The anti-Jewish campaign in Soviet Russia and the other Communist countries was sharply condemned today at the United Nations Political Committee by the representatives of Britain and Canada during the general debate on Czechoslovakia’s charges that the United States is interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.
U.S. delegate Henry Cabot Lodge Jr speaking in the debate on the various aspects of “Soviet tyranny” said he would not dwell today on “the show trials” held in these countries, or on the persecution of Christians, Moslems and Jews, or on the persecution of non-Russian ethnic groups in the Soviet Union. How long, he asked, was the Soviet Union going to “perpetuate vast and systematized oppression?” The world deserved a reply to this question, he asserted. Perhaps Mr. Vishinsky would bring “new word from the Kremlin,” he stated.
Sir Gladwyn Jebb, head of the British delegation to the United Nations, pointed out that “one rather horrible new phenomenon” is now evident not only in Czechoslovakia but also in other countries behind the Iron Curtain. This, he said, is “the now undeniable oppression of Jews who are being made scapegoats for the frightful conditions in the Communist states.”
What could the West do about “these manifestations of hate and fear?” asked Sir Gladwyn. Certainly it must not itself give vent to hate and fear, or itself deny freedom of thought. And it must not fail to provide for its own security. It should go on making clear to the Communist governments that, in the absence of aggression on their part, they were not going to be attacked by anybody. Perhaps in time this truth would dawn on them. In the meantime, said Sir Gladwyn, the “free world” had to remain “strong, resolute and calm.”
Canada’s representative, David Johnson, spoke of the religious persecutions behind the Iron Curtain and called them a “disturbing aspect” of Soviet policy. Mr. Johnson expressed the fear that these persecutions were spreading to minorities within the Communist states – and by that it is taken for granted here he meant Jewish minorities.
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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.
