Some 1,200 persons, many of them former Nazi concentration camp inmates, carrying placards reading “Let my people go” and “Free emigration to Israel” concentrated before the Soviet Embassy shouting “Assassins, assassins” and “Freedom, freedom” while police mounted a strong guard to prevent their approach to the building. The demonstrators then marched 20 blocks, escorted by police cars, until Kehilla Hall where an overflow mass meeting took place. The president of DAIAS, Cohen Imach, stressed that not clemency but justice was being asked for the Leningrad 11 and freedom for the three million Soviet Jews. Doctor Nehemias Resnitsky, general secretary of DAIAS castigated the silent majorities for their indifference. The DAIAS cabled Argentine President, General Roberto Marcelo Levingston, asking him to intercede to halt the executions and annul the unjust sentences.
Passover may be over, but your chance to support independent Jewish journalism isn't. Help JTA keep reporting the stories that define our era.
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.
