Purge trials of Jews in the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia are being prepared by Communist secret police, the Associated Press reported today from Berlin. It said that this information emanates from “sources with contact behind the Iron Curtain.”
The Moscow trials are slated for next month with the Prague trials to follow, the report stated, adding that hundreds of Jews have been arrested and are held in Moscow and Prague prisons.
The move is intended to discredit pro-Israel elements inside the Communist ranks in order to bolster Russian standing in the Arab world, the report asserted. The Communist leadership will seek to prove that Jews worked for Israel against Communist interests. Hungary and Rumania were reported preparing similar measures. But Poland, reportedly, is resisting the purge campaign, holding that it would be a mistake.
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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.
