Responsible travelers returning here from the Soviet Union report unrestrained anti-Jewish activities by Kiev officials, intimidation of worshipers at the Kiev synagogue and an increase of arrests of Kiev Jews on economic crimes charges.
The reports are based not only on personal impressions of the visitors but also on discussions with Jews and non-Jews in Kiev. The travelers give a population of Jews in Kiev as about 200,000, which contrasts with the 153,000 reported in the official census.
The visitors assert that authorities in Kiev seem to have complete freedom in pursuing anti-Jewish policies, and that the Moscow authorities do not seem to intervene. The Jewish situation in Kiev was reported as worse than in any other major Jewish community in the USSR.
Since 1959, there has not been a single Jewish stage performance in spite of many requests from Jews courageous enough to speak out, and despite applications by Jewish touring companies to be allowed to perform in Kiev, the visitors stated. The congregation of the Kiev synagogue was reported by them to be constantly intimidated by synagogue officials who are believed to be acting as agents for Soviet security authorities. The chief wardenman, named Gendelman, is particularly feared, the travelers said. He is rude to tourists.
They also reported that on the week before Passover, last April, Soviet police entered a house on Gorky Street where matzoh was being baked by Jews who did not want to register for matzoh at the synagogue. The Jews were dragged out of the house, their flour was spilled into the gutter and their baking implements broken.
The visitors said Kiev Jews are exposed to anti-Semitism both at work and in society. Arrests on economic charges have increased since the end of 1965, and one 70-year-old Jew was arrested several months ago, along with his son and daughter-in-law, on charges of dealing in foreign currency. The old man was sentenced to death, and the son and daughter-in-law to long terms in jail. The elderly Jew was not allowed to appeal, and his relatives were later informed that he died in prison.
There were unconfirmed reports that a Jewish milkman was arrested on charges of diluting his milk with water and that he was tortured in an effort to force a confession. However, he refused to confess. Other reports referred to prolonged interrogations of Jews about their sources of income. This was a common practice a few years ago, when 90 percent of those sentenced to death for “economic crimes” were executed.
Methods for improving the quality of Jewish education and of meeting the teacher shortage in Jewish schools in this country were among the principal topics discussed at a two day Colloquium that concluded here today. The Colloquium was held under the auspices of the Philip W. Lown Graduate Center of Brandeis University.
Dr. Abraham L. Sachar, president of the university, announced today that Mr. Lown, a philanthropist particularly interested in Jewish education, has provided a $50,000 fund for graduate fellowships in Jewish education. The fund, he said, will be administered jointly by the university and the Institute of Contemporary Jewish Studies of the Hebrew University, in Jerusalem.
Some of the most prominent Jewish educators in the United States participated in the Colloquium. Among the scholars who presented papers and took part in the discussions were representatives of all religious branches of Judaism, Hebrew and Yiddish educators, and the heads of Jewish teachers colleges and bureaus of Jewish education from many principal Jewish centers in the United States.
In addition to tackling the problem of teacher shortages and improvement of the quality of Jewish education, the discussions centered on accreditation of Jewish teachers colleges, the curricula of those colleges, and the courses of Judaic and Hebrew studies in American colleges and universities.
New insights for the improvement of Jewish education have emerged from the discussions, according to Dr. Oscar Janowsky, professor of history at City College of the City University of New York, general chairman of the Colloquium. Brandeis will make the results of the conference available to the Jewish community by publishing the proceedings of the Colloquium in book form.
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