Jewish sources in the Soviet Union reported today that the Moscow synagogue on Archipovo Street was placed under heavy guard last Saturday, the day amnesties were granted in connection with the Soviet Union’s 50th anniversary. The sources said worshippers were not permitted to congregate outside the synagogue and were ordered over loudspeakers to disperse. Traffic, normally sparse on the Moscow side street, was diverted from other streets through Archipovo Street to give police an excuse to disperse the worshippers, the sources said.
They also reported that Jews who were sentenced to 15-day jail terms for “hooliganism” after staging a sit-in at the Supreme Soviet Dec. 18 to demand amnesties for Jewish political prisoners have all been released. According to the sources, those who served their sentences in Moscow were held incommunicado and those held in Riga were taken to a jail outside town .
In other developments, it was reported that Prof. Aleksander Lerner and Prof. Benjamin Levich were barred from entering the U.S. Embassy in Moscow last week to register condolences on the death of former President Harry S. Truman. sources reported. Moscow police stopped them outside the Embassy gates and refused to admit them without certificates authorizing them to enter.
Dr. H. Merskey, chairman of the Medical and Scientific Committee for Soviet Jewry, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that he learned from a telephone conversation with Prof. Levich that the latter’s mail was being interfered with. He said Prof. Levich told him that letters addressed to him never arrived and letters he sent to various addresses abroad mysteriously disappeared.
Prof. Levich expressed thanks to the Fellows of the Royal Society who sponsored an appeal on his behalf signed by 3000 scientists of all faiths around the world. The appeal was addressed to the Soviet scientific community urging it to intervene to help Prof. Levich secure an exit visa to go to Israel. The Jewish physicist has been denied a visa and was fired from his job after applying for one.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
