The Soviet Jewry Committee of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington today sponsored a yahrzeit of the “Night of the Murdered Poets” at today’s daily vigil in behalf of Soviet Jewry across the street from the Soviet Embassy here. This observance traditionally held on Tisha B’Av, commemorates the night of Aug. 12, 1952 when 24 Russian Jewish writers, poets and intellectuals were murdered on Stalin’s orders in an attempt to eradicate all vestiges of Jewish culture in the Soviet Union.
The traditional mincha service was conducted by Mendel Abrams of Beth Torah Congregation, president of the Washington Board of Rabbis. The service included readings from the Book of Lamentations and the works of the great Yiddish poets and writers murdered in 1952 and those imprisoned in the Soviet Union today. About 150 people attended.
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.
