The 31st International P. E. N. Congress of poets, essayists and novelists approved a resolution here today protesting “the suppression of Yiddish and Hebrew culture and language in the Soviet Union.”
The resolution called the suppression “a crime against freedom and sovereignty of the spirit as it expresses itself in individuals and in the culture of national groups.” The delegates urged the Soviet Government “to make an end of this untold but well known suppression.”
The resolution was presented by Jacob Botoshansky of Buenos Aires and Elias Lipiner of Sao Paulo who also represented New York’s Yiddish P. E. N. Club. Delegates from six countries abstained in the vote. These included Poland, West Germany, East Germany, Hungary, Belgium, and Thailand. Shin Shalom, the Hebrew poet, represented Israel.
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