Rep. Bertram L. Podell (D.N.Y.) yesterday told the House of Representatives that 10 Soviet Jewish activists are being inducted into the Soviet Army for two months’ reserve duty to get them out of Moscow during President Nixon’s visit next month to the Soviet Union.
He urged the House to send telegrams to Nikolai V, Podgorny, chairman of the Supreme Soviet. and Leonid I. Brezhnev, Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee, to “tall them that the US Congress will not accept a detente if it means that Jews with the courage to stand for freedom will be dragged off to the army not to be heard of for two months, if ever.” Podell said the Reserve units to which the 10 men were attached were not called up and their draft boards had to change their military papers in order to induct them.
“Write to Mr. Nixon,” he urged, “and draw his attention to the tragic inadvertent consequences of his effort to promote world peace. Remind him that the leaders of the free world went to Munich to preserve and promote world peace. Last time the casualties were measured in the millions. This time, so far, only ten men have been dragged off to the army. That is only so far. Unless we make our views heard, who knows what tomorrow will bring.”
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.
