Dr. Joseph B. Schechtman, a member of the Jewish Agency executive, sounded a hopeful note today regarding permission by the USSR for Jewish emigration to Israel. “Under certain circumstances,” he said, the Soviet rulers “would not be inflexibly opposed” to such migration. “The overall Soviet approach to this issue,” he stated, “is not at all as dogmatically rigid and immutable as is generally believed. The Kremlin has manifested, time and time again, a capacity for abrupt changes on many matters of major and minor policy.”
Dr. Schechtman, who is a historian, made that statement in a 94-page study published by the Zionist Organization of America under the title “Zionism and Zionists in Soviet Russia — Greatness and Drama.” The work, the first comprehensive survey of the subject, focuses attention on the fact that Zionism and Zionists were the first victims of persecution in Russia since the beginning of the 20th Century, foreboding the treatment which was to be meted out eventually to the entire Jewish community in the USSR. Zionism is shown to have been illegal under the Czarist regime, and its suppression was intensified in later years under the Bolshevik regime.
The study shows how the Soviet Government’s attitude toward Zionism had altered from one period to another, and how Moscow’s attitude had changed from support for the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine to a Middle East policy of supplying arms to the Arab states and the equating of Zionism with Nazism. However, the author stated, “abrupt changes” regarding Zionists and Zionism may still take place in Moscow. In the meantime, he pointed out that there is no way of even guessing how many Zionists and how much Zionism could be, as of now found among the 3,000,000 Soviet Jews. “Whatever their number, they must not be forgotten,” he urged.
The study carries an introduction by Jacques Torczyner, president of the ZOA, who expressed the fervent hope that “the day will soon come when the Soviet Government, in deference to justice and the voice of public conscience, will redress the great wrong being perpetuated against Zionists and Zionism, and accord equality of treatment to the entire Soviet Jewish community.”
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
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.
