0" '. •• l jpage Sixtee!l . , ~': .)1'<-- 1\' ..... ' /, THE JEWISH POST Thursday, December 4, 19C>':, -., --. '."""~ j ,., ""'c!"y, December 4, 1969 THE JEWISH POST Page Seventeen >

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1 I, JE S I B LI IA @ 5 ... THE 10 F F THE WORLD building in which all the other organizations meet: travel. They had not the strength. It was more (In an interview with the JeNS, Anatol Kuznetsov ism. The policeman moved in, demanding his work, and hoped they would understand. 1,,, Jacob &Ife,. charged the Soviet regime with carrying through a papers, his name, where he was staying. Even the Zionist organization, Wizo, B'nai B'rith, a comfortable to stay put. deliberate policy of oppression against its Jewish · Outside, more than a thousand other Jews school for children, a synagogue with a rabbi and minority. Here, a young Jewish visitor back from a as he started to say that he had no identification Jews began to realize that they could not go gather, among them many young men who dare " I shochet. on sitting on their suitcases, that they must recent wide-ranging tour of Russia, describes the with him, the crowd of Jews started menacingly not enter, lest it be noted by some informer. Any in i WHEN you take yOU1' seat in the plane that When Hitlerism had its greatest success, the organize their life on a more permanent basis. reality of Jewish life the USSR today.) toward the policeman. We. hurried away. Their who approach the tourists, easily picked out by hostility was clear. Had that policeman attempted . is to bring you from Buenos Airies to La anti-Semites succeeded in influencing the presi­ They started building up a social system, created the cut of their clothes, are chased away ·by syna-· ,.~ Paz, the capital of Bolivia, you find beside the dent of Bolivia to expell.the Jews from the coun­ anything, I have no doubt they would have torn gogue officials. One ,bystander says out loud:' their own Jewish institutions to care for their him limb from limb. q usual safety-belt at your seat also a rubber tube try and confiscate their wealth. Jews received an special needs. There are two Jewish cultural and AVING moved among them in Moscow, Baku "You see, what it's like here," and the official ,,~ marked "Oxygen". As soon as the plane flies out. ordei' that by a 8p'ecific date. they m1,lst leave the· social institutions in La Paz~ the Circulo Israelita H and Leningrad for three weeks, it is imp os- . Every chance encounter brought' another retorts: "Yes, it's very good." ,ij of Salta, the last frontier town in the Argentine, story - one of the boy sitting his medical finals country. Then a strange incident happened which and the Beth Am. In both you can find Jews with sible'to write about the plight of Soviet Jews in iii it keeps climbing higher, about the great moun­ in Kishinev during the Six-Day War who was Not far away, down the road, there is another recalls the story of the Book of Esther. The their familIes and their friends spending a· pleas­ understatements. Their problems are too real, synagogue, a' community of Caucasian mountain i', tains, over the clouds. The engines are all out famous Argentinian· dramatic artist Bertha ant afternoon together." Most Jews in Bolivia whether they be those of young Jews dropped approached .by the examining professor and like an automobile making its way up a steep asked, pointedly, for his views on the fighting. Jews, with 1,500 years of unbroken settlement ::l _ Singerman was idolized in Latin America; where came .from Germany and Austria, so there i.s a from educational institutions because they are in this part of the world. They speak no Yiddish :~1 hill. Your eyes begin to swim. YOijr head turns they called .her "Ambassadbra de la Poesia" (Am­ good deal of Viennese "Gemuetlichkeit" about seen entering synagogues, or religious Jews de­ The boy answered that "Israel was the aggres­ or Hebrew. The women look and dress like desert , "., dizzy. You are short of breath. Like the other bassador of Poetry). The president of Bolivia them. There is also a central representative Jew­ prived of prayer books and kosher meat, 0): of sor." But, when the professor ordered him to Arab women, all in black'. Their synagogue is. · ,1 passengers you have to use the oxygen tube, to was one of the staunchest admirers of the Jew­ ish ;body comprising all the different sectors of Jewish families in .Moscow and Leningrad re­ go to the front of the class and repeat the state­ shabby, unkempt. ';; inhale. The plane stops to allow the passengers ish artist. She went to him and explained that Jewish life, composed of the following four orga­ ment, he refused - and was ordered out of the quired to bury each of their, dead between two Leningrad, where fear is rampant. No one to breathe real air, and to get used to the height. he was committing a grave 'injustice against in­ nizations - the Jewish religious community, the non-Jews, because the authorities refuse to make examination room to an obli~atory "fail" mark. \ trusts anyone else. Outside the synagogue, set j You are more than 6;000 feet above, sea level. nocent people. B'nai B'rith ( the Zionist Federation and the Cir­ ·available land for a Jewish cemetery. Some just came up to mutter their names and' back in a courtyard capable of holding two or ;: When you leave the plane you feel as though He asked her, "What intere'st do you have in culo Israelita. Now there is a big building in The JCNS has published reports of Simchat addresses. Others sang the words of Hatikv/l in . three hundrerl people, a Russian workman is busy ., you. were groping your way along a rQof from the Jews 1 I see that you even have tears in La Paz the Jewish ·Centre (Centro Israelita) Torah in Moscow,. but until you have experienced my ear. Inside the s)'ln:agogue, the older ones ; whieh you might go toppling down at any minute. knocking stakes into the ground. Why? He ex­ your eyes." "I, too, am a Jewish daughter," she erected 'at a cost of over 100,000 American dol­ ! it for yourself, it is impossible to convey the are more circumspect. They will warn you that plains openly and simply that the Jews have a i The sign in front of us lights up at last: replied .. lars, which is big money in Bolivia; , impact of that massed gathering of thousands \ t~is one and ~his one are informers. And the habit of dancing and singing here at this time .j "Fasten your safety belt." The engines roar. The of young Jews, repeating time and again the:three "mformers" WIll warn you of others; . ; plane descends. We have land at the airfield of He felt very much ashamed and i'evoked the The small Jewish community in Bolivia has of year and that, in order to prevent a disturb­ decree. He admitted that his advisors drove him experienced very hard and difficult days. There or four Hebrew songs with which all are familiar But they are clever these old ones. A lady, : the Bolivian capital La Paz, the roof of the world. ance, he has orders from the police, to erect a to it. Apparently theywer:e well paid by well were times when anti-Semitism threatened their " long into the night, their dancing h.ere and there, aged 84, winked with one eye when she said: "Oh, ; La Paz is nearly 4,000 metres above sea level. ; barricade. known sources. I encouraged by elderly Jews playing tape-recorded yes, everything is wonderful here." · :; To the new arrival it seems to he suspended in existence. But with pro-western policy, condi­ .. Before we leave the city, the barricade is When ,the ·Nazis were busy agitating during tions became easier. The Jewish community as music to them. . And with the 'other, when she added: "Every­ :! the air. The streets look as though they were Or the overwhelming experience - dreamlike fully in place, effectively barring any gathering '.; stuck to the tops of the mountains' that wind up the war agairist the J~ws in Bolivia, in the press such built a pavilion in the Ciudad de Nino (Boys' thing is marvellous." They' talk a kind of dou!.:l1e~ inside the synagogue compound. In other years, hom~less when contemplated from the :'j and up. Your brea~h fails you when you start Town for children. The president's wife distance of London - of be­ · we '3re told, thousands of laid the foundation stone. When the agreement ing hemmed in by hundreds young Jews gathered here, ~! ~~~~i~:r i~:t~~~e: ~~~e~~'el ;~~~o~~~';J~u:e~: was signed between Bolivia and Israel under just as they will do in Mos­ which Israel gives technical aid to Bolivia, there :: of young . .fews pressing you ,1 walking over empty space. Passers-by keep stop­ with questions about your life cow. But here it is no longer 'j ping to catch their ,breath. They press their hands was a military parade, and the hand played Ha­ in England ("You' .mean: you allowed. :' to their chests,and then contin.ue on their way. tikvah, and the Israeli flag 'flew alongside the can actually walk into a shop ·Looking back now 'on the t; La Paz looks wonderful at night, with thou~ Bolivian flag. The Israeli instructors in the kib­ and buy a Magen David like total experience, it is as if '1 sands of lights shimmering over a dozen moun­ butz-patterned agricultural communal settlement that ?"), about Jewish life these Russian Jews were in : l tain heights, in the tortuous winding streets that established by the Bolivian government were re­ abroad and, above all else, one huge intermpent camp U go climbing higherand higher. A cluster of houses ceived by the settlers with vivas! Bolivian chil­ : about what life is like in Is~ \ where I, the visitor, was given :: from a distance looks like a pillar of fire. dren have been enrolled in the Jewish school in rae!. '. \ the unusual privilege of walk­ !J The Jewish community of Bolivia is actually La Paz. And when the Jews commemorated the "Jew" is stamped accusing­ ing around among the in­ ;i the youngest of all the Latin American countries. Warsaw Ghetto Uprising a number of leading lyon their identification mates. (They say in Lenin­ Due to the capricious climate and its economical Bolivian politicians· attended, including the For­ grad .that there are three '1 eign Minister and the President of the Senate. papers and their Jewish iden­ i conditions, Bolivia did not attract the Jews to , . tity is thrown around them typ'es of Jews: those who :;, immigrate there. The first Jewish immigrants Cochabamba )las the second largest" Jewish have' been in prison, those like a barricade preventing Hwho came, hoped that ~here i~ would be ~asier. to community in ~olivia, after La Paz. Unlike La their forward progress in who are in prison and those ".J cross o,ver to the neIghbormg countrIes WIth Paz, Cpchabampa is encircled . ,by parks and gar­ trade or profession, so Israel . who will go to prison.) : better economie opportunities. The "Circulo dens, full of flowers. The climate is mild and has become the obsessive They. touch you and say: j,j Israelita" - the representatves of all the Jewish ·pleasant. The sky is always clear and perhaps dream of many young people "Give our love to the Jewish lorganizations, recently celebrated its 30th' anni­ for that reason the people are more easy-going. .people." They pull' at your with whom I and my com­ : 1versary. There are some unofficial dates and The 'city panorama is like a vision, like the panion were able to speak dur- sleeve and urge: "Don't for­ get us -. we, too, belong.". Ustatistics, howev~r, concerning Jews in various. dream of a painter - flat, without a hill, though ing our Soviet visit. ' :j parts of the country. In the 1880s there was II great mountams rise surrounding it on every They are surprisingly well­ Talk to them about the future '. j Jewish officer from the Austrian-Hungarian army, and they exp~ess a desperate side. Everywhere the' streets and great moun­ informed about Israel.' The :., Eduardo Poznanski, whose adventures brought tains reach up and enclose it. It seems impos. parties, policies and personali­ optimism born from their hopelessness. .; him to Brazil and in La Paz 'built a museum sible to go any further - like the end of the ties involved in the recent ::where one can see remnants of the past Inca Synagogue at Cochabamba, Bolivia world - you .must go back. . General Election are as well- . The older ones look to a. civilization. . . . .' miracle; the youngsters to ,I There, cut off from the world, lives a small known to them as' to us here in London. talk with which one soon becomes familiar.' .ii But there are unofficial dates which go back and on' the radio, the Jews answered back by some triumph of will. I walked in a Moscow park arranging an exhibition with the aid of the Joint ·but very active and· vital Jewish community, Many know Hebrew, teaching it one to another, In Balui,. the general atmosphere seems freer, with three,young men: They sang "We will over­ ;.1 much earlier. According to these, Jews appeared Jews from Polish Galician tpwnships, who have exchanging new woras. They learn their geogra­ brighter than in Moscow, but because it is a much :,j in Bolivia soon after the Spanish conquest. They Distribution Committee, illustrating what the come." But how? "We don't know but some­ Jews have done in Bolivia in the short time they brought their old Jewish folk-ways with them. phy of Israel from coveted picture postcards (one smaller town, the visitor is more closely watched. thing will happen. Something will happen." '}; settled in Potosi, where, Bolivia's most celebrated young man confided that he had made slides. of iisilver mines are situated. There is a church have lived there. Thousands of people, including I do not know the exact number of Jews in The synagogue is in a basement, with windows . (COPYright by the Jewish Chronicle New8 &; Feature Service. Cochabamba. About a third are E'ast ,European these postcards arid operated a lending library at street level. The rabbi is clearly frightened ::there, where the windows are decorated with pic­ the president at that time, General Panaranda, for his friends). , visited the Exhibition and saw how Jews had Jews. And you do not have to go looking for of talking to strangers. Voices around you whis-. ltures of the Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos them. Every evening.when the mild breezes blow Every facet, of Israeli. life interested them. per that the gabbai, known here as the Yoshev 'BEIRUT CALLING : iand others. At that time it was part of Peru, started dressmaking factories, were maldng car­ pets, lamps, mirrors, even microscopes and other through the tall trees in the Plaza, you can find Time and again, I was pressed for such informa­ Rosh, is not to be trusted, that there is a man . (Continued from page 11) fand when the Inquisition was established in the them all together on the "Jewish benches." They tion as the cost of a refrigerator in Israel or the from the Religious Affaires Ministry in the con­ news. But the main Middle Eastern news is war ;1Peru.vian capital, Lima, lY,ith its jurisdic.tion ex­ scientific instruments .. What little there was of industry in Bolivia was largely due to. the achieve­ sit there di~cussing the latest news from Israel, . price ofa bus ticl,et. Incessantly the question gregation (later I find he is familiarly known as news, and the only country capable of making any ·jtendmg also to La Paz, 'jf;he Jews fled mto the they all share a newspaper that has got through was asked why, if it was so easy to move from the "malach .hamavet" - the angel of death). significantly, is Israel. ' jmountains. One still comes across Jewish name ment of Jewish refugees. As a consequence many :lamong the best families in Bolivia. \ things were no obtained, made in Bolivia, instead :after many days delay .. They argue, about world England to Israel, I was living in London. And; . It seemS' far-fetched until, returning to the · Israel is ,thus the true news-centre .of the politics and about local politics. And there is with' similar frequency, I was pressed to explain, MIddle East. What representation has the world­ :; A great Jewish immigration to Bolivia com- of beipg imported at high cost. The newspapers synagogue to pick up something I left behind; I printer appreciative reports and articles about a lot of gossip. One bench belongs to the Jews how a Jew .like Meir Wilner could lead a pro­ fir.:d the "man from the Ministry" going through renowned BBC in. this news ?~ntre? · :{me.nced in 1938-39, when Hitler came into power. the impressi~e contribution made by a handful who have lived there for years in Cochabamba, Moscow Communist party in Israel. Communists my prayer book in case I have concealed some­ It has the servIces of my frIend Michael Elkins ii;The people felt that danger was approaching. and consider themselves almost natives. The next in Israel - the very idea puzzled' them. thing' inside it. What? part time. The American magazine Newsweek ;.iJu'lt then, Bolivia had a young liberal President, of Jewish immigrants to Bolivian development. The Jewish pedlar was a civilizing agent in Boli~ bench. to it is' that of the new immigrants, the During one Simchat Torah night encounter has the other part. Mr. Elkins is a brilliant cor­ ,i;lOerman Bosh, who did not make difficulties for r" • At Baku synagogue on Yom Kippur I witness .'lJewish immigrants. We can estimate that about via. He changed their whole mode of life.· greenhorns, people saved from the death of the in Arkhipova Street - the long road containing an unusual event. A young American, another resI?ondent, one. of the best the BBG has. But . \ camps, who had a very hard time before they the Central Synagogue and focal point for the visitor with a female companion, is reading the he IS human, WIth two legs and one mouth. "no,ooo German Jews escaped to Bolivia. However, The Jews initiated the little factory, a work­ managed after much wandering to get into Boli­ youngsters who 'had' gathered from every part Can the BB.C he satiSfied with having half a ;;k: great majority of them later left for America, shop, like in ,the old home, in the Nalewkis, in Haftora. The congregation stares in silent awe, :JArgentina or Brazil. Today there are perhaps via. You do not have to listen to them long to of the city' to sing, dance and talk - my com­ some with tears pouring down their cheeks. Out-, . cor{espo~dent m the nerve centre of what we Warsaw, the workshop in the house where the discover that they feel cramped, hemmed in here ar~ t?ld IS all area that can imperil the peace of }!.,OOO Jews in Bolivia. . . family lived.. The made a decent living and man­ , t. panion became separated from me. A friendly side, mothers lift their. children to the windows and they are trying to get away to Israel. The; voice whispered in my. ear that behind him, so that the ,visitors can see them. A woman dashes Bntam an~ the world? And if it is, are those who :f The first Jews in the Latin American coun­ aged to save a few dollars. Some still regarded find it very hard to adjust here.' Sometimes in where he stood in the centre of a small crowd, foot the bIll .for the service equally satisfied? 'tries used to come knocking on doors with bundles Bolivia as a stepping-stone to get ultimately into the d:ark of the night they still see the fires of (1 ' up to one of the visitors' tosay'a word and is' '~lm their shoulders, until they established the '1 there was a policeman. .. , . dragged, protesting away. A man comes to the When. BeIrut rather than Britanni-a appears the United States. Others were tired of wander­ tb.e crem~to,rium ovens, then one starts humming , I went over. My campanion was expounding, synagogue late in the day and approaches one ~o be rulIng the B~C waves, I'd get interested : Circulo Israelita, now celebrating their· thirtieth ing and were ready to settle down where they I-I1!sh. GlIck s song of the Partisans, "Never say in Russian, his own very personal views on J"uda- of the visitors to beg forgiveness - he had to If I were a Westmmster man. 1tnniversary. Actually the organization is for were. Climbing· over the mountain roads with thIS' IS the last toad that you go!" And the' \ '~ (CoD:Yrilrht by the Jewish Chronicle News & Feature Sen-ice I Bolivian Jews who possess their own modern their packs had cooled their desires for further others take up the song. I ".' ' ( .,:' I ! ' '. ' .., ,~ .j .J 'I' " ' ~. j . i',

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