Minsk Jews Reply to Anti-semitic Article in Literary Magazine

An anti-Semitic article appearing recently in the Minsk Literary Magazine brought a direct public reply by a group of local Jews. The article entitled “Invasion Without Arms” was written by Vladimir Bagun and claimed that Jews everywhere constitute a danger to the indigenous cultures.

According to Jewish sources in the Soviet Union, the reply was signed by Alexander Milman, Mark Vilenkin, Sofia Goberman and Tamara Nikolai. It stated: “It is astonishing that the official organ of the Writers’ Union of Soviet Byelorussia dared to publish this article. It only confirms what we have feared for a long time, “namely, that there is an anti-Semitic atmosphere prevailing here. Only in such an atmosphere could the article by Bagun be tolerated.”

The puzzling Soviet policy of selectivity in the granting of exit visas continued today in the Soviet Union. In Kiev,..Anatol Goldfarb, Zinovy Melamed and Alexander Feldman were told at the local ovir that their request for exit visas had again been denied. A number of Jews in Kiev and Moscow did receive visas, however, and those among them who were college graduates had their education tax waived. Each case was dealt with individually, in accordance with the custom prevailing when the education tax was first introduced.