An American professor was kept under “arrest” and surveillance at Moscow airport for 24 hours last week before being expelled with his wife to prevent them from attending the unauthorized symposium on Jewish culture. Prof. Edward Alexander, 39, and his wife, Leah, 41, described their Moscow ordeal after taking part in a demonstration here yesterday outside the Soviet Embassy to protest the arrests of Soviet Jews who planned to take part in the symposium.
Alexander, who teaches English at Washington State University, said “We arrived to spend a holiday in Russia, seeing Jewish friends. Then the nightmare began. Confiscation of books, interview by a KGB official, virtual house arrest, and then finally we were whisked on to a plane to London.” He said he had not been invited to the symposium but had considered going there as a gesture of moral support. Alexander’s Moscow friends include the leading Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov.
According to Alexander’s account, he and his wife landed in Moscow late Friday night from Seattle. Their luggage was searched and about 20 paperbacks, half of them in Hebrew, and other Jewish articles, were confiscated. They were later returned.
‘A WAKING NIGHTMARE’
An official, thought to be a KGB officer, interviewed Alexander in a locked room. After Alexander said he might attend the Jewish symposium the official was abusive about Jews and said he had to protect Soviet citizens from anti-Soviet propaganda.
Finally, Alexander was allowed to contact the U.S. Embassy and he and his wife were put in a “transit hotel” at the airport. They stayed there under guard until the middle of the following day when they were taken for their first food since landing. Late that afternoon, an In tourist official told them they would be flying to London within five minutes.
“The whole thing was terrifying and just like a waking nightmare,” Alexander said. “We were innocent tourists, going to contact some Jewish friends and visit some of Russia for the first time. Now when we go home, we will both actively campaign for the plight of Jews in Russia.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
