Twenty-six Minsk Jews have sent a petition to Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny in which they “demand the immediate release of the innocent and the stoppage of the persecution of Jews who wish to repatriate to their homeland.” A copy of the petition has been received here. It bore the names and complete addresses of each of the Minsk Jews, and a notation that a copy had been sent to the Supreme Court of the Mordovian Soviet Socialist Republic.
“We see that lately the reprisals against the best sons of our people are unceasing,” the Minsk Jews declared. “Their sole guilt is that they are Jews, that they wish to remain true to their people, that they desire to develop their national culture, to speak in their native tongue and to live in the land of Israel, a land that is holy and desired by every Jew.” The petition added that
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