My mother-in-law, Zena Clayton, was a leading light in the Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry – also known as “the 35s” – whose efforts contributed to hundreds of thousands of Jews being allowed to leave the Soviet Union for freedom in Israel and the west.
A middle-class housewife who brought up three daughters in comfortable north London suburbia, Zena, who has died aged 84, became a formidable activist in middle age. She was a founding member of the 35s, and was active in the group for eight years from 1971 until 1979, during which time she had responsibility for setting up and maintaining contact with groups outside London as well as in Europe and Canada.
Continue reading...