Mayor John V. Lindsay sent a cable yesterday to the chairman of the Kiev City Council urging that “Soviet Jews be allowed to congregate freely to memorialize those who perished at the hands of the Nazis.” Lindsay sent his cable on the eve of memorial services which Jews in Kiev planned to hold to mark the 29th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and to observe a day of remembrance for the victims of Nazism. The Kiev Jews applied to the City Council for the necessary permit.
Lindsay said in his cable. “I strongly urge that proper treatment be accorded the participants in this significant event. It is vital that Soviet Jews be permitted to maintain their heritage and to remember their fallen parents and brothers in the traditional manner of their people.” The Mayor noted that thousands of New Yorkers of all faiths will commemorate today the victims of the Nazi Holocaust.
“Inasmuch as Soviet Jews are denied religious and cultural rights, this observance takes on even greater significance,” the cable said. “The world must not forget that tragic period and must re-enforce its determination to stand fast against oppression and persecution.”
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