Charles S. Zimmerman, president of the Jewish Labor Committee, asserted that pro-Soviet and anti-Israel statements made recently by Soviet Jews were “painfully reminiscent of the confessions extracted in the highly publicized trials of Russian leaders who fell afoul of Stalin. No knowledgeable person will be deceived.” Challenging the Soviet Union to allow Russian Jews to emigrate, he said that the Soviets “are now having prominent Russian Jews tell us how good life is for them in Russia. Obviously, if this is so, there is no need for the absolute ban the Soviets have imposed on Jewish emigration.”
The Labor Committee president said that for Jews, life in Russia “is barren and he said that the facts of the situation made the statements extracted from Soviet Jews for propaganda “a mockery.” He added that “We don’t criticize those who made the statements. They are hostages of a police state and subject to pressures that can’t be imagined by those whose life experience has been in a democratic society.”
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.
