Newspaper Page Text
1 / 562Torahsof Communities Wiped
Out by Nazis Arrive in London
LONDON (JTA)—A massive ship
ment of 1,562 Torah scrolls orig
mally belonging to Jewish commun
ities in Czechoslovakia wiped by the
Nazis, arrived here recently from
ITague and will form the nucleus
of a Jewish museum at the West
minster Synagogue here. The mu
seum will serve as a memorial to
the destroyed Jewish communities
of Czechoslovakia.
The Torahs, which were shipped
across Kurope in five sealed rail
road cars, were purchased from the
surviving Czech Jewish community
for the Westminster Synagogue by
an unidentified Anglo Jewish bene
factor for $30,000 During the Sec
ond World War, the Torahs had
been collected by the Nazis with the
apparent intention of forming a
research center for the study of
"extinct” communities. More than
95 percent of the Jewirfi population
of Bohemia and Moravia, where the
Torahs were used lief ore the war,
were killed by the Nazis.
About a quarter of the Torahs
are in perfect condition. Most are
less than 100 years old, although
some date back to the 18th cen
tury with one known to have been
written in 1719. Since the surviving
Jewish community in Czechoslova
kia numbers only about 8,000 per
sons, there was no demand for the
large number of scrolls in that coun
try.
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The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Established 1925
Vol. XXXIX
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 1964
NO. M
WJC Sees Loophole in UN
Draft (Convention Against Bias
Sale of Soviet Anti-Semitic Book
Stopped inMoscow;Sold in Ukraine
book, "Judaism Without Kmbelliab-
NKW YORK < JTA)—The possibil
ity that the United Nation's draft
convention on the eliminaLian of
racial discriminaion might leave a
loophole to racist offenders, has
been raised by the World Jewish
Congress here.
In a document, submitted to the
Secretary General of the United Na-
10ns in connection with the recent
meeting of the UN Commission on
Human Rights and circulated by the
United Nations, the World Jewish
Congress declared that the Draft
Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Racial Discrimination
is destined to become a valuable in
strument against discrimination.
But the WJC expressed concern
about "the provisions relating to
the implementation awl effective
ness of its rules.”
Declaring that "these provisions
are inadequate," the WJC suggested
that the international community be
given adequate powers to effect the
principles enunciated by the Conven
tion. The WJC stated that the in
ternal judicial remedy, proposed in
the draft, "will be ineffective in
States in which the independence of
the tribunals is questionable, to say
the least, and which are often pre
cisely those who are guilty of ccn-
demnaWe practices.”
Under the Draft Convention’s sys
tem of reporting and the additional
measures of implementation, only
States may set the established
machinery in motion. The World
Jewish Congress stated that this
... in brief
CHICAGO (JTA)— More than 60
rabbis gathered in tlie Morrison
Hotel here at a luncheon to honor
J. L. Fishbein. editor and publisher
of The Sentinel, Chicago’s English-
Jewish weekly. Mr. Fishbein was
honored on the occasion of his 20
years of service as editor of the
publication.
TORONTO (JTA)—Eric D. Butler,
of the Australian League of Rights,
now touring Canada, called off a
meeting in a hotel in Edmonton,
Alberta, after It was visited by
about 40 persons who were “un
invited.” Butler denied producing an
edition of the “Protocols of the
Elders of Zion" but stated that it
was issued by the Heritage Press,
an institution which he admitted
being associated with
A. Miller, of Calgary, speaking
for the Jewish Community Relations
Committee, denounced Butler for his
tactic of posing as an anti-Common
ist but "using this as mask for
anti-Jewish incitement."
offers no guarantee for the victims
of discrimination, because "States
do not customarily exercise the
right of complaint against other
States with which they maintain
friendly relations.”
Doubting whether any State will
intervene on behalf of a minority
group subjected to discrimination
within the jurisdiction of a mayor
power, the World Jewish Congress
noted that were such a protest to
be made, there would be a risk ol
a human rights problem being trans
formed into a diplomatic conflict.
To offset these difficulties, the
WJC suggested the establishment of
a broad system of implementation
in which individuals and organiza
tions would take part If this was im
possible under present conditions,
the World Jewish Congress proposed
as a minimum measure the right
of petition, complaint and protest by
organizations which are independent
of governments and have compe
tence and recognition in the field
of human rights. The WJC’s mem
orandum welcomed the inclusion of
an article condemning nti-Semi-
tlam.
LONDON (JTA)— Obviously per
turbed over the protests which the
anti-Semitic book “Judaism Without
Embellishment”— published by the
Ukrainian Academy of Science in
Kiev—has provoked throughout the
world, even among Communist
parties in the free world, the Soviet
authorities have stopped the sale of
the book in Moscow book stores.
However, the book is still sold in
Soviet Ukraine, it was reported
her« from Moscow.
The stoppage of the sale of the
book in Moscow is of no importance,
since the book, with its Nazi-like
anti-Jewish cartoons, is printed in
the Ukrainian language, which Rus
sian residents of Moscow do not
understand. It has been printed in
12,000 copies, and was intended
primarily for distribution among
Ukrainians who maintain their own
language, their own newspapers,
their own schools and other cultural
institutions.
In Kiev, where the book was pub-
lishd, the Ukrainian-ianguage news
paper, Radyanska Kultura publish
ed an article criticizing the draw
believers.” This criticism was dis
seminated by Tass, official Soviet
news agency. Last week, another
Soviet news agency, Novosti, distri
buted an article citing the book as
an example of the constitutional
right of an atheist to engage in anti-
religious propaganda.
The article disseminated by Tass
criticized the book for linking its at
tack against Jewish religion with
“criticism of the internal life of the
State of Israel.” The article said that
Israel has “democratic, progressive
institutions of workers who support
peace, peaceful coexistence and
democratic freedom and who are
against colonialism and imperial
ism.”
PARIS (JTA)—The storm among
Communist and pro-Soviet groups in
France over the Soviet anti-Semitic
LONDON (JTA)—Religious Jews
throughout the Soviet Union ob
served the seder but without matz-
oth since only a few families suc
ceeded in baking matzoth for them
selves, it was established here today
on the basis of reports from Mos
cow. Most of the matzoh parcels
sent by relatives from abroad to
Jews in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev,
Odessa, Minsk, Kishinev and other
Soviet cities remained undelivered.
The Central Synagogue in Moscow,
as well as the two smaller congre
gations in the capital and its en
virons, were reported filled beyond
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Soviet au
thorities are apparently displaying
considerable concern over the forth
coming two-day meeting of the
American Jewish Conference on So
viet Jewry, which is to open here
April 5.
The Soviet Embassy today trans
mitted to the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency office here two releases from
the Soviet Novosti press agency on
this subject. One is published in
the name of a number of Soviet
rabbis and "Jewish community
ieaders in the Soviet Union”—the
usual method employed in refuting
charges of anti-Semitic actions in
the USSR. The other is a statement
by the Jewish workers of the Krasny
Proletary plant in Moscow, describ
ing the Washington conference as
mi "insult” to the Soviet Jews.
ment,” continued to rage this week.
Leftist groups took the lead in what
amounted to a plea to the Soviet
Union to speak out and ease the
popular hostility evoked by the book
and its virulently anti-Semitic car
toons.
For the third time, L’Humanite,
the organ of the French Communist
Party, continued its unprecedented
criticism of the Soviet Union by the
technique of reprinting without com
ment the wide-ranging protests of
other organizations over the Soviet
Union’s refusal to repudiate the
book, published last year by the
Ukrainian Academy of Science,
written by T. K. Kitchko.
Among the protests which have
been pouring into the Soviet Em
bassy in Paris were denunciations
—tm to page 4
capacity Bor services during the
first two nights and days of Pass-
over. Large crowds of worshipper*
were reported having attended syn
agogue services also in the other
principal Jewish centers around the
USSR.
The Israel Ambassador in Moscow,
Yosef Tekoah, conducted a seder in
his Embassy Friday evening, with
57 persons in attendance. But not
one Moscow Jew had been invited
to the Embassy seder this year,
had been the custom in previous
years. .
The Jewish workers are quoted
as saying “the aim of the Washir^p
ton conference is to ascribe to our
state what is not to be found in it,
which means to slander the Soviet
Union. A discreditable undertaking!
We protest against it.” The “pro
test,” signed by the Soviet rabbis
and Jewish community leaders,
asks: "In whose interests are you
acting, spreading lies about the
Soviet Union, about our life?”
Asserting that “we fully enjoy the
civil rights enjoyed by all Soviet
people,” the statement concludes,
“On behalf of the congregations in
Moscow, Kiev and Minsk, we strong
ly protest against slanderous attack*
on our Soviet country which hre
done so much for die Jewish peo
ple.”
ings in the book as being “of low
artistic standard and can only insult
Displays Proof of Anti-Semitism
If orris B. Abram, President of American Jewish Committee and
s member of United Nations Subcommission on Prevention of
Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, displays a Ukrain
ian language book at the Committee’s Institute of Human Rela-
« ons In New York. Mr. Abram saya the book, entitled “Judaism
Without Embellishment,” attacks Jew* by using Nazi-like cari
es tores and anti-Semitic diatribes.
Soviet Jews Observe
Seder Without Matzoth
Moscow Shows Concern Over
Jewish Parley on Soviet Jewry