The American Jewish Congress said that it learned today that ten more Jewish families in Moscow have received exit visas without having to pay the education tax. The AJ Congress said it got the information in a telephone conversation with a leading Jewish activist in Moscow.
According to the source, while the diploma tax is being waived in a number of cases, Soviet authorities have informed a group of Jewish scientists, academicians and professionals that they would never be permitted to leave the USSR. Four of those so informed were identified as Dina Berliner, an engineer; Victor Brailovaky a cyberneticist; Yevsei Ratner, a plant physiologist; and Vitaly Rubin, an expert in Chinese history.
The AJ Congress and the National Conference on Soviet Jewry reported today that Isai and Gregory Goldstein, brothers arrested in Tblisi, Georgia yesterday, have refused to accept legal counsel supplied by Soviet authorities and have gone on a hunger strike. The brothers’ apartment was searched by the KGB (secret police) two weeks ago, who reported finding “subversive material.” The material, according to Jewish sources, consisted of Hebrew language study tapes, a Hebrew grammar and a manual of conversational Hebrew.
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