The Matzo Was Burned Committee Demands Postal Authorities Produce Officials Responsible for the Dest

The chairman of a House subcommittee on postal facilities and mail demanded today that Post Office authorities produce the officials whose decisions were responsible for the destruction of between 8000-20,000 pounds of matzos stored in the basements of the main Post Office and various sub-stations here on Passover eve. The subcommittee hearings which opened today to determine why the matzos was destroyed yielded the first disclosure that the method of destruction was by burning.

Rep. Robert N.C. Nix, subcommittee chairman, declared that “this action by the Postal Service represents a deliberate callous affront to the Jewish people.” He said “It is the responsibility of this subcommittee to go into every detail of why this action was taken.” Nix is a Pennsylvania Democrat.

The matzos were mailed to the Soviet Embassy here during the last week of March for forwarding to Jews in the Soviet Union for use during Passover. Soviet officials refused to accept delivery of the food and thousands of one-pound packages began to pile up in the Post Office basements. The mailings were part of a campaign organized by the regional offices of the B’nai B’rith’s Anti-Defamation League to dramatize the lack of freedom of Russian Jews on the eve of Passover.

Testifying at today’s hearing were Robert C. Kohler, director of the ADL regional office in Newark, N.J. and Samuel L. Gaber, ADL regional director in Philadelphia. Also testifying were Rep. Joshua Eilberg (D. Pa.); Rep. Bertram Podell (D. N.Y.); Francis X. Biglin, assistant regional postmaster general; and John Farrell, counsel for the US Postal Service, Eastern Region which is headquartered in Philadelphia.

‘BETTER TO INSULT THE JEWISH PEOPLE’

Nix said the subcommittee wanted to know why postal authorities, who admitted that some of the packages had return addresses, did not return the matzos to the senders. Nix was joined in his demand to produce the responsible officials by Rep. Graham Purcell (D. Tex.) a subcommittee member. Biglin admitted in his testimony that the “final decision to destroy the matzos” was made at the Washington Post Office.

Kohler testified that he had been told at the time that the decision had to be made at the regional PO headquarters in Philadelphia. He said he had informed Peter Sussman, director of the International Postal Affairs section of the PO that the matzos would be removed from the post offices without publicity and distributed to charitable institutions.

Kohler said Sussman told him he was interested in the situation because it involved a foreign government and because Sussman works closely with the US State Department. Eilberg suggested that PO officials may have decided “that on the eve of the President’s trip to Russia it would be better to insult the Jewish people in the US than to embarrass the Russians.”

Kohler and Gaber presented evidence rebutting a letter to the subcommittee from US Postmaster General E.T. Classen which stated that “few of the packages bore return addresses” and that “the light weight of the packaging material cause the contents to be exposed” to contamination.

Farrell admitted under questioning that he had advised the PO that it could legally destroy the matzo as a health hazard but said the ADL should have been informed before it was done. Kohler said he was not informed in advance. Biglin claimed the PO had never received a formal request to hold the matzos for distribution to charitable institutions. Kohler said he had consulted with PO officials but was never told a formal request was necessary.