(JTA) — A string of anti-Semitic events and incidents have been recorded in Ukraine, Poland and Hungary in recent days. A swastika and neo-Nazi symbols was spray-painted last week on a monument in Mykolaiv, near Odessa, to the late Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. In Kiev, anti-Semitic flyers on Monday were placed on a synagogue [...]
Legionnaires Day in Latvia Draws Protesters
On Saturday, March 16th, over 1000 Latvians honored Nazi-allied World War II soldiers. Violence almost erupted between the Latvian participants and the ethnic Russians, who are a minority in the country. The police used force, dragging some participants away and detaining four, to prevent any tumult. Read the AP article here. March 16th is considered [...]
Cossack Revival in Russia
From the NY Times– STAVROPOL, Russia — Outside this city’s police headquarters on a recent night, a priest in a purple velvet hat and gold stole moved from one man to the next, offering a cross to be kissed and drenching their faces with holy water from a long brush. And so began another night [...]
Lautenberg Amendment, Originally for Soviet Jews, Serves as Lifeline to Iranian Religious Minorities
(JTA) – When the Lautenberg Amendment was introduced in 1990, it provided a mechanism for hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews to exit their crumbling country and immigrate to freedom in the United States. Since 2004, it has served as a lifeline for religious minorities fleeing the Islamic theocracy of Iran. The amendment, named for [...]
Arson Suspected at Jewish Community Center in Central Russia
(JTA) — A Jewish community center in Perm, a city in central Russia, sustained minor damage in what police suspect was attempted arson with fire bombs. Firefighters in Perm, a municipality located on the banks of the Kama River near the Ural Mountains, put out a small fire inside the center on Saturday, the government-owned [...]
UCSJ Update: Our Discussion with Luidmilla Alexeeva
MARCH 11, 2013 On March 2, 2013, UCSJ President Larry Lerner and International Director Leonid Stonov had an hour long Skype discussion with the Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG), Luidmilla Alexeeva. Alexeeva is a long-term partner of UCSJ. She arrived in the US on March 1, 2013, after being invited by Senator Benjamin [...]
Tribute to Marillyn Tallman by Pam Cohen, former UCSJ President
A great light has gone out. None of us can or will be the same without Marillyn Tallman in this world. She left her mark on all of us. Her work for her people was unrelenting. After the Holocaust, she worked with Abe Sachar to bring in refugees from Europe on student visas…one of those [...]
On 60th Anniversary of Stalin’s Death, He Remains Admired
MOSCOW (AP) — Devotees of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, whose brutal purges killed millions of innocent citizens and made his name a byword for totalitarian terror, flocked to the Kremlin to praise him for making his country a world power Tuesday, while experts and politicians puzzled and despaired over his enduring popularity. Communist Party chief [...]
In Memory of Marillyn Tallman
March 6, 2013 Yesterday morning we we were in a very good mood. On this day, we always celebrate the anniversary of Stalin’s death, the death of Red Pharaoh. This very day, of March 5th, 60 years ago, Stalin’s plan of deporting Soviet Jews to Siberia was stopped. On Monday March 4th, we talked to Fillip and he told us [...]
USCIRF Press Release “Anti-Semitism: A Growing Threat to all Faiths”
WASHINGTON D.C. – Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), today testified before the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations on “Anti-Semitism: A Growing Threat to all Faiths.” In her testimony, Dr. Lantos Swett notes that: Clearly, anti-Semitism in contemporary Europe, while not [...]