What appeared to be a general casing of emigration restrictions for Jews seeking to leave the Soviet Union was reported today by Jewish sources in the Soviet Union. The sources said that well over 130 Jewish families in a number of Soviet cities have been exempted from paying the education head tax during the past two weeks.
According to the sources the tax was waived for 100 families in Moscow, though in the cases of 10 of the families only after repeated requests. Six families in Kishinev, six in Kiev, 15 in Leningrad and three in Riga were exempted from the tax. In addition, the tax was waived recently for an undisclosed number of Jewish families in Tashkent, Minsk, Czernowicz and Vilna, the sources reported.
In a number of other provincial towns, Jewish families were told that their applications for waiver could not be dealt with locally and were advised to apply to the central ovir (visa office) and the Finance Ministry in Moscow to look into their cases.
The sources said that in other cities, Jewish families who filed for exemption from the visa tax were told that their applications would be considered promptly and were promised a reply on Nov. 10. When the families pointed out that their visas expired Nov. 15, which would leave them only five days to get out of Russia, the officials promised that in their cases the visas would be extended, the sources reported.
Several visa applicants who were told they could not leave the Soviet Union for the time being because they were allegedly privy to State secrets, have been informed that their cases would be re-considered now. Vladimir Poliakov, a Jewish member of the editorial staff of the popular Soviet magazine, “Ogoniok,” received an exit visa but the education head tax has not been waived in his case, the sources reported.
An Arab terrorist was killed by an Israeli patrol near Bouquata village last night as he was attempting to plant a mine on a road.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
