Soviet Jewish Couple Urge U.S. Jews to Maintain Pressure on USSR Officials Only Effective Way to Aid

Ruth Alexandrovich Averbuch and her husband, Isaiah, urged American Jews last night to maintain pressure on Soviet authorities through demonstrations, petitions and letter-writing to free Jewish political prisoners In the Soviet Union. The couple, both Jewish activists who emigrated to Israel recently from the Soviet Union, told an audience of more than 800 that the Soviet authorities were susceptible to the pressure of world opinion and that under the Soviet constitution they could grant amnesty or reduce or commute the sentences of Jewish prisoner If they were willing.

The Averbuchs. who have been touring the US since Dec. 12, spoke at a reception given them by the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington at Temple Israel here. Mrs. Averbuch spoke of the physical hardships she endured at the Soviet forced labor camp at Potma but said the psychological pressures were even worse.

Mrs. Averbuch said she was cut off from all news of her family and that prison authorities lied when they told her that her parents had been arrested and that young Averbuch, her then fiance, was sentenced to a five-year prison term when he had actually been given a 15-day Jail sentence to prevent him from testifying at her trial in Riga.

MANY NON-JEWS IN USSR SYMPATHETIC

Averbuch said that many non-Jews In the Soviet Union sympathized with the Jewish struggle for emigration and equal rights. He said they were among the Soviet dissenters trying to democratize life in the USSR. But he said the activities of world Jewry remained the best hope of Jews in Russia. He attributed the recent liberalization of Soviet visa policies to the efforts of Jews abroad and the growing boldness of Jews in Russia.

Averbuch said it was difficult for Jews to study Hebrew in the Soviet Union because few texts were available and many of those sent from abroad were confiscated. He noted that Soviet Jews received packages sent from abroad but complained that the type of aid was poorly coordinated. Some Jews, he stated, who didn’t need packages were getting them, and others in need were not receiving any. The Averbuchs spoke in Russian and their remarks were translated into English.

Replying to questions from the audience, Averbuch contended that every Jew in Russia would go to Israel if the gates were thrown open. Asked if he favored the tactics of the Jewish Defense League, he said that if the JDL was breaking American laws it should be tried accordingly. Mrs. Averbuch said her fellow prisoner, Silva Zalmanson Kuznetsov, serving a 10-year sentence at Potma, war still seriously ill. She said she learned from Mrs. Kuznetsov’s father that she was taken recently to a hospital, but merely as a formality and returned to the prison camp without treatment or improved medical attention.