Congress, UN Urged to Protest Desecration of Jewish Cemeteries

Rep. Hugh L. Carey (D. NY) called on the Congress and the United Nations to protest the desecration of Jewish cemeteries in the Soviet Union and Poland. In a statement submitted to the House of Representatives yesterday the lawmaker referred to the fact that Soviet and Polish authorities “have been destroying sites of Jewish cemeteries to make way for buildings.”

Carey noted that in Odessa. Kishinev, Warsaw and Moscow “the story has been the same–progress has been used as an excuse for persecution. It is a subtle approach, but an appalling policy nevertheless.” In some instances, he continued, “the removal of burial sites has also meant the destruction of historical sites such as the graves of the great Yiddish writers Mendel Mocher Seforim and Simon Frug” in the Soviet Union. In Warsaw the historic Jewish cemetery on Gensza Street is also being threatened. Among those buried there are J.L. Peretz, Esther Rachel Kaminska, Meir Balaban and Jacob Dinesohn.

Declaring that the assault on the resting places of Eastern European Jews is an affront to all men, Carey urged the Congress to “go on record as protesting such behavior and having been able to end such practices through the united efforts of the Congress and the UN.”