Jewish emigration from Soviet Russia is being impeded, according to the Russian correspondent of the Jewish weekly paper “La Tribune Juive”. This is being done not so much by the government, which understands that it cannot place the monarchists who leave Russia for political reasons, in the same class with the Jews who are victims of the new order flying from their ruined homes in order to join their relatives abroad.
Those who are responsible for the emigration restrictions of Jewish emigrants are the Jewish Communists. According to them, only contra-revolutionists leave Russia. They even demanded the compulsory repatriation of thousands of refugees who have been on the Roumanian frontier. This was realized without the intervention of the Soviet authorities, the correspondent states.
“In order to keep from the emigrants the alluring prospect of America, the “Social Committee” has ordered letters addressed to refugees from the United States containing affidavits which would enable the refugees to obtain visas, to be withheld.
“This Committee organized in 1920 the transfer of the money address from America to the refugees by their relatives. It received this money in dollars and paid in the deflated Soviet roubles. It paid 250 roubles per dollar while on the market the dollar was 15,000 and later 30,000 roubles.
“The representative of this Committee in New York, Mr. Dubrasky, assured the relatives that for a few dollars one could live well in Russia. 250 roubles per dollar; and at that time a pound of bread cost about 2,000 roubles!”.
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.
