A demand that the Soviet Government should embark on “a serious reappraisal of its policy towards the Jewish nationality, towards the Soviet Jews, and Yiddish culture” is voiced by the Morning Freiheit, Yiddish language Communist newspaper published here. The paper also urges Moscow to give “consideration” to Zionism “not as a kind of bogey with which to frighten people but as something that does really exist.”
The Communist organ openly criticizes Nikita Khrushchev, the “boss” of the Communist Party in Moscow, for his anti-Jewish remarks made recently in the course of a conference with Canadian labor delegates who visited Moscow. “Khrushchev justly stated that all peoples have both their good and bad characteristics,” the Morning Freiheit writes, “however, when it came to specify, he spoke only of the bad characteristics of certain Jews, neglecting to point out the good characteristics. He thus played into the hands of those who charge that the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is infected with anti-Semitism.”
The newspaper notes that, “unfortunately” the Soviet Encyclopedia contains a number of distortions with regard to Jews. It says that “an active campaign” against anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union is needed. It stresses the fact that “Jewish culture has not yet been re-established in the Soviet Union,” and it asks what has happened to the promises given by Moscow to permit the resumption of the publication of a Jewish newspaper and the rehabilitation of the Soviet Jewish writers who have been “liquidated” under the Stalin regime.
The Freiheit demands that the Soviet Government “officially and publicly wipe off the libel” spread by Stalin-and Khrushchev that if Soviet Jews were settled in Crimea after World War II they would during the next war take up arms against the Soviet Union. “It is well known that the Soviet Jews were among the first on the list of nationalities who distinguished themselves during the last war as true patriots of their country,” the newspaper emphasizes.
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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.
