Long-time refusenik Ida Nudel was removed from a Moscow-bound bus in the city of Bendery last Thursday while en route to meet with Elie Wiesel, who was visiting Moscow, according to both the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry and the Long Island Committee for Soviet Jewry.
Witnesses said she was picked up by her arms and legs and thrown from the vehicle to the ground by three KGB agents, who then took her to their headquarters. Nudel was reportedly told there that she was barred from leaving the city until November 10, when she must report back to learn what further restrictions will be imposed upon her.
Nudel, 55, has been living in exile in Bendery, Modavia, since 1982, and occasionally allowed to return to Moscow for medical care. She has been banned from living in Moscow since 1978, when she was arrested for hanging a banner from her Moscow apartment balcony that read, “KGB, Give Me a Visa to Israel.”
Nudel first applied to emigrate to Israel in May 1971 along with her sister, Ilana Fridman. Fridman, her husband and son received exit permits a year later, but Nudel was refused. Although technically released from exile in 1982, she was refused a residence permit in every town where she tried to settle. Bendery finally allowed her to stay there, but she lives isolated under constant surveillance, and people have been reportedly warned to avoid contact with her.
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.
