The DAIA, the central representative body of Argentine Jewry, today noted the 11th anniversary of the Stalin purge of Jewish intellectuals in Russia by appealing to the Soviet authorities for equality of treatment for Soviet Jews.
The appeal was made in a letter from the DAIA to Nikolai Alexeiev, the Soviet Ambassador here. Conceding that there had been changes for the better for Soviet Jews, compared with the situation during the Stalin era, the letter added that negative conditions still existed. The letter cited the recent imprisonment of several Russian Jews on charges of baking and selling matzohs, the denial of cultural and religious rights enjoyed by other Soviet nationalities, the absence of Yiddish or Hebrew schools, and of central organizations of Jewish congregations, like those permitted to the Orthodox Russian and other church groups.
The letter said it was difficult to understand why Russian Jews could not enjoy full freedom to talk and to educate their children in any language they chose, adding “we only request equality in treatment, nothing more, for the Jews in the Soviet Union.”
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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.