Anglo-jewish Leader Raps Anti-semitism in Russia, Calls for Change

R.N. Carvalho, president of the Anglo-Jewish Association, asserted here last night that the Soviet Government should realize that the determined confinement of a religious group from contact with those in other parts of the world sharing its beliefs was “not only cruel but unnecessary.”

He also told a meeting of the association’s council that Russia would commend itself to all liberal-thinking men and women throughout the world if it freely established means by which Jews in Russia could maintain normal contacts with Jews outside.

He said that, if such a policy could be part of a general relaxation of government restrictions by which Russian Jews could organize a full and useful religious and cultural life, the Soviet Government “would earn the gratitude of its own Russian citizens and would merit the appreciation of all of us throughout the world.”

Noting that, during the Stalin regime, Jews suffered physical persecution, he said it was “equally clear” there were still widespread anti-Semitic elements in the vast population of Russia. He added that “what one hopes to see is an attitude from the Soviet Government itself which makes it quite clear not only that official anti-Semitism does not exist but also that any form of anti-Semitism is to be discouraged and that any aspirations for a distinct religious and cultural life” for Russian Jews “should not be treated with suspicion and in one way or another made impossible.”