The president of the American Jewish Congress today criticized the Government of Czechoslovakia for cancelling plans to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the Czech Jewish community next year.
Rabbi Arthur J. Lelyveld of Cleveland termed the cancellation “another hostile act by Czech authorities echoing the hard-line anti-Semitism emanating from Moscow.” He cited as other Government actions the “failure” of responsible Government authorities to press an investigation of the “violent death” in Prague of Charles H. Jordan, director-general of the Joint Distribution Committee; the severance of diplomatic relations with Israel; the deprivation of citizenship of Ladislav Mnacko, Czechoslovakian author, for criticizing Czechoslovakia’s Middle East policy; and withdrawal from circulation of several recently-issued postage stamps on Jewish themes.
Rabbi Lelyveld charged that “these acts form a pattern of behavior aimed at isolating the Czech Jewish community from their fellow-Jews in other lands and from the rich cultural heritage of their own history.”
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.
