An Estimated 20,000 in Exodus March Feel Demonstration Will Have Impact on Soviet Policy

The long-planned Exodus March for Soviet Jewry turned into a half-mile-long protest walk on behalf of equal rights within the Soviet Union and the right to emigrate to Israel if desired. A spokesman for the march estimated the turnout at “20,000 – at least.” The police declined to give an estimate. The outpouring was essentially youthful, although the marchers ranged from the elderly to lower-grade-schoolers. They carried signs reading “Anti-Semitism Is Alive and Well and Living in Russia,” “Save Soviet Jews Now,” “Reunite Jewish Families,” “Stop Religious Persecution,” “6,000,000 in Germany, 3,000,000 More?” and “Nothing Comes of Hoping, Only Doing.” The spirit of the gathering was joyful and hopeful, rather than solemn. Marchers and public officials interviewed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, including students from as far away as Massachusetts. agreed that the demonstration could definitely have an impact on Soviet policy.

Several noted that similar pressure had resulted in the granting of emigration rights to at least some Soviet Jews. A young lady pointed out that Soviet Jewry recently obtained the right to have matzoth for Passover. A spokesman for the Soviet Embassy declined comment, except to say that the demonstrators could march if they wanted to. A 25-man delegation led by Rabbi Norman Lamm, chairman of the New York Conference on Soviet Jewry, which represents 34 adult organizations and agencies and 19 participating youth groups, the sponsoring group of the march, assembled before the Embassy to read a statement expressing to the Soviet government “out utter dismay over the discriminatory treatment accorded the Jewish people of the Soviet Union.” It called on them to “live up to the guarantee” of Premier Aleksei N. Kosygin in December 1960 not to hinder emigration. “You betray no other cause than your own if you disregard our please.” the statement continued. “Jew and non-Jew, Soviet nationals and men of goodwill from every corner of the earth demand justice now.” From the area of the Embassy and Hunter College, the demonstrators–informally dressed, carrying placards and the names of Soviet Jewish families (including “Kazakov”), and chanting Hebraic tunes–marched the mile and a half to the UN headquarters. In advance remarks Rabbi Lamm declared that the Exodus March–coinciding with the Passover celebration of the original exodus from Egypt–was designed to “pay tribute to our brethren who have placed their lives in jeopardy” by publicly opposing Soviet policy, as well as to “arouse the moral conscience of the world.”