Michael Brojde, the son of World War II master spy, Leopold Trepper, was taken to a hospital this morning after fasting for 171 hours to protest the Polish government’s refusal to give his parents exit visas so that they can go to Israel. Doctors said he was very weak and he was reported to have suffered a lapse of memory.
Trepper, who headed the Soviet espionage network in Western Europe during World War II, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a telephone conversation from Warsaw that he wanted his son to end his hunger strike. He said he had received indications that he would soon be permitted to go to Israel. When informed of his father’s wishes, Brojde said he would end his fast only on orders from a doctor or from Denmark’s Chief Rabbi. He was taken to a hospital in an ambulance on doctor’s orders.
During his six-day hunger strike the young man generated considerable support for his cause. Five persons, including a 14-year-old Jewish boy, Kim Guttermann, joined him in his fast yesterday. About 150 Jews and Danes demonstrated outside the Polish Embassy here demanding that Leopold Trepper be permitted to emigrate, Danish political figures, including former Foreign Minister Paul Hartling, have written to the Polish authorities on Trepper’s behalf.
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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.
