Jewish Delegation from Russia Calls for Unity Between Russian and American Jews

Unifying the activities of the Jews in the United States and those in the U.S.S.R. in the war against the Axis is an immediate and urgent problem of the Jewish people today, Solomon Mikhoels, president of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in Russia, declared here yesterday at a reception at the Soviet Consulate, attended by leaders of various Jewish groups, including Zionists

The reception was arranged in honor of Mr. Mikhoels and Itzik Feffer who came here as a Jewish cultural delegation from Russia. “Only the urgency of this problem of coordinating the efforts of Jews of our two countries could have impelled me to leave the U.S.S.R. at so crucial a time in its history,” Mikhoels said.

Mr. Feffer, speaking of the Jewish contribution to the Russian war effort, pointed out that Russia today is the only country in the world where anti-Semitism is outlawed. The war, he said, has brought all nationalities in Russia even closer together. While on the battlefront, as a high ranking officer of the Russian Army, Feffer saw Jews protect non-Jewish soldiers by throwing themselves in front of the enemy’s fire; also how non-Jewish soldiers risked their lives to protect Jews. The noted Jewish soldier-poet also described how the Soviet authorities, although badly in need of trains for military purposes, nevertheless managed to evacuate hundreds of thousands of Jews from the front line zones into the interior in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Nazis.