Peri4dio Reports on THE JEWISH POSIT ION published by THE INSTITUTE OF JEWISH AFFAIRS VOL. II Number 11 November, 1981 Institute of Jewish Affairs 1 World Jewish Congress 15 East 84th Street New York 28~ N. Y. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. RECENT EVENTS IN THE SOVIET UNION •••••••••••••• 4••••••••••••••••••• 1 II. RECENT NEO-NAZ! AND PAN-GERMA.N ACTIVITIES IN AUSTRIA._. ••••••• 6J• ••• • 3 III. THE STRANGE CASE OF LAZAR VRACARIC••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 5 IV • ANT I-\.ITEWIS H ACT IV IT IES • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• -• ••••••• -• • • • • • • • 7 1. Austria ••••••••••••••••• 7 10. Japan•••••••••••••••••••• 10 2. Be lgi urn........... .. 8 11. L-e bMon ••••••••••••• ~ •••· • 11 3. Bra~il•••••••••••••••••• R 12. Libya. •••••••••••••••••••• 11 4. Canada ••••• , •••••••••••• 8 13. Poland••••••••••••••• ~ ••• ll 5. Egypt .................... 8 14. South Afriea. ••• ~••••••••• 12 6. France •••••••••••••••••• 9 15. Switzerland ••••••• ~.~•••• 12 7,. Germany ••••••••••••••••• 9 16. United Arab Republio~~.~. 12 B. Great Britain ••••••••••• lO 17. USSR•·••••••••••••••••••• 12 9. Italy .................... lO 18. USA•f•••••~~•••••••~••••• 14 19 .. Uruguay •••••••••••• l5 · V. PRCSECmTION OF WAR CRIMINALS •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 15 1. Austria •••••••••••••••• 15 3. Poland••••••••••••••••••• 17 2. Germany •••••••••••••••• 15 4. Switzerland •••••••••••• ·•• 17 VI. MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS ••• ,. •••••••••• •••••••••••• .'•••• ·••••••••••••••• l'l 1. Algeria•••••••••••••••• 17 16. Germany••••-·•••••••••••• 23 2 •. Australia. •••••••••••••• 19 17. Great Britain•••••••••••• 25 s~ Austria •••••••••••••••• 19 18. Greeee••••••••••••••••·•• 25 4. Belgium•••••••••••••••• 19 19. Holland•••••••••••••••••• 25 s. Brazil••••••••••••••••• 19 20. India. •••••••••••••• ~ ••••• 25 6. Canada ••••••••••••••••• 19 21. Italy•••••••• · ••••••••• • •• 26 7. Czeohoalov~kia ••••••••• 20 22. Jamaica•••••••••••••••••• 26 B. Denmark .................. 20 23. Moroooo •••••••••••••.••••• 26 9. Dutoh West Indies •••••• 20 24. North America •••••••••••• 27 10. East Germany •••.•••••••• 20 25. Poland .......... ........... 27 11. Egypt•••••••••••••••••• 21 26. Rhcdesia ••••••••••••••••• 28 12. Europe ••••••••••••••••• 22 27. South Afrioa••••••••••••• 28 13. Finland•••••••••••••••• 22 28. Spain•••••••••••••••••••• 28 14. France ••••••••••••••••• 22 29. USSR ••••••••••••••••••••• 28 15. General•••••••••••••••• 23 30. USA •••••••• , ••••••••••••• 30 -1- I. RECENT EVENTS IN THE SOVIET UNION A. Arrests and Trials The first report about recent arrests and trials of Jews was published bn N~vember 6, 1961, in the ~Y~rk Herald Tribune. Aooording to the Herald Tribune's corresp.ondent, Rewland Evans Jr., Gedalia Peehersky was elected Chairman of the Leningr~d Jewish (religious) community after Stalin's death, with the approval of the Leningrad Head for Religious Affairs. He was demoted in 195o to the post of deputy chairman- apparently beeause of his stub~ born battle for "Jewish rights"t he sueeeeded in having the synagogue premises re­ paired, in establishing ritual slaughter of fowls and obtaining per.mission to bake matzoth. In 1957, Mr. Peohersk,y was stripped of all official duties but remained a prominent figure among Leningrad Jews. Pechersky was arrested in Jtine and tried and sentenced to twelve years im­ prisonment on Oetober 9-13 for "treasonable activities" in ''oons~rting with foreign a.gents." Together with Peehersky there were arrested two other, lesser, Jewish leaders of Leningrad: E. s. Dynkin and T. A. Kaganov, both over 70 years of ageJ they were sentenoed to seven years in prison each but, on account of their age, the sentence was redueed by three years in each ease. An appeal from the conviction was lodged with the Supreme Court. The JTA reported from Londen6 that some 12,000 Jews, together with an orchestra, had gathered around the Leningrad synagogue on Simchat Torah and that this ~iroumstance was believed to·have ndded to the severity o£ the sentenees. It was at first reported that the trial was held in seoret, but it was later revealed that this was an error - the trial was open but only few persons were ad­ mitted. There was also some confusion concerning the "foreign power": it was first reported by UPI, on the basis of a preliminary study of the reports in the Lenin­ gradskay~ Fravda, that referenee was made there to Israel. but the full text of the report contained no such reference. The reference in the paper was to "a oertain eapi ta.listio country." However, the Tass commentator, Orlov, s ai. d in the statements referred to below that Israel agents had ,.involved some Soviet eitizens of Jewish nationality into their espionage activities," they (the sentenced Jews) had provided the Israel Embassy with information used abroad to the detriment of the Soviet State~ had reoeived "anti-Soviet material" from the Embassy and distributed it. Ac­ cording to a report from Paris, printed in the JTA of November 29, Peohereky was, during the trial, shown photographs in whioh he was pietured conversing with members of the Israel Embassy. Pechersky testified that the photographs were taken at a formal reception, which he had attended in his oapaoity as Jewish community repre­ sentative with the knowledge of Soviet authorities. He rejected the charges of es­ pionage; when asked by the prosecutor if he was a Zionist, he replied that he did not belong to any party or organization, but as an Orthodox Jew it was mandatory for him to pray daily for the restoration of Zion. The erroneous impression about Israel's involvement, as mentioned abeve, was ereated beeause the UPI's report did not make it clear that the reterenoe to Israel waG not by the Lenin~radskaya Pravda but by Soviet journalists who had attended the trial. They told UPI that the defendants were charged with collecting anti-soviet data. on behalf o£ the Israel Embassy. The espionage charges were termed "£o.ntastie" by Yalcov Sha.rett, who had some time earlier been ttexpelled" from the Soviet Union {he was allegedly one of the Is• raeli agents). He claimed that~ during his tenure in Moscow, he met hundreds of So- -2- viet Jewn but never a aid to them anything more than "Shalom Aleiohem. tt On November 10 the New York Times and on November 19 the New York Herald Tribune reported that, in addition to the three Leningrad Jews, three Moscow Jews were said to have been arrested in June and sentenced on "treason charges" (oontaet with a f~reign embassy) in October. One of the three Moseow Jews, Gregor Rashal, was deseribed as an engineer and to have been the moat prominent of the three. He was reported to have been one~ arrested in the years 1948-49, during Stalin's anti­ Jewish e~paign, and to have served eight years in a f~reed labor oamp, before he waa freed in 1955. In addition to the three-year prison term, he was reported t~ have been eondemned to four years of forced residence after the expiration of his prison term (others reported a seven-year hard labor sentence). The seeond man was identified only ae Goldberg and reported to have received a prison term of three years; the third's name and his sgntenee were not given at all. B. The Reaotion The reports about the trial and sentenom of the Peohersky group and the Mos­ eow Jews provoked wide-spread apprehension. The World Jewish Congress in New York and Tel Aviv called for the release of the Jews. The Brooklyn Jewish Community Council~ representing 850 Jewish organizations with a membership of over a million, deMeribed the sentenee aa a shoek to American Jews and ealled on November 9 for the release of Pe~hersky. "Deep regret and increasing apprehension" were voieed by the American Jewish Congress. The Jewish Labor Committee protested the sentences uwith deep bitterness." The Board of Deputies of British Jewa appealed to the Soviet Union to stop the harsh aete against the Jewish religion and eulture. The Anglo­ Jewish Association president termed the reference to espionage "a reminder of the cruel restrictions whieh the Soviet Government has imposed on Russian Jewa. '' Simi­ lar pr~tasts were made in Canada and other countries. The debate in the Knesset moved along the lines of "always seeking the friendship o£ the Soviet Union" but e.l­ ao pr~testing against the arrests. On November 201 the Israel Government officially rejeoted the aforementioned allegations by Tass as "libelous and without any founda­ tion. n c. Other Aets The reports about the arrests were followed by other disturbing news. Label A. Katz, President of the B1 nai B'rith~ reported to the ll8th annual meeting of the organization1 aooording to the New York Times and the JTA cf November 13, that the Board of the Moscow Seminary (there were only 12 students in this seminary) had been disbanded. Mr. Katz 1 who returned recently from the USSR, declared that Jews in Moscow and Leningrad were interpreting the trials as ''an effort to suppress what is already a. sadly diminished practice of Judaism in the Soviet Union." On November 27, Rowland Evans Jr. reported in the New York Herald Tribune that five Jewish leaders were removed by the Soviet Government from their position as chairmen of religious eongregations in the capitals of five republios~ by orders of the respective De­ partments of Religious Affairs~ and that synagogues in at least a doten Soviet ci­ ties were closed t'to diminish the influence of J&wish communal life in the Soviet Union. 't The paper identified them as ( l) Bardokh in Kiev 1 (2) Fried in Minsk~ (3) Ka.ob in Wilna, (4) Yeruzalinski