Campaigning for Ida Nudel

Elena Friedman, the sister of Prisoner of Conscience Ida Nudel, arrived here from Israel several days ago to meet with government officials and the media to convince them to publicize the plight of her 49-year-old sister who is in exile in the Siberian village of Krivosheian.

In an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Mrs. Friedman said that all her letters, parcels and telegrams addressed to Nudel were returned to her stamped by the Siberian post office “Addressee refuses to accept the mail.” She said that a Soviet Jewish refusnik, Arik Rachlenko, who visited Nudel several months ago wrote to her in Israel that Nudel was hospitalized in Tomsk, the nearest town to Krivosheian, for a kidney infection but that after one month she was discharged and sent back to her place of exile.

But, Mrs. Friedman said, Nudel has difficulty walking and her left arm is paralyzed and is actually “a 100 percent invalid.” She termed her sister’s 8-hour trip from her place of exile to the hospital “a real punishment.” She said that Nudel relies exclusively on parcels she receives from time to time from her friends in Moscow for the medicine she desperately needs and for supplemental food. She does not get enough of either in her place of exile where she works as an assistant bookkeeper, Mrs. Friedman said.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Friedman and a delegation comprising a group from the Canadian branch of “Women for ida Nudel” and Prof Irwin Cotle of McGill University who is Nudel’s attorney met with Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Flora McDonald in Ottawa last Friday. Miss McDonald told the delegation that she always had a special interest in the Nudel case and that even before she became Secretary of State she was honorary chairperson of Women for ida Nudel.

A PROMISE TO HELP NUDEL

Miss McDonald said now that she is Secretary of State she intends to do everything both as a Minister and in her personal capacity to bring about Nudel’s release. She said she already protested Nudel’s imprisonment to the Soviet Ambassador in Ottawa and instructed the Canadian Ambassador in Moscow to make similar presentations to the Soviet government. “I intend to bring up ida’s case in every one of my encounters with Soviet representatives, including those at the United Nations,” Miss McDonald said.

Cotler said he feels Nudel’s liberation is a Canadian responsibility because of Canada’s advocacy and support of the freedom of movement of individuals and reunification of families. While in Canada, Mrs. Friedman also met with members of Women for Ida Nudel and their honorary president, Ursula Appoloni who is also a member of the Parliament representing Ontario.

In related developments, a film that was taken of Nudel in her place of exile will be telecast nationwide on CBC and CTV. Mrs. Friedman, who has lived in Israel since 1972, will be in the United States this week where she is scheduled to meet with a number of Congressmen in Washington.