Jewish Cultural Center Opens in Leningrad

Soviet authorities have allowed the opening of a second Jewish cultural center, this time in the city of Leningrad, the World Jewish Congress announced Tuesday.

Permission for the new center, which will include a library and offer Hebrew classes, was given after the opening of a Jewish cultural center in Moscow.

The two projects reflect the growing liberalization of Kremlin policies toward the Jewish minority in the Soviet Union, which for many years was repressed and prevented from practicing its religion and from learning Hebrew.

The Leningrad center will be housed in the city’s main synagogue, the Jewish congress said.