Jewish collective farmers in the Samarkand district of Uzbekistan, in Soviet Asia, who have contributed 500,000 roubles to purchase tanks and bombers for the Russian Army, were today in receipt of a personal note of thanks from Premier Joseph Stalin. These farmers were evacuated from Nazi-held Russian territory to the Samarkand district early in the war.
Writing to the members of the Kaganovich Collective Farm, who have placed 100,000 roubles in the State Bank as their contribution to the general fund being raised by the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee to build tanks and planes, and have given another 400,000 for the construction of a special tank column to be called “Soviet Uzbekistan,” Stalin expressed “brotherly greetings and the thanks of the Red Army for your solicitude about the air and tank forces of the Red Army.”
In a message to Stalin, the Jewish farmers voiced their appreciation of the fact that the Soviet Government has enabled then to enjoy a happy and prosperous life at a time when “unheard of atrocities are being perpetrated by the Hitlerites against the Jewish people,” and pledged their efforts to “forever exterminate this savage gang.”
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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.