Conference in London Appeals to Moscow on Rights of Jews in Russia

A resolution appealing to the Soviet Government to remove the discrimination against Jews in the Soviet Union in the practice of their religious and their communal rights, and to permit Soviet Jews to leave the country for reunion of families, was adopted here by the 250 delegates attending the biennial conference of the British section of the World Jewish Congress.

Expressing concern about the lack of facilities for Soviet Jews to develop their cultural, social and religious institutions and communal life, the resolution took note of the recent “signs of improvement” in regard to Jewish life in the USSR. The resolution noted the recent issuance of a Yiddish periodical, “Sovietische Heimland,” and publication of Yiddish books, expressing the hope that these “trends will be extended further.”

At the same time, the resolution expressed “deep concern” over recent attacks against Jews printed in the Soviet press and over the dismissal of leaders of the Jewish community in various cities in the Soviet Union. The resolution then appealed “to leaders and authorities in the Soviet Union to remove these disabilities, and to give Russian Jews the opportunity to join other Jews and their families in Israel, if they desire to do so.”

(In a statement prior to his departure for Paris, Dr. Nahum Goldmann said in Israel yesterday that there were chances of changing the Soviet attitude toward Russian Jewry. This, he said, should be sought through persuasion and by the weight of world-wide public opinion, as well as through the aid of foreign elements who are friends of Israel. He warned that, by unrestrained attacks on the Soviet Government, “we can only do harm to Soviet Jewry.”)

Another resolution adopted by the conference called on the World Jewish Congress executive, in association with authorized bodies of Algerian Jewry, to make every effort to assure the political future of Algerian Jewry and their civic, religious and communal freedom. The resolution called for freedom for Algerian Jewry to conduct their religious and communal organizations, and to insure their freedom to emigrate if they so desire.