Soviet Premier Khrushchev, after examining at length the anti-Semitic book, “Judaism Without Embellishment, ” expressed shock over its contents and called its author and publishers “idiots, ” his son-in-law, Alexis Adjubei, said here today.
Adjubei, editor of the official organ of the Soviet Government, Izvestia, conveyed this account to Andre Blumel, president of the France-USSR Friendship Association and former president of the French Zionist Federation. Mr. Blumel has been in practically constant touch with the Izvestia editor, since the latter’s arrival on a visit to France last week. Mr. Adjubei is accompanied by his wife, the Soviet Premier’s daughter.
According to the account, Mr. Adjubei told Mr. Blumel that, as the protests in the Western world over the content of the book, written by a Prof. T, Kitchko, and published by the Ukrainian Academy of Science in Kiev last year, became known, the Soviet Premier asked to be shown the book, which is in Ukrainian. Mr. Khrushchev himself is a Ukrainian.
After studying the book at length, Mr. Khrushchev commented “the idiots” at the author and those responsible for its publication. He also asked that it be presented to the Soviet Communist party’s central committee and its ideological commission for examination and eventual condemnation. The ideological commission criticized the book last Sunday.
The Soviet editor also told Mr. Blumel that the Soviet Premier was “the man most opposed to anti-Semitism in the entire Soviet Union” because he saw in its continued existence “a last vestige of Stalinism which must be erased at the earliest.”
Mr. Adjubei also told the French Jewish leader that, in two months, the principle of “internal passports,” in which the holder’s nationality is mentioned, will be canceled and replaced by a work permit in which nationality or religion will not be mentioned. At present, Soviet Jews must carry “identity cards” on which a Russian letter indicates that the holder is a Jew.
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