Professor Alexander Lerner, a world renowned cybernetics expert who waited 16 years for permission to leave the Soviet Union, arrived Wednesday night in Israel, intent on resuming the scientific work from which he had been barred for almost two decades.
The 74-year-old widower was accompanied by his son, Vladimir; his daughter-in-law, Tanya; and his grandchild, Julia. Also with him was his daughter, Sonya, who has lived in Israel for the past 14 years. She flew to Vienna to meet her father and accompany him home.
Lerner’s two other daughters were killed during World War II when the Nazis occupied Vinnitsa, the town where they lived.
“You can understand this is a great day for me,” the famous scientist told well-wishers at a reception in the Avia Hotel near Ben-Gurion Airport.
He said that “of course” he planned to continue his work in cybernetics “in Israel and for the good of Israel.” He said he has several ideas that could be put to use for the benefit of the Jewish state.
Lerner is the author of 15 scientific books which have been translated into many languages, including Chinese and Japanese. Ostracized by the Soviet scientific community, he has turned in recent years to painting.
Lerner first applied for an emigration visa in 1971, but was repeatedly refused on grounds that he possessed state secrets.
As recently as last February, Lerner and eight other refuseniks were attacked in a Moscow newspaper article. The writer said he would never be permitted to leave because he was “a bearer of state and military secrets.” But a month ago, the Soviet visa office notified Lerner that he had been granted an exit permit.
He is the third prominent refusenik to arrive in Israel within a week. On Jan. 20, throngs at Ben-Gurion Airport welcomed Iosif Begun and his family, who had also waited nearly 17 years for an exit visa. Begun, 55, an electrical engineer had been refused permission on grounds that he possessed “secrets.”
On Sunday, Professor Alexander Ioffe, a mathematician who first applied to emigrate 12 years ago, arrived in Israel.
In New York, the National Conference on Soviet Jewry welcomed the news of Lerner’s arrival, saying it was “gratified that Professor Lerner will at last be reunited with his daughter.”
However, in a prepared statement, the group went on to say: “We must bear in mind that in granting his visa, the Soviet authorities are merely living up to their human rights obligations under the Helsinki accords and other international agreements. They must now demonstrate that they have created a consistent emigration policy, without artificial barriers, such as ‘security’ cases, if they are to develop normal relationships with other nations of the world.”
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.
