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Highest Ranking Jewish General in Red Army Removed from His Post

January 15, 1964
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General of the Army Jacob Kreizer, commander of all Soviet forces in the Far East, and the highest ranking Jew in the Red Army, has been removed from his post, according to dispatches from Moscow received here today.

Gen. Kreizer, who holds some of the highest Red Army decorations, including the medal of Hero of the Soviet Union, was the last of a number of Jewish officers lading senior rank in the Red Army. The reports stated that he has been replaced by another officer, but it is not known whether he has been assigned to another past.

Soviet authorities have frequently cited Gen. Kreizer in the past as proof” that there was no official anti-Semitism in the USSR. Two years ago, another officer Jewish’s officer, Gen. Dragounsky, said her that Gen. Kreizer, while “not an Orthodox Jews,” was “a traditionally minded Jew who tries, whenever possible, to attend religious services during the High Holy Days.” Gen. Dragounsky also said that Gen. Kreizer’s daughter had married a Jew, and that her children were being brought up in accordance with Jewish tradition.

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