The New York Times today reported that the Soviet Government has abandoned its efforts to create a “Jewish homeland” in Biro-Bidjan. It revealed that the headquarters of the Ambijan Committee, an American group raising funds for Biro-Bidjan, received a cable from the local Biro-Bidjan Government declaring that outside aid is not wanted any longer.
Latest information indicated that there are about 140,000 persons residing in the Jewish autonomous region of Biro-Bidjan and that one-third of them are Jews. The only Yiddish language newspaper there, the Birobidjaner Stern, had been closed down, (The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported sometime ago that the Ambijan Committee is being liquidated in New York, Chicago and other American cities where the Committee was engaged in raising funds for Jewish projects in Biro-Bidjan.)
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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.