After conducting a “sit-in” in the Brazilian Embassy in Moscow for several months, a Jewish family, consisting or 12 persons, has been permitted repatriation to Brazil. The family, named Sissman, arrived here today.
The Sissmans were part of a group of Brazilian Jewish families who went to the Soviet Union three years ago thinking that they would find greater freedom there, as compared with Brazil. After living in Moldavia, a Rumanian province, for three years, the Sissmans requested permission to go back to Brazil. Other former Brazilian Jews also sought similar permission. When the Sissmans received no authorization for their exit, they went to Moscow entered the Brazilian Embassy, and stayed there. The arrival of the Sissmans here today was believed to have marked the first instance of Soviet Governmental yielding on the issue of repatriating foreigners who had settled in the USSR.
Meanwhile, today, the Brazilian Government was negotiating with the Soviet authorities for the repatriation of the other former Brazilian Jews in the USSR who want to go back to their old homes. The negotiations include non-Jewish Brazilian nationals as well, numbering a total of about 1,000 persons.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
