Demonstration Set Against Austrian Threat to Shut Down Nazi-hunting Center

At least two dozen New York Jews are expected to take part in a “silent witness” demonstration outside the Austrian Mission next Monday in protest against the Austrian government’s threat to close down the Nazi-hunting Documentation Center in Vienna as a “secret-agent” organization. The participants, from Betar and other Jewish groups to be solicited, will protest under the ad hoc name of “Friends of the Documentation Center.” The demonstration will take place on the eve of Tisha b’Av. The Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry has scheduled an unrelated demonstration for next Wednesday, during the lunch hour, in the city’s midtown diamond center, which has many Jewish-owned establishments. That day will be the 18th anniversary of the murder of 24 noted Russian Jewish intellectuals by the Stalin regime. A similar demonstration was held last Aug. 12. Three politicians have agreed to speak–Sen. Charles E. Goodell. New York Republican; Rep. Richard L. Ottinger, Democratic candidate for Senator, and Adam Walinsky, Democratic candidate for Attorney General. Meanwhile, Rep. Emanuel Celler, Brooklyn Democrat, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a member of the Joint Committee on Immigration and Nationality, Policy, has expressed his intention of investigating the Austrian government’s threat to close the Documentation Center headed by Simon Wiesenthal. Previously, Rep. Bertram L. Podell, also a Brooklyn Democrat, promised to study the question.