Forty-four Russian Zionist, who were released from Soviet prisons on the condition that they proceed immediately to Palestine, arrived here today.
18 of them belong to the Left Zeire Zion, including Lasaee, Levin, Shneur, Arronoff, and Naoum Plotkin, 8 to the Hitachduth, 4 to the Hechover, 3 to the boy scouts organization, Hashomer Hazair, 1 to the Zionist sport association, Maccabee and 4 to the Jugend Verein.
In an interview with the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency they declared that they had spent three months in the Soviet prison, Butirki in Moscow. The conditions in the prison were horrible. The persecution of the national Jewish elements in Soviet Russia is now greater than ever. The Ogpu organization, which has replaced the Cheka, is composed of a good many Jews, who have specialized in persecuting their fellow Jews. Conditions in the country are growing worse and Soviet Russia is advancing rapidly towards another famine. The economic ruin of the Jewish masses is continuing, they declared.
All forty-four left on the S.S. Novorossisk, bound for Jaffa.
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.
