The State Department said today that 1618 American soldiers have been taken prisoner in Indochina, but added that it did not have a breakdown by religion as that information is not included in its official documentation. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency learned from Department sources, however, that the total includes 10 or 12 prisoners “with Jewish-sounding surnames,” which is not necessarily an accurate guide.
Rabbi Schulem Rubin of New York, who recently tried unsuccessfully in Paris to gain permission to visit Jewish POWs in North Vietnam during Passover, has said that according to sources, whom he would not name, there were 30 Jewish POWs held by Hanoi in 1969. The State Department acknowledged today that several American rabbis, notably Rabbi Rubin, have sought to reach Jewish POWs.
In a related development, Secretary of State William P. Rogers announced today that President Nixon had designated March 26-April 1 as a “national week of concern for Americans who are prisoners of war or missing in action.” That period was chosen, Rogers explained, because it is Holy Week, the week before Easter. His statement made no mention of Passover, which starts at sundown March 29 and ends April 6.
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.
