World Jewish News

50th anniversary of the "Nativ" bureau (liaison with the Jews from the USSR).

"Nativ", the bureau of liaison with the Jews from the USSR, celebrated the 50th anniversary of its existence. The bureau was organized in 1952 and attached to the Office of the Head of the Government. The main objective of the bureau was helping the Jews of the USSR, who at that time were deprived of the right to repatriate to Israel as well as of any possibility to maintain any form of ethnic life. Taking into consideration the extremely negative attitude of Stalin regime towards any manifestation of "nationalism", Jewish in particular, all the bureau's activities were kept in top secret. The bureau was headed by Nekhemiy Levanon.
"Nativ" contributed greatly to developing the movement for struggle for the legal immigration from the USSR, supported by many Jewish and non-Jewish organizations from around the world. After the Second Leningrad trail (1971) (the arrested were accused of "being accomplice in a hijacking attempt"), the envoys of "Nativ" shoulder to shoulder with the activists of the "Say No!" movement within the USSR and abroad, started a campaign of previously unseen dimensions defending the right of the Jews of the USSR to repatriate to Israel.

Источник: Jewish.ru