Soviet Jewish refuseniks Isai and Grigory Goldstein were arrested in Moscow Monday, just days before the two Tbilisi physicists were scheduled to emigrate to Israel, according to the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ). The Goldstein brothers have been refuseniks since 1971.
The SSSJ reported that the Goldsteins were arrested at a farewell gathering in the Soviet capital that was hosted by fellow emigration activists. Authorities accused the pair of not having permission to be in Moscow. It was not clear whether formal charges would be issued against the Goldsteins and what, if any, effect the arrest would have on their anticipated emigration to Israel.
The Goldsteins are among the founders of the present-day repatriation movement among Soviet Jews. Over the years they have been periodically harassed and questioned by the KGB. Grigory, the older of the two brothers, was arrested for “parisitism” in 1978 and sentenced to one year in a labor camp.
Their exit visas had been secured through the intervention last February of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D. Mass.). Kennedy, on a visit to the Soviet Union, submitted a list to officials there of 19 Jews in five families who were seeking the right to emigrate. The Goldstein brothers, together with Isai’s family, which includes his wife Elizaveta, and their son Avi, his mother-in-law and their mother, were on the list.
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.
