Moscow officialdom in commenting on the arrest last Saturday of practically all of the leaders of the Minsk Jewish community says that the rabbis were arrested not because they were religious leaders but because they had been maintaining secret connections with counter-revolutionary organizations abroad. The arrests should hence not be interpreted as anti-religious persecution. It is understood that those arrested will be tried shortly on an official charge of delivering anti-Soviet information abroad which is a serious accusation.
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.