Actress Romy Schneider and 63 French actors and writers, including Simone de Beauvoir, have appealed to Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev to grant three Soviet Jews permission to emigrate to Israel. In a telegram, the actors and writers appealed to the Soviet leader on behalf of Evgueny Barras, a journalist; Felix Kamov, a writer; and Mikhail Suslov, a cameraman. Drawing attention to the fact that all three have been refused exit visas, the artists strongly urge that “this intolerable situation cease and insist the visas be granted.”
The telegram, sent several days ago, follows the recent publication in Paris of an appeal made by the three Jews in which they describe their plight in the Soviet Union. In it they said. “We could have written articles and books, made films and lived, but we are prevented from creating and condemned to a slow death.” They added that in response to their visa requests, the Soviet authorities replied, “No, simply and without pity… without giving any precise reasons” for their negative answer.
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