The National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) today released information just received that in Moscow, on Dec. 9, eight KGB officers, two in uniform and six plainclothesmen, and a woman representing the Moscow municipality, forced their way into a Jewish studies group being conducted by long-term refusenik Ilysa Eatas.
The group was threatened with the accusation of holding an “illegal” religious gathering, and was told they could be indicted for “violating laws on Separation of Church and State and of Church and School,” according the NCSJ. The names of those present were recorded by the security forces. Those without their internal passports were taken into custody, but released after their identities were confirmed.
Before leaving, the officers confiscated books of Jewish content, including a copy of the Gemorah, published in Russian before the 1917 Revolution. The 34-year-old Eassas, who has been a refusnik since 1973, and whose parents are in Israel, expressed “great concern” about this new turn of events.
OTHER ACTS OF HARASSMENT
In a related act of harassment, the NCSJ reported that on the morning of Dec. 10 the KGB entered an informal nursery school for refusnik children and ordered all present to leave. They said the premises were to be closed until the evening.
Hebrew self-study groups, which have functioned for years, have also become the target of the KGB. Informal study groups taught by veteran refusniks Yuli Koshorvosky, Vladimir Shakhnovsky and Lev Gorodetsky were recently disrupted, and the participants also threatened with prosecution, the NCSJ said.
According to Burton Levinson NCSJ chairman, “Soviet authorities, having moved to virtually half emigration, seem to be organizing what could be a major crackdown against those who wish to study Jewish culture and religions. They want to discourage such efforts. It would appear that the USSR is hardening its attitudes towards Jewish activists, an effort which demands the attention of public and official opinion in other countries.”
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