Two Protests Against Anti-Jewish Actions in Russia Filed with U.N.

Two separate protests against Soviet Government actions against Jews were filed here yesterday. One was in the form of a New York State Legislative resolution, demanding that the United States delegation here press action in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights for Soviet violation of the human rights of the 3, 000, 000 Jews in the USSR. The other was a letter to Acting Secretary-General U Thant, from the League for the Rights of Man, protesting against the death sentences imposed by Soviet courts on Jews allegedly guilty of "economic crimes."

The New York State Legislature’s resolution was presented to Mrs. Marietta Tree, the American delegate on the Human Rights Commission, by Assemblyman Bartley Kassal, a Democrat, of New York. The resolution charged that the "basic human rights of the Jews" in the USSR "are being interfered with to an extent reminiscent of the era in Germany in the early 1930’s," and demanded "direct accountability by the Russian Government to the United Nations and to all the free peoples of the world."

Mr. Kassal, who visited the Soviet Union last winter, said that he had found "evident" disruption of Jewish communal life in the Soviet Union and efforts to repress the rights of the Russian Jews to freedom of religious practice and cultural privilege.

Asserting that she shared "deeply" the concern for Russian Jewry expressed in the Legislature’s resolution, Mrs. Tree said she would pass the document on to the State Department. She pointed out that the Human Rights Commission is not empowered, under the UN Charter, to investigate complaints made by individuals or groups, noting that the State Department is responsible for determining U. S. policy here in regard to "vital matters of this character."

The letter from the League for the Rights of Man, signed by the organization’s chairman, Roger N. Baldwin, noted that the Soviet Union had imposed death sentences on citizens convicted of relatively slight offenses, A majority of those recently sentenced to execution in Russia for "economic crimes" are believed to be Jews.

The Baldwin letter pointed out that reports from the Soviet Union have indicated that seven "economic criminals" have been executed and at least 17 others have been sentenced to death. Of the 24 condemned, reports have indicated, at least 16 are Jews. Of those already executed, five are known to be Jews.