Evelyn Ascot was also one of the key figures in this committee. “(…) I remember the extraordinary fervour in the Jewish community at the time, fervour that brought together intellectuals, scientists, doctors, musicians, students, the EEIF(Jewish Scouts), students from the top graduate schools and… women, us women. Women, from every Jewish women’s organisation, who together, thanks to Jacqueline Keller, had set up (…) the Women’s Committee for Supporting Soviet Jews, a committee that supported the struggle of those young people, provided help and logistics and, sometimes, was even bolder than other organisations. (…) To cap it all, (much later) I remember having tea with Claude Kelman, at the Soviet Embassy, which was no longer a bunker, tea, sitting in comfortable armchairs, with dainty cakes, waiting for the Ambassador to receive us. And Claude Kelman was there smiling at me, saying: “Ah, Mrs Ascot, who would have thought, back in the Seventies, that one day we would be drinking tea in this place!”
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