The Soviet authorities have barred 49 books on Jewish issues at the fourth Moscow International Book Fair, according to reports reaching here today.
Organizers of the stand mounted by the Association of Jewish Book Publishers of New York told reporters in Moscow yesterday that the Soviet authorities banned 49 of their titles, among them The American Jewish Year Book; The Jewish Catalogue; “History of the Jews” by Cecil Roth; the memoirs of former President Jimmy Carter; “The History of Israel” by Howard Sachar; “My Name is Asher Lev” by Chaim Potok; “Many Faces of Anti-Semitism”; “Arab Israeli Wars” and 15 books in Russian on Jewish holidays.
According to Janet Scharfstein, one of the organizers of the Jewish stand, the Soviets had held up several of their titles on arrival. Last Friday, four days after the opening of the exhibit, the authorities informed the organizers that the books will be banned all together, she said.
The Jewish stand at the Moscow exhibition, which is held every two years, has been an attraction for Soviet Jews who come to the fair from all parts of the Soviet Union. According to Scharfstein, the Soviet authorities had barred only five titles during the last fair in 1981.
Exhibitors from Israel reported in Moscow yesterday that only a few of their titles were barred. Observers said that the Soviets decided to show a strict hand with the American Jewish group to demonstrate displeasure with the organizers of the Jewish stand who openly fraternized with the many Soviet Jews flocking to their exhibit.
Unlike other exhibitors, the Jewish publishers do not seek sales of rights and titles in the Soviet Union but to introduce Russians to a literature largely denied them in the Soviet Union.
That is also the case of publishers from Israel and American Protestant publishers. The Protestant publishers, like the Israelis, reported having only a few titles barred this year.
In 1977, when the first fair opened in Moscow, American publishers agreed to participate on the condition that Jewish publishers and Israel will be allowed to participate as well.
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.
