Ten Jewish activists in Moscow, ordered to active duty in the Soviet Army, transmitted an appeal to UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim through the American Jewish Congress charging the call-up was a “Direct act to take away our freedom.” The message was dictated by Gavriel Shapiro of Moscow in a telephone call placed to the USSR several days ago.
Shapiro said the military call-up was designed to keep the Jewish activists out of circulation during President Nixon’s visit to Moscow next month. The Jews called up for military duty are among those who earlier had written to the President requesting an appointment with him during his visit to the Soviet capital. The ten activists, all of whom have applied to emigrate to Israel and renounced their Soviet citizenship, said in the message to Waldheim that Soviet authorities were attempting to “pursue” them by “new methods of persecution.”
“If we are placed in military camps, the authorities will then accuse us of being privy to military secrets and will thus deny our applications to emigrate to Israel,” they charged, adding, “We appeal to all persons of good will to help us in our struggle.” The message was signed by Shapiro and by Vladimir Lerner, Dan Rozhinsky, Boris Einbinder, Victor Yakhout, David Markish, Shmuel Gurvitch, Mark Nashpitz, Pavel Abromovitch and Mikhail Kliatchkin.
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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.
