“An accelerated attempt must be made to utilize the re- sources of the American community on behalf of Soviet Jews, due to recent events in the USSR,” Eugene Gold, Brooklyn District Attorney and National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) chairman said in an emergency meeting of the NCSJ board of governors today.
More than 200 Jewish leaders from across the United States and Canada met to discuss the deteriorating situation of Jews in the USSR, highlighted by the recent arrests of Iosif Begun on charges of vagrancy, and Anatoly Sharansky for allegedly conspiring to commit treason. Sharansky was accused of working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The increasing use of anti-Semitism in officially approved Soviet media and the recent attempts by Soviet propagandists to link others in the Soviet Jewish movement, with the CIA, were denounced by the assembly.
“These acts are of serious concern to Soviet Jews and their supporters around the world.” Gold noted. “We fear that the Soviet authorities are deliberately attempting to create an anti-Jewish climate among the general populace. This fear now exists throughout the USSR. The KGB has been given a freer hand to harass, persecute, and even arrest activists. We must accelerate our actions nationwide.”
The release last week of Soviet Jewish Prisoner of Conscience Dr. Mikhail Stern “is just one hopeful sign of the Soviet system responding to its critics,” Gold note. “We must strengthen our efforts on behalf of thousands of Jews who wish to leave and those who languish in prison and labor camps.” The NCSJ reported that Stern has applied to emigrate to Israel with his wife.
RALLIES SCHEDULED MAY 1, JUNE 12
Nationwide demonstrations are scheduled to take place during National Solidarity Month, May 1 and June 12, which will culminate with the NCSJ Leadership Assembly in Washington June 12. After lengthy discussion the leaders recommended emergency action, including direct appeals to Soviet officials, increased contacts with Congressmen and the Administration as well as an expanded educational effort on the plight of Soviet Jews across the U.S. and Canada. Delegates from communities across the U.S. were mobilized by the National Jewish Relations Advisory Council, a constituent of the NCSJ.
Before the meeting, Gold, Natalya Sharansky, wife of Anatoly Sharansky; her brother, Mikhail Shteiglitz; and Esther Lazaris, wife of Soviet Jewish activist Vladimir Lazaris, attempted to enter the Soviet UN Mission to deliver a petition on their husbands’ behalf as well as dozens of other separated Soviet Jewish families. “I have come to the United States to plead for myself and my sisters in Israel,” said Esther Lazaris, “whose brothers, husbands, fathers and sons are thousands of miles from us, forbidden to rejoin their loved ones.”
Meanwhile, the NCSJ said today it learned that the apartment of Soviet Jewish activist Vladimir Slepak was taken over yesterday by a group of thugs who made a shambles of the apartment, destroying many of the family’s possessions. It was also learned that no police intervened as the men held the family and the apartment for several hours. Slepak, who has been waiting for an exit visa since 1970, was recently accused, along with his friend Sharansky, of being a contact for the CIA. At the same time, it was learned that a group of 50 Soviet-Pentecostals issued an appeal to Christians around the world to aid the struggle of Soviet Jews.
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.
