The Soviet Union was “indicted” for crimes against Jews, particularly the arrest of Anatoly Sharansky and other Jewish activists, at a mock “trial” today on the front steps of the main New York Public Library.
The Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry, which sponsored the event, presented 100,000 petitions calling for the freeing of Jewish prisoners in the USSR and the right of Jews to emigrate to an empty chair that had been reserved for Oleg Trayanovsky, the Soviet Ambassador to the United Nations.
The “trial,” which was a prelude to the Solidarity Sunday for Soviet Jews march May 1 from City Hall to Battery Park, was watched by several hundred persons, including a large contingent of students from the Ramaz School, an Orthodox day school in Manhattan. Demonstrators carried signs which said “Mother Russia Imprisons Her Children.” “Honor Your Word at Helsinki, Let them Live as Jews.” “For Them the Red Sea Has Not Yet Parted,” and “Strength Through Unity! Am Yisroel Chal.”
MASS TURNOUT URGED FOR MAY 1
Mayor Abraham Beame, who proclaimed May 1 as Solidarity Day, declared that he rejects the Soviet Union’s view that the oppression of Jews there is an internal matter. He said there can be no freedom unless all people are treated equally. He said all groups in New York City are united by a belief in freedom.
Beame’s proclamation said in part that “Solidarity Sunday will serve as a stirring reaffirmation of support here and throughout the nation and the world for Soviet Jewry seeking to emigrate from the USSR and to regain their elemental human rights.”
City Council President Paul O’Dwyer, who read a City Council resolution in support of the May 1 demonstration, said the Soviet Union does pay attention to public demands by the American people and their government in support of Soviet Jews. This view was seconded by Ilya Ziobinsky, a Kiev Jew who was allowed to emigrate to Israel last year after 49 visa requests in three years were turned down.
Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, a vice-chairman of the Conference, said the arrest of Sharansky, one of the best-known Moscow activists who was charged with working for the Central Intelligence Agency, was a direct response to President Carter’s appeal for human rights in the USSR. “This constitutes a challenge to you and to me,” he said, adding the answer was a mass turnout on May 1.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
