during their visit. is vulnerable to the charge of “communicating with the enemy” and acting as a Zionist-imperialist agent.
It was recalled here that the liquidation of Jewish culture in the USSR, culminating in the so-called “doctors plot” in 1953, followed closely on the heels of the spontaneous demonstration in Moscow for Israel Ambassador Golda Meir in 1948. Similar punitive measures are anticipated as a result of the reception for the Israel youth delegation.
The attendance of Israel youth at the Festival represented the first opportunity for large numbers of Jews from abroad to communicate, person to person, with Soviet Jewry, without the mediation of official interpreters. The reports brought out of Russia by these young Israelis have been the focus of all public discussion in Israel, eclipsing even the Syrian crisis.
The Israelis have returned from Moscow deeply and utterly stirred by the discovery that the reaction of hosts of Jews in the Soviet Union to Communist anti-Semitism since 1948, which still persists in covert form and is expressed in professional and educational discrimination, has been a desire for patent and affirmative identification with Jewry. Many of them, including members of Komsomol and the Communist Party, desire to while in Israel, although their opinions of Israel policy are often confused by Soviet press indoctrination.
REPORTS GIVE GRAPHIC PICTURE OF INTEREST OF SOVIET JEWS IN ISRAEL
Israel youth was represented at the Moscow Youth Festival by two delegations, one communist, the other comprised of members of the country’s three Zionist Socialist parties. They consisted of 100 people each. According to information reaching here, the borders of the Maki (Communist) delegation forbade their members to wear the Israeli {SPAN}###ignia and to distribute Israeli souvenirs to their Soviet relatives. The leaders went about justifying Moscow policy on Israel, described the country as an American base, to were nonetheless booed by the Arabs when they passed the reviewing stand. The Labor Zionist delegates brought along ample literature describing life in Israel, which they distributed openly. Some members of the delegation clandestinely requested the other delegation to give them Israel insignias for their Soviet relatives.{/SPAN}In the light of Khrushchev’s contention that Soviet Jewry has become “integrated” and has discarded its Judaism, and in view of police vigilance over the comings and goings of the Israel delegation, the Israelis expected to encounter difficulties in establishing contact with Soviet Jews. Yet this was not so. Reports received here indicate that soviet Jews braved the dangers and missed no opportunity to greet the delegates.
From the moment the delegation arrived at the Rumanian frontier station Ungheni, they were greeted by crowds of Jews at every station, ” one report stated. “Soviet police soon took care of that. The delegation was hence forth forbidden to leave the stations where official delegations met them with brass bands. But in each instance, over he din of the music could be heard the clamor of crowds of Jews outside the station who are kept back by the police. Protests by the Israeli delegation were of no avail. The tamoring Jews outside were not permitted past the gates.
In several instances, ” the report continued, “Soviet Jews broke through the police cordon, and in one instance, near Odessa, as the crowd broke through, someone was heard shouting in Yiddish, above the clamor: ‘Fellow Jews, see how bright it is here, we are all burning like candles. ‘ Even when the train entered stations past midnight, there are still crowds outside the gates: held back by the police. The train was quickly routed past Odessa without stopping there, to frustrate a demonstration by crowds of Jews at the gates of the terminal.
“When it reached Moscow, the delegation was overwhelmed by a spontaneous reception from Soviet Jews,” the report stated. “From all corners of the Soviet Union, from the Baltic countries, the Ukraine, Georgia, Middle Asia, and even from Birobidjan on the Mongolian border, Jews had come to the capital seeking some contact with the Israelis and news about Israel.
“The delegation became the focus of a cult, almost fetishist Insignias, newspapers, ashtrays, postcards and stamps bearing the word ‘Israel’ were grabbed up by the crowds who, from dawn ’til after midnight, besieged the headquarters of the Israel delegation at the Timiriazev Academy, situated far outside Moscow. Every Israeli leaving the building was virtually pounced upon by throngs of Jewish youth who plied him with questions about Israel. Soviet police agents, including photographers, kept constant vigil at the building, yet this did not deter Soviet youth.”
SOVIET JEWS DISCUSS ANTI-SEMITISM: EVASIVE ON KREMLIN’S POLICY
“The Soviet Jews, ” the report revealed, told of rampant popular anti-Semitism, but were evasive about government policy. Here and there, however, Khrushchev personally was defended from charges of anti-Semitism; Soviet Jews are wholly unaware of his anti-Jewish statements to foreign delegations. Many conceded that the governmental anti-Israel propaganda carried bold anti-Semitic overtones. Some were critical of Israel policy, obviously confused by official propaganda that Israel’s military actions were ‘imperialist-directed aggression, ‘ and yet even these said they would like to settle in Israel ‘among our own, ‘ secure from social ostracism.
“Even incorrigible party members revealed a profound interest in Israel, its collective settlements, its health services, ” the report stated. “In view of what they read about ‘fascism’ in Israel, some were surprised that the Israel Government had permitted attendance at the Moscow Youth Festival, especially by the Maki delegation and that Soviet books were obtainable in Israeli bookstores. Almost all conceded that Communism had not solved the Jewish problem.
“Wherever they went in Moscow, the Israelis were stopped by young people who identified themselves as Jews and asked for souvenirs. The Israelis of the Zionist-Socialist delegation were easily identifiable by the embroidered seven-armed candelabra, official emblem of the State of Israel, on their blouses. Passersby in the streets embraced and kissed them like long-lost relatives. The peak of enthusiasm was reached when they visited the Moscow Synagogue. Its members were called to read the weekly portion from the Bible, a signal honor, and worshippers cried unashamedly at the sight of these young people from Israel, ” the report concluded.
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.
