The Soviet Government was severely criticized today in the Morning Freiheit, Jewish Communist daily newspaper here, for ignoring a request that Jewish cultural life be restored in the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Government was taken to task in a long article for depriving its 3,000,000 Jews of their culture, language, press and national institutions. The article points out that this has been brought to the attention of Nikita S. Khrushchev, Communist Party “boss” in Moscow, by various delegations, Jewish and non-Jewish, who visited Russia. Similar complaints have been made by Jewish Communist groups in various countries. It terms as “empty words” the excuse given by Mr. Khrushchev to some delegations that the Jews of the Soviet Union apparently do not want any other culture than Russian since they do not ask for the restoration of their liquidated press and cultural institutions.
“The Soviet Government,” the article says, “has committed the mistake and permitted the crime against the normal human and national rights of its Jewish national minority, rendering the Jews speechless.” It concludes by emphasizing that it is “the urgent duty” of the Soviet Government “not to wait any longer and wipe out the injustices committed by giving back Soviet Jewry its national rights and the full possibility of reviving and developing its culture.”
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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.