Kishinev is the capital of the Moldavian Republic and before World War II. the Jewish community there was quite large. about 50.000 persons. By the end of the war. over 10.000 Jews had been killed by the Nazis. and since then the Communists have further attempted to eliminate Judaism from Kishinev. Glen Paul Freedman. president of the Bnai Brith Council of Greater Dallas. expressed the view that the various Bnai Brith lodges participating "will be the voice of Jews In Kishinev. who have no right to speak out for themselves." He added that the lodges will. in effect. "be their extended familythat part of the Jewish family fortunate enough to live in freedom." With emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union now reduced to a few individuals. the efforts of groups such as Bnai Brith are essential. Their activities. coupled with those of Members of Congress who have committed themselves to an improvement in the circumstances of Soviet Jewry. have become crucial to the longterm status of Jewish emigration to the West and the preservation of Jewish culture and religious practice in the U.S.S.R. I served as cochairman of the 98th Congressional Class for Soviet Jewry. I am currently planning to visit the Soviet Union to gain a firsthand understanding of the situation of Jews there.
Keywords matched
emigration