A terse Soviet announcement will soon cause untold misery to many tens of thousands of Jews and others in the USSR.
According to the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ), agencies in the West which ship packages to Russian citizens with the high duty fees prepaid have received official notice that Vneshposyltorg, the department that oversees this operation, will shut down as of August 1st.
The parcels often contain clothing and other articles of great importance to recipients denied basic consumer goods, and especially vital to Jews dismissed from their jobs for seeking to emigrate.
The SSSJ pointed out that another option now remains open — sending packages for which the recipient must pay the fees. However, many potential recipients do not have the money to pay the duties, and must under any circumstances first pay the amount, then only find out from whom the package was sent and what it contains.
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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.
