Commemorate Anniversary of Soviet Jewish Poets Massacred in 1952

A program of dramatic readings that commemorated the massacre of leading Jewish artists in the Soviet Union in 1952 was held today against a grim backdrop of huge documented photographs that depicted desecrated Jewish buildings and cemeteries. Similar programs were held in other major cities. The program was sponsored on the steps of the New York Public Library’s main branch in mid-town Manhattan by the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry.

The program featured a presentation of readings of the works of the slain Jewish artists and intellectuals. Among the noted artists who took part were actor Joseph Weisman; Marian Seldes, female star of Broadway’s “Equus”; David Bryant, the lead of the Broadway show “Bubbling Brown Sugar”; Yiddish actor Tzvi Scooler; Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, spiritual leader of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun; Bronx Borough President Robert Abrams, Conference chairman; Mikhail Sherb, a Soviet Jewish operatic tenor; and Barry Farber, a radio personality, who moderated the program.

Simultaneously, in Washington, at the Soviet Embassy, Rep. Benjamin Rosenthal (D.NY) presented a petition of support singed by 91 members of Congress addressed to Soviet Communist Party Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. Representing the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry at the Washington presentation was Seymour L. Katz, GNYC treasurer and chairman of the Queens Council for Soviet Jewry.

In addition, board members of Hadassah, who were in Washington as guests of Mrs. Ford at the White House where they presented her with a silver medallion in commemoration of Hadassah’s Mt. Scopus Hospital, participated in a vigil opposite the Soviet Embassy.

PROOF OF ANTI-JEWISH POLICIES

In New York, Abrams declared that the photographs of vandalized Jewish cemeteries and synagogues represent “unmistakable proof that the Soviet Union’s unremitting anti-Jewish policies mean a sentence of slow death for Jewish identity culture and religion.” To this very day, he said, “the Soviet Union has failed to lift the death sentence the Kremlin rulers have imposed upon Jewish culture.”

Abrams noted that Aug. I marked the first anniversary of the signing by 35 nations of the Helsinki agreement–an accord that pledged “freer movement” of people and ideas across national boundaries.

“However, August 1st was not a date for celebration for vast numbers of Soviet Jews who had hoped that the USSR would fulfill its obligations and ease barriers to free emigration,” he said. “Regrettably, the reverse has been true during the past year. Emigration has declined markedly. Harassment has increased sharply to such an extent that would-be applicants for exit visas have been discouraged from even taking the first step toward freedom.”

The photographs displayed by the New York Conference included gravestones removed from Jewish cemeteries that were used as steps at the entranceway of the trade building in Vilnius; the synagogue in Kharkov, which has been converted into a sports arena. Synagogues have been a special target of the Soviets’ anti-Jewish campaign, as reflected in the fact that since 1956 more than 90 percent of them have been demolished or shut down; a vandalized, rubble-strewn Jewish cemetery in Odessa, one of many in the USSR that have been desecrated and allowed to fall into total disrepair.

FAILURE AT BABI YAR

Also displayed was a new Memorial at Babi Yar, which makes no reference to Jews. It was in this desolate ravine near Kiev that more than 33,000 Jews were killed by Nazi storm-trooper on Sept. 29-30, 1941.

Abrams pointed out that efforts to memorialize the Jewish victims at Babi Yar have met with failure, “a clear manifestation of the USSR’s anti-Jewish policies.” In fact, he added, “those who have sought to commemorate the slaughter’s anniversary have been jailed by local police. That Jews are nowhere mentioned or portrayed in the Babi Yar Memorial is an affront to human decency, and demonstrates the Soviet Union’s determination–for whatever reason–to suppress and to eliminate Jewish culture and religious life.”