STATUS OF JEWS IN THE SOVIET UNION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP66B00403R000200190009-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 4, 2005
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: August 17, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN

1964
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE 19171
WILLIAM KONYEN
The Senate proceeded to consider the
bill (S. 437) for the relief of William
Konyen which had been reported from
the Committee on the Judiciary, with
an amendment, to strike out all after
the enacting clause and insert:
That, for the purposes of the Act of July
14, 1960 (74 Stat. 504), Wilhelm Konyen, his
wife Susanne Fritsch Konyen, and their
children, Susanne Konyen and Willy Konyen
shall be held and considered to be refugee-
escapees within the purview of that Act.
SEC. 2. The provisions of section 212(a) (9)
of the Immigration and Nationality Act shall
not be applicable to Wilhelm Konyen and his
exemption shall apply only to a ground for
exclusion of which the Department of State
or the Department of Justice had knowl-
edge prior to the enactment of this act.
The amendments were agreed to.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed
for a third reading, read the third time,
and passed.
The title was amended, so as to read:
"A bill for the relief of Wilhelm Konyen,
his wife Susanne Fritsch Konyen, and
their children, Susanne Konyen and
Willy Konyen."
Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, I
ask unanimous consent to have printed
in the RECORD an excerpt from the re-
port (No. 1401) , explaining the purposes
of the bill.
There being no objection, the excerpt
was ordered to be_printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of the bill, as amended, is
to provide for the parole into the United
States of Wilhelm Konyen, his wife Susanne
Fritsch Konyen, and their children, Susanne
Konyen and Willy Konyen as refugee-es-
capees under the provisions of Public Law
86-648. The bill also waives the excluding
provision of existing law relating to one
who has been convicted of crimes involving
moral turpitude in behalf of Wilhelm Kon-
yen. The bill has been amended in accord-
ance with established precedents.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The beneficiaries of the bill are a 33-year-
old husband and his 28-year-old wife who
are natives of Rumania and citizens of Ger-
many and their children, aged 6 and 3 years,
who are natives and citizens of Germany.
They all presently reside in Germany. In
1961 they were admitted to the United States
nonimmigrant visitors for the purpose Of
visiting relatives. The principal male bene-
ficiary's parents, three sisters, and one broth-
er were admitted to the United States for
permanent residence in 1952 and are now
citizens. He was found ineligible to receive
a visa as a displaced person because of previ-
ous criminal convictions. He is a self-em-
ployed mechanic.
ROLANDO DE LA TORRE ARCEO
The bill (H.R. 1172) for the relief of
Rolando de la Torre Arceo and John
Anthony Arceo was considered, ordered
to a third reading, read the third time,
and passed.
Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, I
ask unanimous consent to have printed
In the RECORD an excerpt from the report
(No. 1403) , explaining the purposes of
the bill.
There being no objection, the excerpt
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
THE PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of the bill is to facilitate the
entry into the United States in a nonquota
status of two alien children adopted by citi-
zens of the United States.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The beneficiaries of the bill are 13- and 2-
year-old natives and citizens of the Philip-
pine Islands, who reside in that country with
the parents of the older beneficiary. They
were adopted on June 4, 1962, by a U.S. citi-
zen serviceman and his wife. The adoptive
father is presently serving in Hawaii. The
record indicates that he served in the Philip-
pine Scouts during World War U, and has
served several tours in the U.S. Army prior
to his last enlistment in 1955.
MRS. MAISIE MAGDALENE LIM
KETCHENS
The bill (H.R. 1262) for the relief of
Mrs. Maisie Magdalene Lim Ketchens
was considered, ordered to a third read-
ing, read the third time, and passed.
Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, I ask
unanimous consent to have printed in the
RECORD an excerpt from the report (No.
1404) , explaining the purposes of the bill.
There being no objection, the excerpt
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of the bill is to grant the sta-
tus of permanent residence in the United
States to Mrs. Maisie Magdalene Lim Ketch-
ens. The bill provides for the payment of the
required visa fee. No quota charge is pro-
vided for in the bill, inasmuch as the bene-
ficiary is the widow of a U.S. citizen.
BILL PASSED OVER
The bill (HR. 1263) for the relief of
Rickert & Laan, Inc., was announced as
next in order.
Mr. MANSFiELD. Over.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tern-
pore. The bill will be passed over.
ROSA STEFANO RATAJCZAK
The bill (H.R. 2324) for the relief of
Rosa Stefano Ratajczak was considered,
ordered to a third reading, read the third
time, and passed.
Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President,
ask unanimous consent to have printed
In the RECORD an excerpt from the report
(No. 1406), explaining the purposes of
the bill.
There being no objection, the excerpt
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of the bill is to facilitate the
entry into the United States in a nonquota
status of the alien child adopted by citizens
of the United States.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The beneficiary of the bill is a 7-year-old
native and citizen of Italy, who presently
resides in that country with her natural
parents. She was adopted on November 18,
1961, in Italy, at which time the adoptive
mother was present. The adoptive mother
is the beneficiary's aunt, and she and her
husband, who are both U.S. citizens, will be
able to provide adequately for the beneficiary.
BILL PASSED OVER
The bill (H.R. 4786) for the relief of
the State of New Mexico was announced
as next in order.
Mr. MANSFIELD. Over.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tern-
pore. The bill will be passed over.
CHRISOULA BAKER
The bill (RR. 6040) for the relief of
Chrisoula Baker was considered, ordered
to a third reading, read the third time,
and passed.
Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, I
ask unanimous consent to have printed
in the RECORD an excerpt from the re-
port (No. 1412) , explaining the pur-
poses of the bill.
There being no objection, the excerpt
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
PURPOSE or THE BILL
The purpose of the bill is to facilitate the
entry into the United States in a nonquote,
status of the alien child adopted by citizens
of the United States.
BILL PASSED OVER
The bill (HR. 6578) for the relief of
Mrs. Cesira Doddy was announced as
next in order.
Mr. MANSFIELD. Over.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tern-
pore. The bill will be passed over.
VULA ROED
The bill (H.R. 7617) for the relief of
Vula Rood was considered, ordered to a
third reading, read the third time, and
passed.
Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, I
ask unanimous consent to have printed
in the RECORD an excerpt from the re-
port (No. 1415) , explaining the purposes
of the bill.
There being no objection, the excerpt
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of the bill is to facilitate the
entry into the United States in a nonquota
status of the alien child adopted by citizens
of the United States.
MRS. EDELTRAUD ENGLISCH
FRANKLIN
The bill (H.R. 8399) for the relief of
Mrs. Edeltraud Englisch Franklin was
considered, ordered to a third reading,
read the third time, and passed.
MRS. LEONOR DO ROZARIO
The bill (H.R. 9150) for the relief of
Miss Leonor do Rozario de Medeiros
(Leonor Medeiros) was considered, or-
dered to a third reading, read the third
time, and passed.
Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, I
ask unanimous consent to have printed
in the RECORD an excerpt from the report
(No. 1417), explaining the purposes of
the bill.
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19172 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE August 17
There being no objection, the excerpt
was ordered to be painted in the RECORD,
as follows:
PURPOSE 01 THE BILL
The purpose of the bill is to deem Leonor
do Rozario de Medeiros (Leonor Medeiros) to
be the natural-born alien daughter of her
adoptive parents, citizens of the United
6tates.
DANNY HIROMI OYAMA
The bill (HR. 9290) for the relief of
Danny Hiromi Oyama was considered,
ordered to a third reading, read the third
time, and passed.
Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, I
ask unanimous consent to have printed
in the RECORD an excerpt from the report
(No. 1418), explaining the purposes of
the bill.
There being no objection, the excerpt
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
PURPOSE 01 TBE BILL
The purpose of the hill le to facilitate the
admission to the United States in a non-
quota status of the alien child adopted by
a citizen of the United States.
The beneficiary of the bill is a 16-year-old
native of Japan, who was adopted in that
country by a U.S. citizen member of the
Marine Corps, who is presently on duty in
South Carolina. The beneficiary resides with
his prospective adoptive mother, who mar-
ried the adoptive father in October 1963, and
her child, both of whom are eligible to enjoy
nonquota status as the wife and stepchild of
a U.S. citizen.
BILL PASBED OVER
The bill (HR. 95130) for the relief of
Lim Sam Soon was announced as next
in order.
Mr. MANSFIELD. Over.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
pore. The bill will be passed over.
YOUNG SOON SEM AND
TAI UNG CHOI
The bill (HR. 9519) for the relief of
Young Soon Kim and Tai Ung Choi was
considered, ordered to a third reading,
read the third time, and passed,
Mr. MANSFIELD Mr. President, I
ask unanimous consent to have printed
in the RECORD an excerpt from the report
(No. 1420), explaining the purposes of
the bill.
There being no objection, the excerpt
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD;
as follows:
PURPOSE 0? THE BILL
The purpose of the bill is to facilitate the
entry into the United States in a nonquota
status of two alien chIdren adopted by citi-
zens of the United States.
The beneficiaries or the bill are 5- and
6-year-old natives and citizens of Korea,
presently residing in that country in an or-
phanage. They were adopted in November
1963 by citizens of the United States. In
addition to the beneficiaries, the adoptive
parents have five net iral children and two
alien orphan childreh previously adopted
and admitted to the 'United States as eligible
orphans. The adoptive parents also care for
three elderly mentally retarded women placed
in their home by the ..)alifornia Department
of Mental Hygiene.
KATHRYN CHOI AST
The Senate proceeded to consider the
bill (H.R. 9361) for the relief of Kathryn
Choi list which had been reported from
the Ccmmittee on the Judiciary, with an
amendment, on page 2, after line 2, to
Insert a new section, as follows:
Sic. 2. In the administration of the In -
migraton and Nationality Act, Chung E.
Won may be classified as an eligible orphan
Within the meaning of section 101(b) (1) (1,)
of that. Act, and a petition may be filed in
behalf of the said Chung K. Won by Mr. Won
Wing. at citizen of the United States, pursu-
ant to section 305(b) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act subject to all the cond:-
tions 'n that section relating to eligible
orphans.
The amendment was agreed to.
The amendment was ordered to be en-
grossed and the bill to be read a third
time.
The bill was read the third time, and
passed.
The title was amended, so as to read:
"A bill for the relief of Kathryn Choi Art
and Chung K. Won",
Mr. MANSFIELD Mr. President, I
ask unanimous consent to have printed
In the Rzcoso an excerpt from the re-
port (No. 1424), explaining the purposes
of the bill.
Thee being no objection, the excerpt
was ordered to be printed in the Rscoami,
as follows:
PURPOSE 07 THE DILL
The purpose of the bill, as amended,
to facilitate the admission to the United
States in a nonquota statue of Kathryn Choi
Mt, the adopted child of citizens of tt e
United States, and Chung K. Won, the adopt-
ed son of a citizen of the United States. Tte
purpose of the amendment was to include tt
case of Chung R. Won, the beneficiary of a
Senate bill, B. 479, previously passed by tte
Senate. but amended In the House of Rei-
resentatives in such manner that no relief
was provided. Inasmuch as Mr. Won 'nil
adopted at the age of 4 years and resided in
the household of his family thereafter for
11 yeais, the Senate feels that he should te
reunited with his now U.S. citizen adoptile
father and lawful resident alien adoptlie
motile].
Mr. MANSFIELD Mr. President, that
concludes the call of the calendar fcr
the time being.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tern-
pore. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call
the roil.
Mr. MANSFIELD Mr. President, I
ask unanimous consent that the order fcr
the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
pore. Without objection. I is so oa -
dered.
STATUS OF IN THE soviET
UNION
Mr. KEATING. Mr. President, theme
Is increasing concern over popular and
governmental anti-Semitism which is Ir.-
creasiag at a rapid pace within the Soviet
Union. Although the Soviet constitt,
tion proclaims the supposed equality of
citizens of the U.S.S.R., irrespective of
natiorslity and race, it is a well doct.-
mented fact that members of the Jewish
faith in the Soviet Union are consistently
denigrated and discriminated against
from the highest level of government to
the lowest level.
I am proud to join with Senator Run-
corr in sponsoring an amendment to the
foreign aid bill to express the concern
and condemnation of the Senate of the
United States for such Soviet activity.
The time is long overdue for an official
declaration from at least one branch of
the U.S. Government making U.S. ab-
horrence of Soviet practices clear to the
world. I am hopeful that this amend-
ment will be called up in the very near
future and will be overwhelmingly Sup-
ported by the Senate.
Mr. President, the B'nal B'rith Inter-
national Council has just issued a spe-
cial report documenting Soviet anti-
Semitism in every field of life. The re-
port specifies Soviet denials of cultural
rights. It provides an informative sum-
mary of Soviet suppression of Judaism in
its religious practices. The pamphlet
provides shocking statistics on actual
discrimination against Soviet Jews in ed-
ucation, jobs, and political careers. And
it offers disturbing examples of the rise
of popular anti-Semitism throughout the
U.S.S.R.
Mr. President, this publication pro-
vides a most useful and informative run-
down on current Soviet activities and
should serve as an important warning to
the people of the United States that re-
ligious discrimination in the Soviet
Union is on the increase.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous con-
sent that this pamphlet be printed in the
RECORD.
There being no objection, the pam-
phlet was ordered to be printed in the
RECORD, RS follows:
Tax STATUS OP JEWS n THE SOVIET UNION
(Our Constitution proclaims the equality
of the oitizens of the U.S.S.R. irrespective of
their nationality and raze, and declares that
"any advocacy of racial or national exclu-
siveness, hatred or contempt is punishable
by law."?Nikita Khrushchev.)
There are. ofliclaily, 108 nationalities in
the Soviet Union. Under Soviet law Jews
are formally recognized as a nationality
group?the eleventh largest In the U.S.S.R.
A Jewish youth at 16 appears?as does every
Soviet citizen?before the local registrar to
obtain his internal "passport." This is a
personal identity card which he will use
the rest of his life; for education, work,
residence, travel. It lists his nationality:
Tevrel, for a Jew.,
The 16-year-old will provide the registrar
with documents specifying the nationality of
each of his parents. If both are Jewish, his
nationality is the same. If his parents are
of different nationalities, he has the option
of choosing either one. Mixed marriages of
this kind are atypical, so the option is not
a significant factor in the Soviet popula-
tion pattern.
Soviet Jewish population is lust under
3,000,000
An official census' counted 2,268,000 Jews
in the U.S.8.R.-1.09 percent of the Soviet
In March 1964 Premier Khrushchev in-
dicated that the internal passport may be
superseded by "a labor identification docu-
ment" which would not emphasize national-
ity.
January 1959.
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1964
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE
In addition to according legal recognition
to a Jewish nationality, the Soviet Union
also formally recognizes the Jewish religion.
The Council of Affairs of Religious Cults,
a five-member Government body, is charged
with servicing the needs of non-Orthodox
groups in the U.S.S.R. In 1960, a member of
the council rep6rted there were 500,000 ob-
servant Jews in the Soviet Union.
A dual community of religion and nationality
This dual character for the Jewish com-
munity is unique in Soviet society and makes
for special difficulties. (Other minority re-
ligious groups?Catholics, Baptists, Moslems,
Lutherans, Buddhists?are not linked di-
rectly to a nationality.) An attack upon
Judaism by an atheistically oriented Com-
munist Party can hardly avoid being inter-
preted by the Soviet people, particularly So-
viet Jews, as an attack upon the Jewish na-
tionality.
Two other characteristics distinguish the
Jewish community from most Soviet minori-
ties.
First, its dispersal throughout the U.S.S.R.
Efforts in the thirties to establish an autono-
mous Jewish republic in Birobidjan by en-
couraging Jewish migration there foundered
on the indifference of Soviet Jews for whom
the area held little attraction and no his-
torical sentiment. Today, only 14,000 Jews,
less than 9 percent of its population, live in
Birobidjan.
Second, Soviet Jewry's ties of peoplehood,
through religion and folklore, with a world
Jewry that is concentrated in Western lands.
This tends to make Soviet Jews vulnerable in
the suspicious eyes of the Russians, a sus-
picious heightened by the East-West cold
war.
Soviet Jews cannot escape being appre-
hensive about their vulnerability. They
remember the postwar years when the
Stalinist mania for what is now called the
cult of personality expressed itself, among
other ways, in anti-Jewish terror. It began
in 1948 with an anticosmopolitaxi campaign
in the press that implied many Jews were
disloyal. Yiddish institutions were disman-
tled and the Jewish cultural movement was
stifled. In 1952, 26 leading Jewish intellect-
uals were secretly tried and executed. Dur-
ing the black years of 1948-53 hundreds of
Jewish leaders were sent to concentration
camps, from which many never returned.
Others were removed from their jobs. The
despair among Soviet Jews was so intense
that many had their belongings packed, ex-
pecting, exile to the Far East, The climax
came in January 1953 when, after 4 years
of heightened and stimulated suspicion
against Jews, Pravda helped create a po-
grom atmosphere by charging that Jewish
"murder physicians" had planned to assas-
sinate Soviet military and civilian leaders
in a doctors' plot.
After Stalin's death, exposure of the plot
as a hoax ended the physical threat to Jews.
But the fears still linger, especially since
the present regime has made only half-
hearted efforts to condemn the anti-Semitic
aspects of the black years and rehabilitate its
victims.
I. THE DENIAL OF CULTURAL RIGHTS
The Soviet Union takes pride in its na-
tionality policy. When he addressed the
United Nations General Assembly in Sep-
tember 1960, Premier Khrushchev made a
special point of describing its achievements,
particularly the transformation into an ad-
vanced social and cultural status of back-
ward nationality groups that had been kept
In subjugation in the Czar's "prison of na-
tions."
Yiddish culture flourished until late in the
1930's
In the early days of the U.S.S.R., the
Council of People's Commissars laid down
the principle of free development of the
national minorities and ethnographic groups
population. Some observers contend that 3
million is a more accurate estimate; since
census takers accepted a respondent's an-
swers without checking his documents many
Jews, particularly those married to non
Jews, could have suppressed their Jewish
origin. But given the psychological factors
that operate in Soviet society it is unlikely
that a great number would hide the truth
from an official census taker. The actual
number of Jews is probably higher than the
official statistics, but not as high as 3 mil-
lion.
The Nazi barbarism of World War II deci-
mated Soviet Jewry. A 1939 census recorded
3,020,000 Jews. During 1939-41, 1,900,000
were added through the U.S.S.R.'s annexa-
tions of Western lands. An estimated 2,500,-
000 were killed, dispersed or otherwise lost
during the war.
In urbanized areas, where 95 percent lives,
the Jewish population rank is high, prob-
ably fifth.?
Most Jews reside in the three major west-
ern republics: Russian Federation, 38 per-
cent; Ukraine, 37 percent; Byelorussia, 7 per-
cent. Another 15 percent lives in 6 other
Soviet republics; the remaining 95,000 are
scattered in 2 Caucasus and 4 Central Asian
republics.
There are, broadly speaking, three types
of Jewish groups in the U.S.S.R.:
1. Those who have lived in the major Slavic
republics since the October revolution; they
have been subject to the Russification pro-
cess for almost two generations.
2. Those who live in territories annexed
by the Soviet Union during 1939-41?West-
ern Byelorussia, Galicia, Ruthenia, Latvia,
Estonia, Lithuania, Bessarabia and Bukovina.
Less "communized," they have deeper aware-
ness of their Jewish tradition.
3. The "Eastern Jews" of Bokhara, Dag-
hestan and Georgia. This is a group with
an ancient lineage; here the Jewish religion
is strong, although the Yiddish culture com-
monly associated with East European Jews
does not exist.
In the 1959 census, 400,000 Jews?about
18 percent?listed Yiddish as their native
language. This is the lowest proportion
among all Soviet nationalities that are iden-
tified with a national language. (Corre-
sponding figures for other major Soviet na-
tionalities range from '78 percent to the high
90's.) But the proportion who use Yiddish
is understandably higher in the western
borderlands where Communist rule began
in 1939-41. In Riga [Latvia] 48 percent of
the Jews identified Yiddish as their lan-
guage; in Vilna and Kovno [Lithuania] 69
percent. And according to a Soviet Jewish
researcher, Yakov Kantor, the number using
Yiddish in the Ukraine, Byelorussia, and
Moldavia is higher than the 18-percent aver-
age for the U.S.S.R. Kantor's study also re-
ports that many Jews who know and use
Yiddish did not list it as their native lan-
guage. "Many people who speak and read
Yiddish, enjoy Yiddish books and appreciate
Yiddish plays, nevertheless gave [to the cen-
sus taker] Russian as their language since
they spoke Russian at work, in the street
and, even to an extent, at home." 4
8 Only Russians, Ukrainians, and probably
Byelorussians and Tatars have more city
dwellers.
4 Bleter far Gesichte XV (1962-63), pub-
lished in Warsaw, 1964, Kantor uses the of t-
quoted figure of 20.8 percent as the ratio of
Jews who reported Yiddish as their "native
language." The difference in figures is at-
tributable to the fact that the "native lan-
guage" of Jews living in Georgia, Daghestan,
and central Asia is a language other than
Yiddish. In any case, the Yiddish-speaking
element in the U.S.S.R., as Kantor shows, is
much greater than the census figure sug-
gests.
19173
which live within Soviet Russia. There
were regulations guaranteeing to national
minorities the right to their own language,
to have It taught in schools, published in
newspapers and used in the courts, and to
develop individual cultures that would be
"national inform and socialist in content."
These rights, for the most part, have been
implemented, even for the 12,000 Chukchi,
smallest nationality group in the Soviet
Union.
The Jews are the singular exception. They
are denied the cultural institutions?schools,
theaters, press, literature?enjoyed by vir-
tually every other national minority.
This was not always so. In the 1920's and
1930's there was an extensive system of Yid-
dish schools. As late as 1940 (notwithstand-
ing a continuing decline just before World
War II) it enrolled 90,000 youngsters. Since
the 1940's there has not been a single Yiddish
or Hebrew school in the entire U.S.S.R.5
In the 1930's there were almost a score of
permanent Jewish theatrical companies. Di-
rectors and actors were trained in the Jewish
department of the Kiev Dramatic Institute
and at the Jewish Theater College in Moscow
and the Jewish State Theater in Minsk. The
Yiddish Art Theater in Moscow, ranked
among the best Soviet dramatic theaters, was
closed down by Stalin in 1949, its leading
actor, Solomon Mikhoels, having been mur-
dered in 1948 by the secret police. There is
no permanent Yiddish theater in the U.S.S.R.
today.? By contrast, the 130,000 gypsies in
the Soviet Union have one in Moscow, and
the Government of Communist Poland, where
only 30,000 Jews remain, still maintains the
famous Kaminska Yiddish Theater of War-
saw.
A Yiddish press and literature once flour-
ished in the U.S.S.R. Prior to World War II
there were three daily newspapers and five
literary journals. In 1948 all of them dis-
appeared. There is no longer any Yiddish
daily.? But the Maris, a small nationality
group (504,000 population), has 7 newspa-
pers; the Yakuts (236,000) have 10.
In August 1961, Sovietish Heimland, a bi-
monthly literary review, began publication--
the first Yiddish magazine to appear in the
U.S.S.R. in 14 years. The idea had been dis-
cussed for 8 years. The magazine began
with a limited press run of 25,000 copies.
The likelihood is that it would never have
appeared except for outside pressures chal-
lenging the discriminatory Soviet policy to-
ward Yiddish culture. Soviet Minister of
Culture Yekaterina Furtseva told Andre Blu-
mel, vice chairman of the Franco-Soviet
Friendship Society, that if the Soviet Union
"did anything at all" for Yiddish culture "it
would not be for domestic reasons but to
please our friends abroad." 8,
? Ironically, a new 766-page Hebrew-Rus-
sian dictionary, compiled by the late Prof.
F. L. Shapiro, was recently published in
Moscow.
? In 1962 a traveling troupe headed by
Beniamin Schwartser toured the Ukraine and
central Asia for 2 months, then, in Febru-
ary 1963, played four performances in Mos-
cow of Sholem Aleichem's "Tevye, the Milk-
man" in Yiddish. An audience of 800
cheered the opening night.
Birobidjaner Shtern," a small triweekly
of 1,500 circulation, is published in Yiddish
in Birobidjan. For a time, thousands of
Soviet Jews subscribed to the Yiddish lan-
guage "Die Folksstimme," published in War-
saw. Soviet authorities halted the practice.
8 They met in Moscow in 1960. Gen. David
pragunsky, a Soviet spokesman on Jewish
issues, made the same admission when he
was interviewed in Paris a year later. Dis-
cussing the few Yiddish books that had been
published, the General said: "Frankly speak-
ing, they are being published more for polit-
ical reasons than in answer to a real need."
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19174 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE August 17
Some critics at first dismissed Sovietish
Heimland as a forum for Communist litera-
ture with little material about Jewish life
in the Soviet Union or abroad. But an anal-
ysis of its first 3 years shows 320 articles by
some 100 Jewish authors, and many of the
stories and poems have meaningful Jewish
content. In the absen.ae of any other Jew-
ish secular institution, the magazine has es-
tablished itself as a focal point of Yiddish
activity, organizing a number of discussions
and conferences, one of which was attended
by 700 persons. The Soviet's Union of Writ-
era has expressed satisfaction with Sovietish
Heimland, and recently its size has been in-
creased to meet a grow ng interest.
During 1933-37 a single Yiddish publishing
house turned out 832 books (6,250,000
copies). In 1939, 330 Yiddish books were
published. Between 1948 and 1959?none.
Since then five Yiddish works-30,000 copies
of each?have been authorized.' None Is by
a living Soviet writer. No work has appeared
during the last 2 yeare. By comparison, 49
books were published in 1962 in the Mari
language; 109 in the Ya'cut language. Among
larger nationalities (but not as large as the
Jewish group) there were 6.080 books pub-
lished in Uzbek betweea 1946 and 1956, 4,548
in Kazakh.
Yiddish concerts aro the single cultural
medium still widely prevalent, and they have
a standing-room-only popularity, The Min-
istry of Culture reported that in 1957 alone
there were 3,000 suck concerts, averaging
1.000 paid admissions each?a total attend-
ance (Jews and non-Jews) of 3 million. Be-
tween June 1960 and June 1961, says So-
vietish Heimland Editcr Aron Vergells, more
than 300,000 Jews attended concerts fea-
turing the few active Yiddish artists such as
the famed Nechama I ifshutz." When Jan
Peerce. the Metropolitan Opera tenor, per-
formed in the Soviet Union in May 1983 he
drew sellout houses and thunderous ova-
tions for his Hebrew ond Yiddish songs.
JEWISH FOLKLORE TB :TENTED TEM FREEDOM
TO PERPETUATE
About 40 Jewish foie songs have been re-
corded and released by the Ministry of Cul-
ture. A book of 150 !talk songs, printed in
Yiddish and Russian, has been published
(but in an edition of only a few hundred
copies). A conference of Jewish composeret
and artists held late in 1961 in the &Ikea
of Sovietish Heimland dealt with the future
of Jewish music in tt e U.S.S.R. According
to a report from Mosccw, the discussion con-
tered on the need to introduce themes "of
the present" into Jewieh songs.
Notwithstanding th-dr immense popular=
ity, "one wonders how long the concerts can
continue," writes Journalist Maurice Hindus-,
a close observer of the Soviet scene. "The
performers are nearly all former actors and
actresses of Yiddish theaters. They are ade
vanced in years and there is no school to
train young talent. in a country that hael
earnestly dedicated itself to convert folklore
into one of the great arts of our times, Jews
are the only people deprived of the ?prior*
tunity to perpetuate their folklore. There
Is no Jewish clubhouse anywhere in the
Soviet Union. not a angle theatrical school
to train professional performers. When the
performers of today p iss from life, they will
carry with them to their graves the one cul*
tural heritage that the Soviets allow."'"
One additional work?a compilation of
pieces of former Birobldjan Jewish writers--
has also been approve1.
" There was also an amateur Jewish choral
group of 100 in Riga that reportedly dis-
banded in late 1963. A small choral group
performs In Vilna. Recently, a Yiddish con-
cert troupe was formed in Leningrad.
n "House Without a Roof," 1961.
How do Soviet authorities justify their
dismantling of Jewish cultural life? One
explana-don they give la that Jewish dis-
persal In Soviet Ramis means a burdensome
cost to inance cultural institutions. Khru-
shchev told a visitor, Prof. Jerome Davis: "
"If we have 7-year schools for Jews in the
Jewish ainguage, where could the graduatet
go? We would have to establish l0-yeai
schools and special universities for them
The Jews are dispersed and engulfed in the
culture where they live. If they want te
create a slate within our borders, like Biro-
bidjan, nobody Is against this. But to set
up separate schools all over Russia would be
expensive.-
Since most Soviet nationalities are conced
trated In their own territories, It simpliflei;
the development of their cultural Institu.
tions. Yet the Soviet Government has no-,
been unwilling to encourage the cultura.
growth of small nationalities. The Tadzhik
minority that lives in the Uzbek Republie
and Poles living in Byelorussia and Lithuania
are sec-are In their cultural rights. Since,
1955, flora than 1 million Volga German.,
(who in 1941 were forcibly transported to
Siberia and the Urals, then allowed to re-
establish themselves after the war), have had
Germar -language schools, a weekly journal
published in Moscow, a newspaper published
In the ?anti region. In Russian schools where
Germar. children are enrolled, the German
language Le taught. Radio station in Alma
Ata Tselinograd carry regular German
language programs.
Another justification given by the Soviets
I. that Jews are assimilating and do not
want to retain a Yiddish culture. "Even If
Jewish schools were established, very few
would attend them voluntarily," Khrushehe?
told a delegation of French Socialists in 1951.
"A university in the Yiddish language could
never he etabliehed, there would not be
sufficient number of students. With regar 1
to Yiddish or Hebrew, there is no demand for
their uee In the state administration and I
Soviet Institutions. If the Jews were com-
pelled ao attend Jewish schools there woull
certain.y be a revolt. It would be considered
some hind of ghetto. The Jewish theater
pined away for lack of audiences."
The asaimillatory process has undoubtedly
affected large numbers of Jews. But the
stubborn fact is that 18 percent of Soviet
Jewry (in Western area's the ratio is muca
higher) considers Yiddish its native tonguo,
and many more understand and appreciate
it. A leading Soviet linguist, M. Friedberg,
challenged as "wholly incorrect" an article
In the Soviet Encyclopedia which claimed
Yiddish is disappearing and the Soviet Jewish
minori:y is on the road to "complete lir -
guistic assimilation." Fredberg pointed ape -
clfically to compact Jewish communities in
the Ukraine and Byelorussia as centers of
Yiddish speech_ The hundreds of thouso.nce
of Jews who flock to the Yiddish concer
and the brisk sale of the few Yiddish booia
and publications available similarly testily
to the vitality of the language.
More pertinent perhaps, is the apparent
determination of Soviet authorities to vitae
1917.,
2' Anastas 14.1koyan repeated this their e
before the U.N. Correspondent's ABROClat100
(Jan. 5, 1959), arguing; "The Jewish pop-
ulation has merged with Russians in Russian
culture so fully that Jews participate in
general culture and literature, on the RUil-
alan stage and in Russian literature. The -e
are many Jewish writers who consider them-
selves Russian and prefer to write in Ru,-
elan.,,
And Madame Furtseva told Blumel (Jan-
uary 11)81) that the move toward assimilatic n
Is so great, Jews "may feel hurt LI we pieta
them toward Yiddish."
the high degree of Jewish consciousness that
still exists. Since 1948 the Soviet Govern-
ment has followed a policy?with only slight
modification in the last few years?of sup-
pressing any institutional framework that
might invigorate and sustain a Yiddish cul-
Una, The new program of the Soviet Com-
munist Party speaks of the ultimate Com-
munist objective as "the effacement of na-
tional distinctions ? ? ? including language
distinctions,- but it also emphasizes that, for
the time being, the party must guarantee
"the complete freedom of each citizen of the
U.S.S.R. to speak and to rear and educate
his children in any language, ruling out all
privileges, restrictions or compulsion in the
use of this or that language." This freedom
obviously does not extend to Jews.
Soviets shrug off the 6 mi Won martyrs
There are other aacties with which Soviet
leadership seeks to erase a consciousness of
the Jewish past. Soviet textbooks pointedly
fail to mention the cultural contributions
of Jews, although the culture of other
minorities is treated liberally. The first edi-
tion of the "Large Soviet Encyclopedia." car-
ried 118 pages about Jews. The second and
present edition reduced this to 2 pages."
The martyrdom of Soviet Jews during the
Nazi era Is given little attention. Babi Yar,
the site near Kiev of the masa annihilation
of 100,000 Jews by the Nazis, was to have
been commemorated with a memorial. This
was abandoned; instead there were reports
that a park and stadium were to be built on
the site of the massacre. A distinguished
Soviet writer, Viktor Nekrasov, asked in
Literaturnaia Gazeta:
"Is this possible? Who could have thought
of such a thing? To All a ravine and on the
site of such a colossal tragedy to make merry
and play football?
No, this must not be allowed,"
Poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko stung official
indifference to Jewish martyrdom when he
recited his new poem, "Babi Yar." before a
mass meeting of 1.500 persons: "
There are no monuments over Bahl Yar
The steep slope is the only gravestone.?
* e
The trees look sternly like judges.
Everything here shrieks silently.
Officialdom struck back. One Soviet writer,
Alexel Markov, questioned Yevtushenko's
patriotism, insisting the poet had defiled
"Russian crewcut lads" who had died in bat-
tle against the Nazis. Another critic, Dmitri
Starikov, denounced Yevtushenko's poem
as a "provocation" and a "monstrous" insult
to the Soviet people. The poet was warned
against taking further steps into a "foul,
swampy quagmire."
Ehrushchev had the final word. On
March 8. 1963, at a Kremlin meeting of
artists and writers, he justified the criticism,
saying Yevtushenko "did not display political
maturity and showed ignorance of the his-
torical facts." Khrushchev also complained
that the poem was oriented to a national
"Surprisingly, the new "Ukrainian Ency-
clopedia,- with 8 of its projected 16 volumes
already published, devotes considerable space
to Jewish writers and literature, the Yiddish
language and the Jewish people generally, in-
cluding a lengthy account of the history of
Jews in the Ukraine going back to the 10th
century.' Also, a new "Short Literary En-
cyclopedia." the first volume of which ap-
peared in 1962, carries lengthy and sympa-
thetic articles on a great number of Jewish
writers, including those who, like Chaim
Malik, wrote principally in Hebrew.
October 10, 1959.
"September 16, 1961, in Moscow. "Bald
Yar" was later printed in Literaturnala
Gazeta.
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1964 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE
martyrdom whereas Communists must ap-
proach situations from a class viewpoint.=
It would be wrong to say that Soviet au-
thorities have completely ignored the fact of
Jewish martyrdom. Foreign Minister Andrei
Gromyko made a moving speech on the
theme 16 years ago at the U.N. General As-
sembly. A leading Soviet publicist and play-
wright, A. Korneichuk, spoke of it in an ad-
dress before the Supreme Soviet in 1962.12
A few Soviet noveltists?Vladimir Belyayev,
Vadim Kozhevnikov, Vladmir Bondarets?
have also dealt with the theme, and 2 years
ago the Soviet Latvian Republic produced a
documentary film on the liquidation of the
Minsk Jewish community. There have been
several Soviet trials of Nazi collaborators
who had a hand in the extermination of
Jews, and Soviet authorities made evidence
of anti-Jewish war crimes available to a West
German Court in Coblenz.
But these are sprinkled exceptions. The
customary Soviet attitude is to shrug off or
ignore the martyrdom of 6 million Jews. Or,
as with Yevtushenko, condemn those who
recall its grim tragedies. The Eichmann trial
was deliberately played down in the Soviet
press.= "The Diary of Anne Frank," a world-
wide stage hit, "literally brought the house
down"?the quote is from Tass, the Soviet
news agency?when it was finally performed
in Moscow last year by a visiting Italian
repertory group. It has had no other per-
formances in the Soviet Union. The rep-
ertory company, which gave five perform-
ances each of its other scheduled plays, was
limited to two showings of the "Anne Frank"
play, and then "only after considerable nego-
tiations with Soviet authorities." 22 Last
year's 20th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto
uprising was similarly minimized (except in
Sovietish Heimland which gave it a special
section). An Izvestia article on the anniver-
sary was little more than an attack on West
Germany. Sponsors of a great commemora-
tion in Warsaw (where some 900 foreign dele-
gates assembled), were disappointed by the
absence of any official Soviet delegation. A
single Soviet citizen, a member of the edi-
torial board of Sovietish Heimland, attended.
A UNESCO convention adopted in 1960 re-
quires contracting states to respect "the right
of national minorities to carry on their own
educational activities, including the main-
tenance of schools, and '0 * * the use or the
teaching of their own language." The Soviet
Union, though a contracting state, has yet to
live up to its promise so far as the Jewish na-
tionality is concerned. In the same way it
has failed to live up to its commitments,
formalized in constitutional statutes and
party programs, to assure the Jewish commu-
nity, as it does other ethnic groups, the
means of national and cultural expression.
LT. THE STJPPRESSION Or JUDAISM
The Soviet Communist Party, firmly com-
mitted to "scientific materialism," conducts
11 To illustrate this Khrushchev related a
series of episodes in which various Jews, some
"good" and some "bad" from a Communist
viewpoint, stood on opposite sides of the
class struggle. He concluded with a story
in questionable taste in which a Jew named
Kogan was supposed to have served as a
translator in the headquarters of Nazi Field
Marshall von Paulus and, by contrast, an-
other Jew, Vinokur, was political commissar
of a brigade that took part in Von Paulus'
capture.
a Two years earlier (Jan. 14, 1960) Khrush-
chev, in a speech to the Supreme Soviet,
quoted a letter from Lord Russell to the Lon-
don Times that made reference to Nazi per-
secution of Jews.
12 Although the trial was extensively re-
ported in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslo-
vakia.
= The New York Times, Apr. 12, 1963.
a vigorous ideological and propaganda cam-
paign against all religions. But this must
be distinguished from the obligations of the
Soviet Government toward religious groups,
since the Soviet Constitution guarantees
freedom of worship. A leading authority on
religion in the Soviet Union, Prof. John Cur-
tiss, in a careful analysis published in 1960,
found that the Soviet Government "turns a
benevolent face toward most of the religious
organizations of the 'U.S.S.R." There is one
notable exception?Judaism.
Judaism is denied same status of other faiths
The Russian Orthodox Church has been
particularly favored. 21 Since World War II it
has been able to open seminaries, monas-
teries and parish churches, and its clerical
activities have expanded in many directions.
Leading orthodox prelates are granted official
privileges, including invitations to impor-
tant state functions. Testifying to what
Professor Curtiss calls Russian Orthodoxy's
"robust existence" were 35,000 priests and
20,000 parish churches organized into 73
dioceses, each headed by a metropolitan,
archbishop or bishop. There were also 69
monasteries and convents, 2 theological acad-
emies and 8 seminaries with (as of 1956)
1,500 students.22
The same privileged status favors the Geor-
gian Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox
churches.
The Baptist denomination has also been
"flourishing" in the Soviet Union, Professor
Curtiss reported. U.S.S.R., an official Soviet
journal, tended to confirm this in an article
that told of 5,500 Baptist parishes, each with
its own minister, deacon or preacher, and a
total membership of 540,000.=
The Lutherans, centered in Estonia and
Latvia, have 350,000 congregants and (as of
1956) about 100 churches and 160 pastors.
Roman Catholicism has an extensive struc-
ture in Lithuania with 740 priests 24 and in
Latvia with 126 priests. = There is a Cath-
olic seminary at Riga, another in Kaunas.
Two bishops were consecrated in 1955, a
third in 1957.
Islam also enjoys considerable status in
the U.S.S.R. On several occasions the So-
viet Government has made air transport
available to fly large Moslem delegations from
Central Asia, the Caucasus and other Soviet
areas to Mecca and back.
The Soviets permit, even facilitate, ex-
change visits between native and foreign
delegations of the orthodox church, and of
Protestant and Islamic groups. They have
even been favorably disposed toward the
establishment of permanent or semiperma-
nent institutional relationships. Thus, the
Russian Orthodox Church, through a special
department, has regular relations with ortho-
dox churches in other countries and in 1962,
by its admittance to membership into the
World Council of Churches, strengthened its
ties with many Protestant denominations.
In recent years, orthodox clergymen have
traveled on official tours to Western coun-
tries.
Similarly, there are close official contacts
between Russian Baptists and their coreli-
gionists abroad. A Soviet Baptist leader has
publicly reported that his church "maintains
contacts with almost all the Protestant de-
nominations in the world" and that its rep-
resentatives "have attended many interna-
31 "The Russian Orthodox Church?Organi-
zation, Situation, Activity"?a large, hand-
some work published by the Moscow Patri-
archate in 1969?graphically illustrates this.
22 A significant decline in the number of
Orthodox churches and institutions during
the past 2 years has been reported by Protest-
ant leaders.
23 June 1963 issue.
24 1954 statistics.
gg 1959 statistics.
19175
tional congresses of the Baptists and other
Protestant groups." 22 Soviet authorities
permit Baptist seminarians to engage in ad-
vanced study in England, Canada, and
Sweden.
For years, Soviet Moslems have been asso-
ciated with a World Congress of Moslems,
In October 1962 a conference of Soviet Mos-
lem leaders, meeting in Tashkent, was au-
thorized to establish a permanent depart-
ment for international relations, with head-
quarters in Moscow. The Soviet radio re-
ported that delegations from Lebanon, the
United Arab Republic, Guinea, and Senegal
had attended a Moslem conference in the
Soviet Union and that a delegation of Soviet
Moslems had participated in an international
Islamic congress in Baghdad. 21 It also re-
ported that a number of Soviet Moslem
youths were studying at Al Azhar, a major
Islamic center of learning in the U.A.R., and
in Morocco.
Religious contacts and cooperative enter-
prises of this nature are denied to Jews. No
delegation of observant Soviet Jews has ever
been permitted to visit its counterparts
abroad. Jewish religious bodies outside the
Soviet Union are not allowed official contact
with Soviet synagogues. A gift by the
Synagogue Council of America of miniature
Scrolls of Law to Rabbi Yehuda Leib Levin,
Chief Rabbi of Moscow, had to be delivered
through the intermediary of a Russian
Orthodox delegation that was touring in the
United States.= Moscow's Jews have been
warned against having contacts with Israel
diplomats or other visiting Jews who might
come for prayer in the synagogue.= The
warning followed the arrest and conviction
of Jewish religious leaders in Leningrad and
Moscow on charges that included contacts
with Israel diplomats.
U.S.S.R. has never allowed a printing of
Hebrew Bible
It is Soviet policy to restrict even internal
contact among its Jewish congregations.
Other major religions in the Soviet Un-
ion are allowed to organize congresses and
conferences of religious or lay leaders, and
to maintain central organizations?the Holy
Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, the
All-Union Council of Evangelical Christian-
Baptists, the National Ecclesiastical Assem-
bly of the Armenian Church, the Lutheran
Churches of Latvia and Estonia, the Moslem
Board for Central Asia and Kazakhstan?
that service a variety of religious needs.
Judaism, on the other hand, is deprived of
any instrument that could help coordinate
or unite the Jewish group. There is no cen-
tral federation of synagogues or council of
rabbis. Jewish religious life is atomized,
each congregation operating on its own and
having no official contact with any other
Jewish congregation. The Russian Orthodox
Church publishes a central organ, the Jour-
nal of the Moscow Patriarchate; the Bap-
tists have their Brotherly Herald; for So-
viet Jews, no religious periodical exists.
There are other official Soviet actions,
clearly discriminatory, designed to stifle
Judaism. Since 1917 the government has not
permitted publication of a Hewbrew Bible.
Yet in 1957 the Russian Orthodox were able
to print 60,000 copies of a 1926 edition of
their Bible: a year later there were press
runs of 10,000 Russian-language copies of a
Baptist Bible and 9,000 copies of the Koran
gg U.S.S.R., June 1963.
21 April 1963.
gg The delegation visited the United States
in April 1963. Efforts by the synagogue
council to invite the chief rabbi to visit the
United States have been futile.
22 February 1962. The warning was re-
peated in October and Jewish congregants in
Moscow were told to avoid "shaking hands
with vistiors generally."
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19176 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE August 17
in Arabic (a language cf religious study not
spoken by Soviet Moslems)."
Prayer books are avail eble in relatively-suf-
ficient quantities for the major religions?
except Judaism." For the religious Jews, a
siddur (prayer book) is a rare and precious
possession. Until 1958, when a pitiful 3.000
copies were run off, none had been printed In
the Soviet Union. A New York Times cor-
respondent who attendod Yom Kippur sera-
ices last year in Moscow's Central Synagogue
reported only a "few lucky owners of prayer
books" among the "ove :flow crowd of several ,
thousand worshippers." 22
Even so innocuous an item as a luach
(Jewish calendar Matins festival dates) 18 not
readily available to Soviet Jews. They have
had to depend on phatographed copies of
calendars laboriously made by hand." Most
religious groups are allcwed to produce cruci-
fixes, candles and other devotional articles.
But the manufacture of Jewish religious arti-
cles such as the Wilt (prayer shawl) and
Olin (phylacteries) Is forbidden.
So too, in recent years. Is the baking of
matzo for Passover. In a report filed July,
11, 1956 with the United Nations. the So-:
viet Union offered solemn assurances that it
makes matzo available for observant Jews?
But a year later, restrictions on the public
baking of matzo began to appear, the first
of these in Kharkov, a city with 70,008 Jews.:
In succeeding years, e ban spread to other
cities; by 1962 it blanketed almost all of the
U.S.S.R.,. extending even to synagogues in
Leningrad, Riga and Kiev, which have their
own equipment for baking matzo. On March
16, 1963, the Chief Rabbi of Moscow formal-
ly announced that at thorities had banned.
matzo baking on a community basis. Be ad-
vised Jews to attempt to bake matzo in their
own homes"
Prior to the Passover this year, the Moscow
Jewish community was permitted to rent a
small bakery for the production of matzo.
The amount produced over the course of the
few days that the bakery was allowed to op.
crate was 8,000 pour ds?a completely in.
adequate quantity for observant Moscose
Jews. Meanwhile, with the encouragement
of the authorities, Jewish communities
abroad sent in 90,000 :3ounds of matzo. But
most parcels remained unclaimed in the
customs warehouses: Soviet Jews had been
frightened off by newtpaper acocunts in na-
tional and provincial newspapers which
w In 1962 another et Mon of the Koran was
published by the Modem Board of Central
Asia.
al In 1956, 25,000 eopies of the Baptist
hymnal were printed. The Lutherans are
now preparing a new edition of their hym-
nal.
a, The New York Times, September 29, 1963.
"In one of their rare, sometimes unex-
plained shifts, the Soviets last September tau
thorized the Moscow synagogue to print 5,000
Jewish calendars.
"The only kaown exceptions appear to
have been in Georg's and in some parts of
central Asia.
"Four elderly Jews who tried ran afoul of
the authorities. On July 18, 1963, they were
convicted of "Illegal profiteering" In the saie
of matzo?the first alai of its kind in 46
years, according to the chief rabbi. Three
of the accused had been held in prison f6r
several months awaiting trial. An 82-yeat-
old man, ludicrously described as the ring-
leader, was allowed to remain at home. The
defense attorney, 111 hia summation re-
minded the court that "all churches sell
candles and wafers [4 high prices, and no-
body holds them for criminal responsibility.
* * ? Those accused did it not for profit but
for their religious beliefs; they used no
hired labor, they die-a-Ranted the producticht
which they didn't we themselves." But all
four were found guilty,
charged that the foreign paresis constituted
"Ideologcal subversion." Only a small per-
centage of Jews had matzo; the others were
given a special dispensation by the Chief
Rabbi to use beans and peas instead.
Observers report that the synagogue is
"the sorriest house of worship in the Soviet
Union"' and, In the last few years, there
has been a drastic decline in the number of
Soviet sinagogues. According to official fig-
ures submitted to the United Nations in 1956,
there were then 460 synagogues in the
U.S.S.R. In 1959 the Soviet Government re-
ported only 160 synagogues. In April 1963
the Chief Rabbi was quoted in an official
Soviet publication that 96 synagogues re-
maln.w Thus, since Khrushchev's denuncia-
tion of Stalinism at the 20th Party Congress
four-fillhe of all Soviet synagogues has beer
shut dcwn, 50 of them during the past ;
years.
Soviet poiicy toward the synagogue?
padlock it
Synasogues in Sverdlovsk, Zhitomir, Ka-
San, Cit-ozny, Zhmerinks. Belaya, Tserkov.
Kaunas and Lvov?cities with sizeable Jew-
ish populations?have been padlocked in tho
last 2 years. The sanctuary Of the syna-
gogue in Minsk. an historic edifice, was tie-
mouthed in July 1963. A New York Herald
Tribune correspondent, visiting It, found
that the sanctuary had been converted to
a warel ouse. A one-story extension reached
through a rickety wooden shed In an elle r
where chickens were kept. functioned as th
aancttiory. The Jews at prayer there, the
correspondent wrote, wore "shabby, home-
made prayer shawls" and read from "ancient
tattered prayer books.""
The closing of a synagogue generally is
preceded by an intense press campaign cf
suspicion and hostility. The synagogue 1 I
the old Jewish center of Chernovtay (Buko-
vine) was locked after the local newspaper
charged that it was used for "shady profltero-
ing agreements." w The great synagogue et
Lvov, with a glorious tradition, was close
on November 5, 1962, 'titer a yearlong prers
campaign charging it with being a center fez
"currency speculators" and their "criminal
machinations.""
Somo Jews have taken to private minyanim
(quorinna of at least 10 required to conduct
a service) in their homes. But in the pat
2 years there have been police drives to din-
courage these."
The discouragement of Judaism is furth?m
intensified by the lack of training facilittra
to replace a fast-aging rabbinate. There as
now only about 80 rabbis in the 17J3.5.1..
Until 1957, when a Yeshiva was established
in Moscow for 20 students, there was no
Jewish theological seminary In all of the
Soviet Union. Since then only two students
have been ordained and neither functions IS
a synagogue leader. Of the 13 students en-
rolled in the shabby run-down Yeshiva
April 1962, 11 were over 40 years of age. .1t
that time, nine of the students, who carie
from communities in Georgia and Drrghesta a,
were prevented from resuming their studies
becaune of, said authorities, a housing short-
age in Moscow. That left an enrollment of
four eeminarlans In ail of the U.S.S.R.',
SS !Indus, "House Without a Roof."
27U S.S.R.. April 1983.
"Now York Herald Tribune, June 28, 19113.
"Quoted In "Jews in Eastern Europe," te-
cember 1982.
"Lvosalcaia Pravda, Feb. 18, 1962, and
Oct. 28, 1962.
"During Roth Hashena 1962, a mins, in
held in a house on January 31st Street In
Kharkov was dispersed by the police; on Yom
Kippur, another Kolomea. On Feb. 13,
1982, a Sabbath minyan in Gomel was bru-
tally disrupted.
Smce then, the number has dropped to
two or three students.
Judaism in the Soviet Union will soon be
without trained leadership.
Other Jewish facilities are being forced
out of existence. The only kosher butcher
shop in Moscow was temporarily closed by the
authorities in the summer of 1962 on the
grounds that It did not conform to sanitary
regulations" The Jewish section of the old
Moscow cemetery is filled, but repeated ap-
peals by the chief rabbi and other Jewish
leaders for an enclave to be set aside and
consecrated for Jewish burials is a new mu-
nicipal cemetery have been rejected. This
pattern is likely to be repeated in other cities.
Although the Soviet Communist Party con-
tinues to propagandize against religion, gen-
erally seeking to achieve "the final and com-
plete eradication of religious prejudices,""
it is supposed to be guided by a policy reso-
lution of its central committee, adopted No-
vember 1. 1954, and calling for a "tactful"
and "considerate" attitude toward those who
"still remain under the influence of various
religious beliefs." The resolution specifically
warns against putt'ng "Soviet citizens under
political suspicion because of their religious
convictions," In the party's propaganda war
against Judaism, these caveats appear to be
observed in the breach.
Judaism is attacked and satirized in U.S.S.R.
press
Feuilletons (satirical articles) often ap-
pear, particularly In the Soviet provincial
press, savagely attacking Judaism." The rite
of circumcision is denounced its barbarous,
the "Kol Niche" prayer of Yom Kippur is
condemned as encouraging disobedience to
state authority. Synagogue leaders are de-
picted as moneyworshipers who use the re-
ligious service, kosher slaughtering, religious
burial. matzo baking, and other ritual prac-
tices to exploit a duped congregation"
Much of the propaganda depicts Judaism
as being in the service of a foreign power,
thereby attaching to the observant Jew the
stigma of disloyalty. This excerpt from a
Ukrainian language radio broadcast from
Kirovograd, is not unusual:
"Judaic sermons are the sermons of bour-
geois Zionists. Such sermons are tools in
the hands of the nationalistic, Israeli cosmo-
politan and American bourgeoisie. With their
tentacles, the Jewish bourgeois nationalists,
making use of Judaism, try to penerate into
our Soviet garden."
Three other examples of the disloyalty
theme:
"The chauvinistic Passover slogans stand
in contradiction t3 the feeling of Soviet pa-
triotism and boundless love to the socialist
motherland."
"Judaism kills love for the Soviet mother-
land."
"The character at the Jewish religion thus
serves the political aim of the Zionists?the
awakening of a nationalistic frame of
mind." "
"Later it was permitted to reopen.
"Pravda, Aug. 21, 1959.
"These are provincial areas with fairly
large Jewish populations and long traditions
of anti-Semitism.
*IA typical example from Minskaia Pravda
(Apr. 4. 1961); ''Money. That is the God
of the Minsk Jewish religious community and
their aids." Another is from the book,
"Judaism Without Embellishment," pub-
lished in December 1963 by the Ukrainian
Academy of Sciences: "What is the Jew's
secular cult? Business. What is his secular
God? Money. Money, that is the jealous
God of Israel."
"Dee. 9, 1959, :nonitored by BBC.
""The Origin and Class Essence of Jewish
Rituals and Holidays," published 1961 by the
Society for the D?ffusion of Political and Sci-
entific Knowledge in the Ukraine.
"Sovietsketia Moldavia (Kishinev) July
23, 1959.
Volzhskaia Kommuna (Kulleyshev),
Sept. 30, 1961.
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1964 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE
A lengthy article in Trud castigated the
synagogue as a place where Israel diplomats
are alleged to have extracted espionage infor-
mation from disloyal Soviet Jews.** Another
article carried a massive attack on three re-
ligious Jews who were accused of having had
contacts with the Israel Embassy in Mos-
cow. "Averice, groveling servility before ev-
erything foreign, spiritual waste, lack of
pride in our great motherland?these impel
the Chernukhins, Roginskys, and the Sheyf-
ers into the embraces of sometimes not en-
tirely blameless foreigners," said Trud."
Synagogue leaders in Leningrad and Moscow
have been convicted and given stiff sentences
on charges of betraying state secrets to Israel.
The new program of the Communist Par-
ty, adopted at its 22d Congress, calls for a
stepped-up program of overcoming "religious
prejudices" by "systematically * * ? conduct
[ing] broad scientific-atheist propaganda."
On March 2, 1964, the Party Central Com-
mittee spelled out the details of the intensi-
fied campaign. It can be expected that in
this antireligious campaign Judaism will
continue to be singled out for condemnation
and the loyalty of its leaders questioned.
II/. DISCRIMINATION AND THE SOVIET JEW
The Soviet constitution specifically pro-
hibits "any direct or indirect restriction of
the rights * * ? of citizens on account of
their race or nationality." But for the Jew-
ish citizen the promise of Soviet law is not
always the practice in Soviet reality.
Quota system is common practice at
universities
There is no indication that the Jew is dis-
criminated against in housing or public ac-
commodations. He has open access to hotels,
resorts, clubs, and other public facilities. But
in higher education?the key to advancement
in Soviet society?the situation is not so fa-
vorable. Soviet officials do not publicly ack-
nowledge or discuss quota systems in uni-
versity admission practices. But they exist.
A study of Soviet education by Nicholas De-
Witt, a specialist formerly at the Harvard
Russian Research Center, finds that quotas
operate on the principle of "equivalent bal-
ance." This means "the representation of
any national or ethnic grouping in overall
higher education enrollment should be as
the relation of the size of that group to to-
tal U.S.S.R. population. Those nationalities
whose higher educational development 'ought
to be fostered' get preferential admission
quotas, while those who are `overrepresented'
are curtailed accordingly." 6a
On the basis of elaborate computations
drawn from Soviet data, DeWitt shows that
the quota system operates "to the particu-
larly severe disadvantage of the Jewish pop-
ulation." Between 1935 and 1958, his com-
putations reveal, "the index of representa-
tion rose for most nationalities, but fell for
Georgians and all national minorities, with
a very drastic decline for the Jews." DeWitt
concludes:
"The setting of admission quotas undoubt-
edly penalized the Jewish population, with
Its significant urban concentration and high-
er level of educational attainment, more
heavily than other minor nationality groups
with more diversified occupational and rural-
urban distribution."
Soviet, Minister of Higher and Secondary
Education V. P. Yelyutin denied, that the
Soviet Union discriminates or maintains quo-
ta systems against Jews in education.** Yely-
jan. 19, 1962.
n June 9, 1963.
** DeWitt, "Education and Professional Em-
ployment in the U.S.S.R.," 1961. A recent
Soviet publication, "Vestnik Vysshel Shkoly"
(December 1963), acknowledges the existence
of "preferential admission quotas."
"The New York Times, Sept. 29, 1959.
No. 161--2
utin insisted that Jews, constituting 2 per-
cent of the Soviet population, were 10 per-
cent of the enrollment in Soviet universi-
ties. This was disputed by Dr. Solomon
Schwarz, a prominent scholar and author of
"The Jews in the Soviet Union," who cited
official Soviet data to prove "the number of
Jews among the students of all Soviet in-
stitutions of higher education could reach
only little more than 4 percent."5 A 1961
Soviet statistical handbook on higher educa-
tion not only corroborates this but suggests
that even Dr. Schwarz's estimates were high.
The handbook reports 2,395,000 students, 77,-
000 of them Jews. The ratio of Jews is there-
fore closer to 3 percent?a plummeting drop
from 1935 when it was 13 percent.
Despite this drastic decline, Jewish uni-
versity enrollment, on a population basis,
still ranks highest among nationality groups.
But it is clear that the quota system com-
pels the Jewish student to perform at a much
higher level of achievement than this non-
Jewish colleagues if he is to get equal recog-
nition. A Leningrad professor is quoted
by Maurice Hindus that a Jew must be es-
pecially gifted, "something like a genius, to
be admitted to aspirantura [post graduate
work] ."
The pattern of discrimination is an uneven
one. Jews find it less difficult to be admitted
to Leningrad University than to Moscow
University. Siberian schools are even less
discriminatory. Siberia, writes Hindus, is in
the throes of gigantic development and the
demand for specialists in all fields is so press-
-tog that universities and technological insti-
tutes will overlook it if an applicant is
Jewish. However, in most of the Soviet Re-
publics (except for the RSFSR, the Ukraine,
and Byelorussia), the representation of Jews
among university students is well below the
rate of the "general population's access to
higher education." " Particularly distressing
is the trend of development as seen from the
ratio of academically educated people, espe-
cially students, to practicing scientists. Ac-
cording to the report of an international
socialist study group, the Jews have the low-
est ratio in the U.S.S.R., "indicating the
rapidly dwindling Jewish participation in this
field." ,a
Soviet leaders have candidly acknowledged
that they set employment quotas for Jews.
They also try to justify the practice. An
interview published by the National
Guardian quoted Minister of Culture
Furtseva that the Soviet Government "found
in some of its departments a heavy concen-
tration of Jewish people, upward of 50 per-
cent of the staff. Steps were taken to
transfer them to other enterprises, giving
them equally good positions and without
jeopardizing their rights." '9
Job discrimination found to be increasing
When the Furtseva statement created un-
favorable reaction abroad, the press chief of
the Soviet Foreign Ministry was obliged to
"clarify" the matter. "She meant," his
statement said, "that if at some time there
had taken place changes in office personnel,
these changes were dictated by the economic
needs of the country and under no circum-
stances were aimed at any discrimination of
S' Letter to the New York Thnes, Oct. 3,
1959.
Hindus, "House Without a Roof."
*7 Nicholas DeWitt, "The Status of Jews
in Soviet Education," published 1964 by the
American Jewish Congress. DeWitt places
particular emphasis on the high degree of
urbanization among Jews (over 95 percent).
Since most university students come from
urban areas the discrimination against Jews
is apparent.
**April 1964.
5' June 1956.
19177
persons of any nationality. Never at any
time during the Soviet regime were there any
quotas for Jews or persons of some other
nationality, and there are none now." "e
However, J. B. Salsberg, a former Canadian
Communist leader, reported that in an inter-
view he had had in Auust 1956 with Soviet
leaders (including Khruschev and Suslov),"
a top Soviet official "corroborated the ab-
sence of Furtseva's statement."
"He tried terribly hard to prove to me
with examples that the transfer or dismissal
of Jewish employees in once-backward re-
publics that now have 'their own' intelli-
gentsia and professional people capable of
occupying posts previously held by Jews or
Russians has nothing to do with anti-
Semitism."
Academician Konstantin Skriabin, in a
speech before a party's central committee
on agriculture, declared: "From my point
of view, a scientist should not be evaluated
by his passport but by his head, from the
point of view of his ability and social Use-
fulness." 'a His reference to the "passport"
and its nationality identification was self-
evident.
Yet whatever the extent of job quotas, an
examination of the scattered data that is
available reveals a heavy concentration of
Jewish employment in a number of impor-
tant fields and professions. According to
one source, of Moscow's 18,000 physicians,
6,700?more than 1 out of 3?are Jewish."
Another source states that 40 percent of the
capital's 1,700 lawyers and half of those In
Leningrad and Kharkov are Jewish." Andre
Blumel was told by Mme. Furtseva that one-
third of- the personnel in the film industry
Is Jewish. Jews are also prominent in music
and literature, in the library field, in history,
philology, and pedagogy (according to Furt-
seva, 10 percent of the student body of the
Pedagogical Institute in Moscow is Jewish)
and in the consumer goods and retail trade
industry. A letter signed by five prominent
Soviet Jews and publicized by the Soviet news
agency Novoati listed Jews as comprising 14.7
percent of the U.S.S.R.'s physicians; 10.4 per-
cent of its lawyers and judges; 8.5 percent
of its writers and journalists; 7 percent of
its actors, sculptors, musicians, and other
artists.**
There is a high proportion of Jews in the
physical sciences. A Soviet statistical hand-
book (1960) reported 30,663 Jews among 310,-
000 Soviet scientists, or 9.8 percent. Five
years earlier the ratio was even higher, 24,600
out of 223,000, or 11 percent. The propor-
tion of Jews in the physical sciences is de-
creasing, although the absolute number is
rising. The most recent figure is 36,173 Jew-
ish scientists (about 9 percent)." An esti-
mated 10 percent of the Academy of Sciences,
the U.S.S.R.'s leading scientific body, is Jew-
ish. About one-eighth of the 1964 Lenin
Prize winners in science and technology have
Jewish names.
Among Soviet nationalities, Jews rank
third in the total number of professionals
with a university education who are active
In the national economy. There are about
300,000 Soviet Jews- in the professions, and
427,000 who have either a university or a
specialized secondary education. This means
one out of five Soviet Jews is a professional
or semiprofessional workers, as against 5
September 1956.
ei In a series that ran in a Canadian Yid-
dish weekly Vochenblatt and in Morgan
Freheit, October-December 1956.
"2March 1962.
Sophia Frey in Morgen Freiheit, Apr. 7,
1960.
8, Andre Blumel in a Paris interview,
1960.
" April 1982,
Novosti Press Agency, 1963.
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19178 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE August 17
percent for Russians and 1 percent for
Ukrainians.
On the other hand, LeliVItt flails that the
proportion of non-Jewlah nationalities in
the professions is rislag rapidly. It rose
15 percent during 1951-59. For the same '
period the Jewish proportion rose 4 percent.
DeWitt attributes the difference to the quota
system in university adnissions. Its contin-
uation, he says, will further reduce the per- I
centage of Jews in professional employment.
There is sortie evidence that Soviet Jews are
confronted with inereaeing dculty in`wln-
nine merit promotions to to industrial and ,
administrative position. This is particularly
so in the non-Enssiar republics where an
educated and trainee native element is
rapidly emerging and Jews are being edged
out of the promotion process. This was tm-
plied by Khrushehev in an interview with a.
French Socialist deleg Mon in May 1956:
"At the outset of tt.e Revolution we ha&
many Jews In the leadership of the ,party
and the state. In due course, we created;
new cadres. Should the Jews want to oc-
cupy the foremost position in our republics
now. it would naturally be taken amiss by
the indigenous inhabitants. The latter
would not accept these pretensions at all
well, especially since they do not regard them-
selves less intelligent or less capable than
the Jews."'"
In December 1962, Khrushehev repeated
this theme at a mee:ing of Soviet artists,
saying that if Jews oroupied too many top
positions it would tend to create anti-Semi;
tism.
Since the forties there has been a drastie
decline in the role of Jews in Soviet political
life. One index of it 13 the changing compo-
sition in the two houtes of the Supreme So-
viet. In December 1937, there were 32 Jews
among the 569 members of the Soviet of the
Union; In January 146. 5 out of 801; In
March 1950, 2 a 6'78 members. ?
Jews have been eased out of Soviet political
- efe
In 1937 there were 15 Jews among the 57,4
members of the Soviet of Nationelities; in
March 1950, 3 of 638 In April 1958 only 2
of 1.364 members of both houses could be
Identified as Jews. Among the 1.443 mem-
bers of the present Supreme Soviet El are
Jews.
Jewish representation at the republic and
locel levels is even lees than at the national
level:
Russian Federal Re-
public
Ukraine
Byelorussia
Uzbekistan
Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan.
Lithuania
Moldavia
Latvia
Kirghlzia
Tadzhikstan
Armenia
Turkmenistan
Estonia
Georgia
Total
Mimeo
Jewish
deputies
835
457
407
444
450
325
209
281
200
300
329
300
282
125
388
1
1
2
2
2
1
a
Ferceed
of Jews
ki2
423
445
4 44
444
31
11,44
0
0
0
.33
,30
0
0
With the single exception of Lithuania,
the percentage of Jews in the Supreme Soviet
of each republic Is substantially below its
population ratio. This is especially true for
the three Slavic republics where most Soviet
Jews live. It is also iignifleant that Moldavia
and Latvia, each with a sizable Jewish
minority, have no Jewish deputies.
The same trend 1E evident in local Soviets.
In every republic exeept Byelorussia the pto-
67 Realites (Paris) May 1967.
'6 Jews In Eastern Europe (London), De-
cember 1962.
portion of Jews is less than 1 percent, and
often only an infinitesimal fraction. In Jan-
uary 1961. Trud boasted that 7,500 Jews were
deputies in varioua Soviete of the UBBRA
It negleated to compare this with the total
of 1,882.000 elected deputise, making the
ratio of Jews In the Soviet political struc-
ture m eroseople. Since the selection 01
oandidates is a controlled affair dominated
by the party's leadership, it would appear that
Jews are regarded as being lees rellabli
poIttica ly.
There nes also been a great decline in the
numbers of Jews holding leadership posi ?
tions In the Soviet Communist Party. Among
the 175 members of its newly elected central
committee, only one has been speelfiealae
identifled by Soviet authorities FIS a Jew.
He is V. E. Dymehlts, a deputy premier and
chairman of the 17.8.B.R. Connell of th
Nationri Economy. Dymshits is often held
out as an example by Soviet propagandists
that there is no anti-Jewlsh diseriminatio I
In Soviet polities.
Prof. John Armetrong of the University if
Wisconsin. In a study of the nationality com-
position of the Ukraine Communist Part",
found that the proportion of Jews among
the delegates to the party congress had di -
dined from 4.1 percent in 1940 to 2.6 pereer t
in 1956." "It would seem that Jews wei e
deliberately restricted to a lower proportion
of the higher and more conspleuoue levels
of party leadership," Professor Armatror g
declared. Be ealctriated that B percent of
the Uleralnian Party membership is Jewise,
This hi a fairly high proportion since Jetta
axe only 2 percent of the Ukrainian populti-
tion. It is in the leadership cadre of the
party. however, that the number and pr-
portion of Jews have shrunk considerably.
There are no available 'statistics on the
number of Jews in the Mi-Union Communist
Party but there la no ban against Jews join-
ing thr party.
Maurice Hindus has reported that Je'vs
"are d 'finitely barred from careers in diplora-
acy, the party. the armed forces, in the trio
union, the state administration and other
politically and military sensitive areas."'
Data on this?or on the view that Jeffls
might be regarded aa security risks?ere
sketchy and fragmentary.
There are few Jewe today in the Sov .et
dIplorm tie corps. This is In sharp contrast to
the twenties and thirties. An examination
of a list of 475 top Soviet officials serving in
the foreign mlnistry and in meta of ita e n-
busks abroad ahows but 6 or 6 who appear
to lai.ve Jewish names. One is a deputy
okilef of a functional divielon in Moscow, n-
other an ambassador. a third a ministsr-
councilor.. The others hold positions of
lesser status. Some observera have also
noted that there In a relatively rznall num rer
of Jews In foreign trade. Of B4 names of -.op
Minds in the Ministry of Foreign Trade,
only 1 or 2 appear to be Jewish.
Information on the Jewirth composition of
the armed forces ls contradictory. Gen.
David Dragunsky, himself a Jew, spoke of
"hundreds of Jewish generals and admliaLs
In tt.e Soviet Union." He mentioned thiee:
the supreme commander in the Far East,
the corrimander of the military ezademy
and -,he commander of a defense force on the
southern border." There are reporta of a
number of Jewish regular army officer& on
?? hiovosti Press Agency in 1963 gave the
dirine as 7,623.
J. Armstrong. "The Soviet Bureaucr
Kilt( ; A Cam Study of the Ukrainien Ap-
paratus," 1959.
flinclus?"House Without a Roof." In
the areas mentioned by Hindus there is also
evidrnee that exceptions occur. Pragmatic
cone 'iterations ln the selection of personnel
of tea appear to be the dominant factor.
"Jevrish Chronicle (London), Dee. 1, 196L
active service (moitly in the ranks below
that of general.) But in almost every case
It is believed their commisslonera either pre-
dated the war or were granted in the early
years of the war. Few, if any, have been
appointed in recent years. The same is true
for the Soviet Mr Force.
XV. POPULAR ANTI-SEMITISM IN VIZ U.S.S.R.
The discriminatory patterns In Soviet life
do not operate in a vacuum. They reflect
popular attitudes toward Jews. The pat-
terns are responsive to and reinforced by the
attitudes; the attitudes in turn are neces-
sarily affected by the patterns.
Studies show deep roots of antisemitie
feeling
Soviet leadership is reluctant to admit
publicly that popular anti-Semitism is com-
mon anywhere in the U.S.S.R. At times it
will say so 111 private conversations with for-
elem." But when it speak to the Soviet
public, either directly or indirectly, it vehe-
mently denies there le any significant
amount of anti-Semitic sentiment.
Objective observers of Soviet life, includ-
ing many who are sympathetically disposed
to much of the regime's aims, disagree.
They find anti-Simttic stereotyping to be
commonplace, although no one really knows
how extensive and deep the hostile feelings
are. Soviet sociologists have refused to con-
duct scientific investigations of it." But
interviews of Soviet refugees conducted in
1950-51 by Harvard University shed some
light." While the sample was far from ade-
quate, it nonetheless suggested that Jews in
the Soviet Union are often depleted on the
one hand aa intelligent or intellectual, on
the other as moniyminded, clannish, aggres-
sive, calculating and disinclined to engage in
physical labor.
A study among Ukrainian refugees re-
vealed extensive prejudice against Jews.
The interviewer found that 47 percent of the
least educated, 51 percent of the moderately
educated and 36 percent of the well-edu-
cated Ukrainian respondents favored exclud-
ing Jews from social contacts. The middle-
educated Ukrainian, the interviewer con-
cluded, wea "particularly anti-Semitic both
In his perception of relations between his
own national group and Jews, and in expres-
sions of social exclusion he desired."'"
The persistence of widespread anti-Jewish
stereotyping was noted by a friendly ob-
server, Sally Belfrage:
"I could almost never hear a Jew described
except with the apologetic preface, he's a
Jew. but ? ? (he's very nice, he's very in-
telligent.) And frequently anti-Semitic
jokes. Rabinovich this, Rabinovich that (al-
ways Rabinovich.) Some Russians spend a
"Deputy Prerrier Anastas Mikoyan told a
1956 delegation of French Socialists that the
"remainders" of anti-Semitism persist be-
cause "In so abort a time it has been difficult
for us to eliminate prejudice." Khrushehev
told the aame group that the anti-Semitic
sentiments are 'remnants of a reactionary
past."
74 A. visiting Western scholar, Prof. Lewis
Feuer of the University of California, learned
this from Soviet sociologists and philoso-
phers while on an exchange tour to the
7I Harvard prceect on the Soviet social sys-
tem. Its essential findings were published
In "How the Soviet System Works" by Ray-
mond Bauer, Alex Inkeles and Clyde Kluek-
holm, Harvard University Press, 1956. The
sample was structured to represent as broad
a cross section of the Soviet European pop-
ulation as WaB possible under the given cir-
cumstances of availability of refugees, three-
fourths of whom had migrated during the
war, the others during 1916-50.
" Unpubl ished atudy by Sylvia Gilliam of
the Harvard project.
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE
great deal of their verbal energy on attack-
ing anything and everything Jewish."7/
Maurice Hindus and Harrison Salisbury
of the New York Times have detailed similar
instances of anti-Semitism. And as an indi-
cation that stereotyping can be found on the
highest levels of government J. B. Salsberg
quoted Khrushchev:
"After the liberation of Czernowitz the
streets were dirty. When the Jews were asked
why the streets were not being cleaned, they
replied that the non-Jewish segment of the
population which used to this work, had fled
the city. Of the thousands of Soviet citizens
who have toured abroad only three failed to
return. All of them were Jews. Wherever a
Jew settles, the first thing he does is build a
synagogue."
Salsberg also quoted Khrushchev as agree-
ing with Stalin that the Crimea, which had
been depopulated at the end of World War
II, "should not be turned into a Jewish colo-
nization center because in case of war it
would be turned'into a base for attacking the
U.S.S.R."
Khrushchev on another occasion had these
comments about the failure of Jewish colo-
nization in Birobidjan:
"In all ages, the Jews have preferred the
artisan trades; they are tailors; they work in
glass or precious stones; they are merchants,
pharmacists, cabinetmakers. But if you
take the building trades or metallurgy, you
can't find a single Jew to my knowledge.
"They don't like collective work, group
discipline, they have always preferred to be
dispersed. They are individualist " ? a
second characteristic: the Jews are essen-
tially intellectuals. They never consider
themselves sufficiently educated. As soon as
they can manage it, they want to attend the
university." 78
The New York Yiddish Communist daily
Freiheit accused Khrushchev of giving a false
picture of Jewish attitudes toward collective
labor, saying that prior to the war "hundreds
of thonsands of Jews were settled on the
land. Three national Jewish agricultural
regions were created in the Ukraine. Jews
were drawn into heavy industry. The Jew-
ish masses revealed this ability for organiza-
tion and collective effort in constructing, at
great sacrifice, the trade union movement in
America. ? * ? The Jewish laborer and com-
mon man showed his ability for collective
work in the construction effort in Israel, as
Khrushchev concedes in the same inter-
view." 7?
Khrushchev's reference to the absence of
Jews in metallurgy did not jibe with the
observation of a group of Communists who
were visiting Moscow at that time. They
found that among 12,000 workers in a Mos-
cow ball-bearing plant, 18 percent were
Jews." Harrison Salisbury, discussing the
Soviet leader's frequent statements on Jew-
ish questions, found that Khrushchev "al-
most invariably has displayed traces, at least
of the anti-Semitic prejudices common to
the borderlands of the Ukraine where he
grew up." 81
Little is done in Soviet education to
counteract anti-Semitic stereotypes. Soviet
history textbooks published in 1958 and
1960 for preuniversity grade levels tell noth-
ing of Soviet Jewry, its contributions to
Soviet culture or its role in Soviet life. This
is so even in sections of the volumes which
7' "A Room in Moscow" (London), 1958.
" Le Figaro (Paris), Apr. 9, 1958.
"Morgen Freiheit, Apr, 13, 1958.
88 "Nate Presse" (Paris).
81. The New York Times, Feb. 8, 1962.
At times, however, Khrushchev has strongly
condemned anti-Semitism as a product of
tsarism or capitalism. Twice during the
past year, he associated himself with others
in publicly lauding two prominent Soviet
Jews, friends of his who had died.
deal with the culture of minority nationali-
ties in the U.S.S.R.
Jews cast as villians in recent economic trials
A widely distributed book, "The Achieve-
ments of the Soviet Regime in 40 Years in
Figures," published in 1957 on the 40th an-
niversary of the Bolshevik revolution, makes
no reference to Jews or Jewish-contributions
in its 358 pages of statistics and tables on
virtually every aspect of Soviet life. News-
paper references to the nationality of Jews
who make distinguished contributions to
the arts, sciences and technology are rare.
In 1954, the Soviet Government published
"The National Traditions of the People of
the Soviet Union," a statistical breakdown
by nationality of World War II "Heroes of
the Soviet 'Union"?the nation's highest
award for bravery. The booklet makes no
reference to Jewish winners, even though
more than 100 were so honored."
Satirical attacks on Judaism and on per-
sons with Jewish-sounding names accused
of antisocial behavior crop up frequently
in the Soviet provincial press. Synagogue
leaders, in particular, are depicted as per-
sons engaged in unholy money dealings,
This has a special propaganda impact since,
in the Soviet cultural pattern, concern for
one's personal affluence is regarded as the
worst form of antisocial behavior. The
satirical articles appear largely in areas where
anti-Semitic sentiment Is deep rooted. A
1960 study disclosed 77 such feuilletons in
15 major provincial papers."
The new program of the Communist Party,
in dealing with "Communist morality,"
calls for "an uncompromising attitude to-
ward injustice, parasitism, dishonesty,
careerism, and moneygrubbing." In the
current Soviet campaign against economic
crimes, especially black rnarketeering and
currency speculation, the Jew is identified in
press accounts as the principal villain. This
has been evident in newspaper-stories of the
arrest and trial of Jews in Leningrad, Vilna,
Tbilisi in Georgia and elsewhere.
An analysis of news reports up to the early
months of 1963 shows that in 63 trials in 39
cities, 83 of 141 persons sentenced to death?
almost 60 percent?were Jews." In a lenghty
account of the Vllna trial, Trud published a
description of currency speculators quarrel-
ing over the spoils, then seeking out the local
rabbi to settle the dispute. "The rabbi not
only knew of the dark affairs his parishioners
were involved in, but was their arbiter as
well," the Trud story took pains to say." The
Georgian newspaper Zaria Vostoka, reporting
a Tbilisi trial, said that "speculation went on
full blast in the Lord's temple," and that the
accused even used the inside cover of the
religious book, the Torah, as a hiding place
for foreign currency." Leningradskaia Prav-
da pointed up the Jewish background of an
alleged offender this way:
"Having scraped together a fortune, he
dreamed of escaping abroad. It made no dif-
ference where?to his brother in England, to
Trud in January 1961 finally acknowl-
edged that there were more than 100 Jewish
award winners. A recent work published in
Israel reports that 67,000 Jews in the Red
army were cited for meritorious perform-
ance, bravery, or heroism during World War
II. Jews ranked fourth among nationalities
in award winners. The report also notes
that of 500,000 Jews in the Red army, 200,-
000 were killed in action.
88 One of every three feuilletons published
by a Latvian paper satirized Jews.
"Statistical data indicated that, as of Oc-
tober 1963, of those sentenced to die for
economic crimes in the Ukraine 90 percent
were Jews; in Moldavia, 83 percent; in the
RSFSR, 64 percent.
84Jan. 16, 1962.
" Nov. 30, 1961.
19179
another brother in England, to another
brother in Germany, or his sister in Israel" a't
In a controlled press whose stated objective
is to educate the public, these references, as
Harrison Salisbury has reported, "blur the
lines and smear the Jews by confusing them
with criminal and antisocial elements in the
population," 9?
To the extent that negative stereotypes of
the Jew persist and are even tolerated in. high
quarters, a permissive atmosphere is created
in which the Soviet bureaucrat who practices
discrimination is strengthened in his moti-
vations to do so. The permissiveness also
tends to crystallize sentiment of the Jew as a
security risk. This, in turn, leads to admin-
istrative measures that forcibly sever contacts
between Soviet Jews and their coreligionists
abroad, hastening the assimilatory process of
Soviet Jewry.
Negative stereotyping has led to anti-Jewish
rioting
The signs of racial overtones in the trials
Of economic offenders?as the Bulletin of the
International Commission of Jurists de-
scribed the preponderance of Jews among
those executed?disturbed Philosopher Ber-
trand Russell. He wrote to Khrushchev that
he was "deeply perturbed at the death sen-
tences passed on Jews in the Soviet Union
and the official encouragement of anti-Semi-
tism which apparently takes place."9? Khru-
shchev replied that to ascribe anti-Semitism
to the trials was a profound delusion since
individuals of other nationalities also had
been sentenced. "Which nation has more or
fewer criminals of any kind at one time or
another is a social question, not a national
question," Khrushchev declared, adding that
the nature of the Soviet state precludes the
possibility of anti-Semitism." 9?
Izvestia carried four letters out of several
hundred reactions which endorsed the Soviet
Premier's rebuff of the distinguished British
philosopher."- But Lord Russell found
neither the Premier's explanation nor the
arguments of the letterwriters very com-
forting. "I consider the fact that 60 per-
cent of those executed were Jews to be greatly
disturbing," he wrote to the editors of
Izvestia. "I fervently hope that nothing will
take place which obliges us to believe the
Jews are receiving unjust treatment in con-
tradition to the law." " Izvestia, neither
printed the letter nor responded to it.
This major Soviet organ offered a different
kind of response on October 20, 1963. One of
its chief editors, Iu. Feofanov, on that day
wrote a long article, "No Mercy for Thieves."
which described at length the alleged crimes
of two Jews named Shakerman and Roifman.
Feofanov deliberately noted that he was
mentioning the "Jewish family names" of the
individuals involved "because we pay no at-
tention to the malicious slander * ? * in
the Western press." He called for a show
trial. The possible repercussions of a show
trial upon popular attitudes toward Jews
aroused worldwide concern and protests.
Ultimately the 'U.S.S.R. backed away from
this proposal."
Official toleration of negative stereotyping
of the Jew may well have played a role in
stimulating, or at least not discouraging, a
87 Sept. 16, 1961.
88 The New York Times, Feb. 8, 1962.
so Feb. 2, 1963.
Khrushchev replied Feb. 21, 1963. The
exchange of correspondence. with Russell
was published in the Soviet press on Feb. 28.
01 Mar. 24, 1963,
Apr. 6, 1963.
"In the same way the Soviet 'Union re-
treated from a decision to execute an alleged
criminal identified as a "rabbi" in Sovetskaia
Rossiia, Aug. 30, 1963. Novosti on Jan. 14,
1964, reported that the death sentence had
been commuted to 16 years' imprisonment.
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19180
Auk
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE August 17
number of outbreaks against Jews and Jewitsit
institutions in the part few years. These
are some of the incidents reported in the
Western (but not Soviet) press:
"October 4-5, 1959: During Rosh Haahans,
hundreds of leaflets were distributed and
posted on buildings in Malakhovka, a small
Moscow suburb, by a 'Beat the Jews Com-
mittee.' The leaflets said in part:
"'Throw the Jews out of commerce where
they damage socialist oroperty and the peo-
ple's wealth. They al% an obstacle to the
development of commerce. They cause much
damage to the state sx d to the working peo-
ple, and amass profits for themselves.'
"Malakhovka's synagogue and the cottage
of the caretaker of the nearby Jewish ceme-
tery were set afire. The caretakers wife
was found dead from strangulation."
"August 1960: The Party newspaper in
Buinaksk, Daghestan, published a story that
Jews mix Moslem blocd with water to drink
for ritual purposes. This was the old blood
libel with a new twist?Moslem instead of
Christian blood. Twc days later the news-
paper repudiated the article as a 'political
error.'
"September 1961: Another blood libel
rumor erupted into anti-Jewish riots in the
town of Margalea, Uzbekistan. The rumor:
A Jewish woman bad kidnapped and slain a
2-year-old Moslem bay for 'ritual reasons.'
The militia ransacked her home and arrested
her 90-year-old father. Mob fury broke out
In the streets against Jews. Later, the local
newspaper reported that an Uzbek woman.
had kidnapped the boy. (He had been rd
tinnedunharmed.) Jews who had beett
assaulted vainly brought suit against the
mob leader. The court found that the prose-
cutor had Ignored the damaging role of the
militia and had mir imized the extent of
destruction of Jewish homes, and that the
searches and arrests of Jews were illegal.
It directed the prosecutor to correct his file
of evidence for submission at another trial."
"Spring 1862: A Jewish dentist in the towit
of Tskhaltubo. Georgi a was accused of draw
lug blood from the face and neck of a Geor.-
glen boy who came to play with his son, theta
selling the blood to the synagogue in
Kutaisi to be used in the baking of matzo.
The ,assistant public prosecutor, interro-
gatint the dentist, tortured him and seat
him to jail in Kutaisi. The dentist was freed
and the proceedings halted only after the
case reached higher judicial authorities in
central Georgia. Those authorities advised
the dentist, for his own safety, to leave his
native Georgia and take up temporary resi-
dence in Moscow.
"May 9, 1962: A blood libel rumor in Tash-
kent, 'Uzbekistan, led to assaults on Jews. it_
70-year-old Jewish wcman, accused of taking
blood from the ear of a Moslem girl for use
in the Passover rituel, was arrested by the
local prosecutor and detained for 3 weeks.
during which time her home was ransacked
by police. Again, there were mob assaults
against Jews. The blood libel, It was later
shown, had originated with a minor mishap
in the woman's store: the girl had fallen
and suffered a slight cut on her ear. The
mob leaders, as well as the marauding local
police, went unpunished."
'No mention of the incident was made in
the Soviet press. Blame', after a visit to the
Soviet Union in 1961, said he had been pri-
vately informed that the culprits had bean
apprehended and convicted.
" Since then (Nov amber 1981) there has
been no report of a second trial.
"When the story was reported in the West,
the Soviet Foreign Ministry's press depart-
ment -first called it a "complete invention,"
A lengthier denial was later issued by No-
vosti. Both statements, the Manchester
Guardian noted. "studiously avoid any mezi-
tion of the relevant. details and therefore
add to the plausibility of the reports."
"May 1932: Arsonlista set tire to a syna-
gogue in Tekhakaya, Georgia. Scrolls caf the
Law, wayer books, and prayer shawls were
badly burned.
"June 1982: A bomb exploded in front tf
the synagogue in Kutatel, Georgia. Two
other tombs were found inside the building.
"Rosa fleabane 1882. During the High Holy
Day services, and 3 weeks later during Sire-
hat Teralo (Rejoicing of the Law). bricks
were hurled Into the windows of the Greet
Synagogue of Moacow. A jagged 5-pounl
brick crashing through the glass, showered
splinters over many of the 6,000 Jews who
sang and danced during the Simhat Torah
service It narrowly mimed bitting the /c-
reel Ambassador and a New York Berate -
Tribune reporter. 'Unfortunately.' said tire
chief rabbi, 'we still have evidence of ant -
Semitierna"
"March 1983: Seven weeks before Passover
a rumor spread through the city of Vilna
Lithuania, that a 6-year-old girl had been
kidnaped and murdered by Jews to obtain
'Christian blood.' There were reports of Jew-
ish children being persecuted by school-
mates and of hooligan attacks upon Jews.
The child's body was later found, It was
learned that she had been murdered by a
Lithuanian student who had committed
suicide."
The tragedy of these and other episodes,
bad as they are, is perhaps less in their oe-
currence than in the failure of Soviet autho %-
Wes to expose publicly their fraudulent
origin';.
Kreml at view: there is no anti-Semitism
U.S.S.R.
Instead the authorities constantly repe it
the refrain that anti-Semitism does not and
cannot exist in the U.S.S.R. When Khnt-
sachet can deny that even Stalin's notori-
ous doctors' plot was anti-Semitic?as he
clearly implied in his letter to Lord Russell?
then It is hardly surprising that ofaciels
will refuse to take public cognizance of lesser
anti-Semitic outbursts. To still any darner
for dealing with internal anti-Semitism the
regime has in recent motnhs turned to co a-
demnation of anti-Semitism in the West?
in the United Stated. West Germany, Arge
tina.
In one recent anti-Semitic incident. ho-v-
ever, :3oviet authorities did take at least a
partially positive step. although not until
world clamor for action (including vocifer-
ous outcries from foreign Communist parties)
had become too insistent to be rebuffed.
The Incident was the publication last Octo-
ber in Kiev of an anti-Semitic book, "Jude-
lam Without Embellishment," written by T.
Klehko. The Ukrainian Academy of Sciences
was the publisher. The work carried vicious
caricatures of Jews, reminiscent of Julius
Stretcher's " Der Stuermer."
The book and It. contents became known
in the West last March. The hue and cry
which arose took on crescendo-like propor-
tions, and the major Communist parties in
the West demanded an explanation. Finally,
after some halfhearted Soviet statements
failed to still the outburst. the Ideologleal
Commission of the Soviet Communist Party
Central Committee on April 4 released a
statement condemning the book as contra-
dicting "the party's Leninist policy on reli-
gious and nationality questions." The en-
barraased Commission' acknowledgedthat the
book "may be interpreted in the spirit of
anti-Semitism." Khrunhchev's son-in-11w,
Alexel Adsubel, also announced that all
copier had been removed from the book eta is,
Ironically. the Pravda story on the Con-
mission statement also praised a book.
"Catez.hism Without Kmbellishment," which
carries many of the earns types of negat.ve
stereatypic images about Jews. Such c p-
proval, plus the continued publication of
"Tae New York Times, Oct. 22, 1962.
literature that stigmatizes Judaism in vul-
gar tones of bigotry, indicate that the party
has yet to reverse its position.
There are vigorous voices among Soviet
intellectuals eager to sensitize the public
to the evils of anti-Semitism. The distin-
guished Soviet writer, K. Pauatovsky, pilloried
the Stalinist bureaucrats "who quite openly
carry on anti-Semitic talk of a kind worthy
of pogrommakers. Yevtushenko, In his
autobiography," relates how he came to
loathe the anti-Semitism of leading literary
bureaucrats. Referring to a prize-winning
Stalinist poet, he wrote:
"Unfortunately :r.t was people such as this
who sometimes nude 'literary policy,' infect-
ing it with evil-smelling things of all sorts,
including anti-Semitism. To me, both as a
Russian and as a man to whom Lenin's
teaching is dearer than anything in the
world, anti-Semitism has always been doubly
repulsive."
Soviet intellectuals are growing voice of
reason
For Yevtushenko, communism and anti-
Semitism are "mutually exclusive" and he
has raised Ma voice to that end. The power-
ful "Babi Yar" was one example. The last
lines of the poem express an attitude shared
by many Soviet intellectuals:
"Let the 'Internationale' ring out
When the last anti-Semite on earth is
buried.
There is no Jewish blood in mine.
But I am hated by every anti-Semite as a
Jew
And for this reason,
I am a true Russian."
Yevtushenko's autobiography also tells of
public reaction to his first reading of "Babi
par." "When I finished," the poet wrote,
"there was dead silence. / kept creasing
the paper in my hand, afraid to look up.
When / did, the entire audience was on its
feet, suddenly the applause broke and went
on for about 10 minutes. People came up
on the stage and hugged me. My eyes were
full of tears."
Yevtushenko received about 20,000 lettere
when the poem was published. Only 30 or
40 attacked him. This encouraging fact
suggests that a government-sponsored pro-
gram aimed at combating anti-Semitism and
restoring the religious and cultural rights of
Jews would have substantial support.
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDE-
PENDENT BUSINESS SUPPORTS
PRINCIPLE OF TAX DEDUCTION
FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES
Mr. I:Eta-TM:1. Mr. President, the
National Federation of Independent
Business, whose membership is composed
of more than 190,000 independent busi-
ness proprietors, recently completed a
nationwide voting survey on a bill I in-
troduced in this Congress (S. 1236) to
permit an income tax deduction for the
educational expenses of students or their
parents who may be bearing the brunt of
these vital outlays.
The result of this vote, I am glad to
report, was that 72 percent of the mem-
win a 1956 speech to the Moscow Writers
Union.
l? Published in the French newspaper
L'Express.
"''The poem and three others have been
set to IICRIBie by Shostakovich as part of his
13th symphony. In response to official pres-
sures, Yevtushenko (and Shostakovich)
agreed to add a line to the poem which reads
that Russians and Ukrainians had also died
at Babi Yar,
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