Page "Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee" Paragraph 2

The JAC broadcast pro-Soviet propaganda to foreign audiences, assuring them of the absence of anti-Semitism in the USSR.

In 1943, Mikhoels and Itzik Feffer, the first official representatives of the Soviet Jewry allowed to visit the West, embarked on a seven-month tour to the USA, Mexico, Canada and Britain to drum up their support.

In the US, they were welcomed by a National Reception Committee chaired by Albert Einstein and by B. Z.

Goldberg, Sholem Aleichem's son-in-law, and American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

The largest pro-Soviet rally ever in the United States was held on July 8 at the Polo Grounds, where 50, 000 people listened to Mikhoels, Fefer, Fiorello La Guardia, Sholem Asch, and Chairman of World Jewish Congress Rabbi Stephen Wise.

Among others, they met Chaim Weizmann, Charlie Chaplin, Marc Chagall, Paul Robeson and Lion Feuchtwanger.