The World - News from Aug. 14, 1988

A letter signed by 59 Leningrad scholars called for the arrest of anti-Semitic activists in the Soviet city and said the activists’ organization had received protection from regional Communist Party officials. The letter, published by the government newspaper Izvestia, said members of the “Pamyat National Patriotic Front” had held weekly outdoor meetings in Leningrad at which they made speeches that violated Soviet laws banning racist propaganda and the inciting of racial hatred. The letter said Pamyat had published lists of Jews, warned that their addresses were known and called for action against “the enemy.” Pamyat was ostensibly founded to promote the protection of Russian historical monuments but has taken increasingly overt anti-Semitic stands.