Mrs. Irma Wolf of Amsterdam has found a novel way to ease the hardships of Jewish activists and other dissidents in Soviet prisons and labor camps. She mails them picture postcards of scantily clad young women.
The pin-ups may raise the spirits of the prisoners. But their purpose, according to Wolf is to barter with guards for urgently needed extra food and other items that they cannot purchase or receive from outside. The cards also show the prisoners they are not forgotten, Wolf says.
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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.