Rep. Farbstein to Conduct Hearings on Treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union

Rep. Leonard Farbstein, a New York Democrat, announced today that he will hold hearings in New York City Monday morning on the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union. Mr. Farbstein, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s sub-committee on Europe, said the hearings were “to counter the action of the Soviet government in trying to make it appear that Jewish citizens of the Soviet Union are treated in the same fashion and as humanely as other Soviet citizens. The Congressman said witnesses would present the fact of Soviet treatment of Jews “to bring the matter to the forefront of world opinion.”

He said, “In my opinion, the Jewish people are being held prisoners in the Soviet Union. While the policy of the Soviet regime is tyrannical and repressive toward all minorities within its borders, it is apparent that the Jewish minority has been singled out as a primary target.” The witnesses will be: Jerry Goodman, director of European affairs of the American Jewish Committee; Moshe Dechter, director of Jewish minority research and a specialist in research and consultation on the problems of Jewish communities in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe; Albert I. Chernin, of the Jewish Community Council of Philadelphia; and Stanley Lowell, vice president of the American Jewish Congress and vice chairman of the American Jewish Conference of Soviet Jewry. Hearings will be conducted at U.S. Customs Court House, Ceremonial Court Room, at 1 Federal Square.