Three Jewish families in Odessa who have repeatedly been refused exit visas to go to Israel will demonstrate in front of the local ovir office tomorrow, Jewish sources in the Soviet Union reported today. The families, Lenchik, Litvak and Broufman, made it clear in a letter sent to Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny on July 14 that they intended to march in front of the local ovir office carrying banners reading, “We would like to be with our relatives–let us go to Israel.”
The families were visited on July 20 by the deputy prosecutor of Odessa who told them that they would not be allowed to demonstrate, and if they did there would be physical repercussions from the town’s population, and they themselves might be prosecuted. Earlier the authorities had informed the Litvaks that they would be allowed to leave in 1975 and the Lenchiks in 1976.
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.
