Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 16, 1993 TAG: 9312160086
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
"It will push more Jews to leave, and not only the Jews," she said Wednesday. "Zhirinovsky is a real new Hitler."
The 33-year-old beautician, who plans to emigrate to Israel in the spring, spoke at Moscow's main synagogue where her son Danny and dozens of other Jewish children were celebrating the last night of the Hanukkah festival.
The burning candles, children's drawings on the walls and their parents' smiles could not hide the mood of concern over Zhirinovsky's success at the polls.
"Zhirinovsky is dangerous for all the ethnic minorities," Roitman said. "He wants to build a `Russian' Russia."
Zhirinovsky had won at least 24 percent of the vote as of Wednesday, with rhetoric that included accusations that the Jews started two world wars.
The 47-year-old lawyer claimed at a news conference Tuesday that his Liberal Democratic Party was not anti-Semitic. But he appeared to confirm the charge even as he denied it.
"Jews are the richest nation. I can only envy them," he said. He added later: "From time to time, Russia is overwhelmed with anti-Semitism. This phenomenon is provoked only by Jews themselves."
He also denies he is racist, but peppers his speeches with bitter remarks about dark-skinned people from the southern republics of the former Soviet Union. He advocates an imperial Russia dominated by ethnic Russians.
Zhirinovsky's chauvinist slogans - such as "Russia for Russians" - are an obvious worry for Russia's 1.7 million Jews. They have just begun enjoying religious and cultural freedom after decades of state-sponsored atheism and, often, anti-Semitism.
by CNB