The Washington Committee for Soviet Jewry announced today that it was making a gift of two dogwood trees to the International Union of Electrical Radio and Machine Workers whose secretary-treasurer was arrested recently in a demonstration on behalf of Soviet Jews. The committee said the trees would be planted this spring on a site in front of the union headquarters where Jews and non-Jews have been maintaining a daily 15-minute silent vigil for the Jews of the Soviet Union. The site is directly across the street from the Soviet Embassy. The union official, David Fitzmaurice, a Roman Catholic, was arrested in December when he raised a Star of David flag on a flagpole facing the Soviet building. Fitzmaurice was charged with violating a District of Columbia ordinance forbidding demonstrations within 500 feet of an embassy. The Washington Committee said the trees were being donated in observance of the Jewish holiday of Tub’Shevat, known in Israel as the New Year of Trees.
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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.
