Premier Joseph Stalin, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Russian armed forces, today addressed a message of thanks to the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in acknowledgement of a check for 3,294,825 roubles which the Committee placed at his disposal for the purpose of building an air-squadron and a tank column as a gift of the Jews in Russia to the Red Army.
This sum was contributed by Jews throughout Russia in addition to the contributions which they made to general war funds. It was announced today that collective farmers in the Jewish autonomous province in the Tambov region have contributed more than 7,000,000 roubles towards the general defense fund. The air squadron which will be built with the funds presented through the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee will bear the inscription “Stalin-Friendship of Peoples” and the tank column will be marked “Soviet Biro-Bidjan.”
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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.