An estimated 100,000 people marched along Fifth Avenue today to show their support for Soviet Jewry. Leading the two-mile procession, which began at 72nd Street and culminated in a mass rally at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza opposite the United Nations, were 44 young people dressed in black and white striped prison uniforms symbolizing the number of known Soviet Jewish “prisoners of conscience.
Flanking the “prisoners,” who carried wrought iron bars, each with the name of a prisoner, were nine “Soviet police officers” carrying rubber machine guns. Pinned on the “prisoners” uniforms were black buttons with superimposed gold Stars of David. Large photographs of the prisoners were also carried. Four rabbis, representing the four rabbis reportedly still officiating in the Soviet Union followed. They wore prayer shawls and carried a Torah locked in chains to reflect religious, cultural and national deprivations of Soviet Jews.
They also had white bandanas covering their mouths, apparently to symbolize the lack of free expression in the Soviet Union. And 25 New York area academicians in caps and gowns, members of the academic community for Soviet Jewry and 40 doctors and interns, carried the names of Soviet Jewish intellectuals and scientists who have been subjected to harassment.
TRIALS REPLACE HEAD TAX
Mikhail Shepsholovich, who was recently released from the Potma labor camp, came from Israel to lead the group of recent Soviet immigrants here to seek support for relatives and friends in the Soviet Union. Shepsholovich, who was sentenced on charges of anti-Soviet and Zionist activity after applying for an exit visa, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that political trials had now replaced the Soviet education tax on would be emigrants. The trials of a selected few are now being used by Soviet authorities, he said, to discourage others from applying for exit visas. He cited the trial of Isaac Shkolnik?, recently sentenced to 10 years in a forced labor camp, the trial of Boris Lubarsky, sentenced to four years, and the upcoming trial of the Goldstein brothers.
Shepsholovich, 29, urged continued public support for Soviet Jews which, he said, helped reduce prison sentences in the past, and which he hoped would help prevent political trials in the future. “As a living witness I state that the fate of the prisoners of conscience and all Soviet Jews is in your hands,” he told the rally at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. Marchers from more than 115 Jewish organizations were led by a color guard from the Jewish War Veterans and members of Shomrim, the organization of Jewish policemen, who marched in dress uniform for the first time in such an event.
WILL NOT STAND ALONE AGAIN
Mayor John V. Lindsay, who is currently in Moscow, said in a message written before he left the United States, that “It is our prayer that 1973 will mark the end of all restrictions on the livelihood and mobility of Soviet Jews” as it marks the 25th anniversary of Israel and the 30th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. “The purpose of Solidarity Day, and a primary purpose of my trip to the Soviet Union, is to demonstrate our conviction that they (the Jews) will not be left to stand alone again.” the message added.
Sen. Henry M. Jackson, author of the Senate amendment to the East-West Trade Act that would deny most favored nation status to the Soviet Union unless it revokes emigration restrictions, said in a message, “As we talk about free trade, let us talk about free people.” The Washington Democrat urged continued support for Soviet Jews, saying their struggle was “in keeping with the noblest and most important of all American ideals, the ideal of freedom.”
Sen. Jacob K. Javits (R.NY) told the rally that “our voices and determination span the oceans to the Soviet Jews. We are encouraged by the recent announcement that the Soviet Union has ended the onerous education tax but our efforts must continue in order to help those still in prison solely because they want to emigrate and those still harassed for seeking exit visas.” Javits added that “this sort of gathering must convince the Soviet Union that the cause of the Jews is just.”
END OF HEAD TAX NOT ENOUGH
Chants of “Freedom Now,” “Let my people go,” and “Am Yisroel Chai” (the Jewish people live) echoed across the Plaza as the marchers passed through a facsimile of the entrance to the Potma labor camp, where many Soviet Jews are imprisoned.
Stanley Lowell, chairman of the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry, sponsors of the event, explained its purpose was to “demonstrate to the Soviet Union that throwing the Jews of the world a bone by eliminating the nefarious head tax was not enough and that they would not be deceived or diverted by Soviet smoke screens.” Lowell said the rally was in support of the prisoners, an end to the harassment of Jews who apply for exit visas, the full right to emigrate as guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, equality of treatment for Soviet Jews, and support of the Jackson/Mills-Vanik bills now before Congress.
Joining the marchers at the rally were more than 1000 high school students who had walked almost three miles from Washington Square Park in the Second Annual Walkathon for Soviet Jewry to earn money to help Jews emigrating from the Soviet Union to Israel. The participants of the Walkathon, sponsored by the Jewish High School Student Alliance, had recruited sponsors who pledged to contribute a specified amount for each mile walked. The money will be donated to the Israel Emergency Fund of the United Jewish Appeal.
In a related development, the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry released two statements received from Soviet Jews on the occasion of “Solidarity Day.” Yult Tartakovsky, a major Kiev activist under constant pressure by Ukrainian authorities, declared: “We are in a critical situation because although Jews are no longer supposed to pay for their higher education, many of us are still given refusals without any explanation of why or how long we have to wait.”
Victoria Politnikov, who was jailed for demonstrating in Moscow last Dec., declared: “All declarations of Soviet officials about free emigration are lies. The way Jews are treated–and our family is an example of this–is evidence.”
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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.
