Jews in Kiev, capital of Soviet Ukraina, have been denied repeated requests to establish a Jewish National Theater, and are carrying the issue to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Ukraine, it was learned here today.
The request for establishment of such a theater was filed early in 1966 with authorities in Moscow. The applicants were residents of Kiev, including actors working in Russian and Ukrainian theaters. The applicants were advised to address their request to the Central Committee.
Upon receiving this advice, a delegation representing the applicants met last May with one highly-placed member of that committee. He told the delegation that they could not establish a Jewish National Theater for the following reasons: 1) No premises for such a theater were available; 2) there was a lack of experienced actors able to appear in such a theater; 3) a Jewish theater of the kind requested would not be a paying enterprise.
The members of the delegation rejected the reasons, insisting on the possibility and feasibility of a Jewish National Theater in Kiev, and have now appealed to the entire Central Committee. They have also furnished the Ukrainian Communist Party’s Central Committee with a list of Jewish actors, directors and producers ready to aid in the creation of a Jewish theater, and noted that such cultural institutions are possessed by other national minorities while being denied to the Jews in the Ukraine.
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