Steven Jay Robin, a 22-year-old member of the U.S.S. Pueblo crew released by North Korea yesterday was identified today as a Jew. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Robin of Silver Springs, Md., a Washington suburb, said they were “very, very happy” over the release of their son, a communications technician, and the rest of the Pueblo crew.
It was indicated here that the parents did not wish to call attention to their son’s Jewishness during the nearly 12 months of captivity out of fears that the North Koreans might have singled him out for particularly harsh treatment, perhaps on allegations he was an “Israeli” or “Zionist spy,” in addition to the other charges on which the Pueblo and its crew were seized last January. Crew members reported today that they had been severely beaten toward the end of their captivity.
The Government has provided air transport to the Robins so that they can meet their son in San Diego, Calif., to which the crew is being flown. First disclosure of the technician’s Jewish identity was made by the Southern Israelite, a weekly published in Atlanta, with which his mother was at one time associated. Mrs. Betty Myers, the weekly’s Tampa, Florida representative, is a sister of the sailor’s mother.
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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.
