The Czechoslovak National Council said in a letter received today by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency here that Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union practice the same kind of anti-Semitism. Preferring to the “regrettable plight” of Jews in the Soviet Union, the Council said, “We Americans of Czech and Slovak descent feel compelled to bring to public attention the fact that this kind of anti-Semitism is not limited to the government of the Soviet Union but is equally the policy of the present Communist regime in Czechoslovakia.” The letter, signed by Jame V. Krakora, president, Francis Schwarzenberg, vice-president, and Vlastislav Chalupa, secretary of the Council which was founded in 1918 and has its offices in Cicero, Illinois, continued: “While freedom and justice are being denied to all Czechoslovak citizens who do not fully support the present regime, Jews, whether in exile or at home, seem to be singled out for special criticism by the present authorities.” “The harassment is being Justified by the alleged danger of so-called international Zionism on the part of the Jews in Czechoslovakia.” The council mentioned that bocks recently published in Prague and Bratis- lava denounced these alleged dangers of Zionism, It also stressed that anti-Semitism is “totally alien to the traditions of the Czech and Slovak peoples as was amply demonstrated in the days of Czechoslovakia’s freedom” under President Thomas G. Masaryk.
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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.
