The Jewish Agency confirmed today reports from Vienna of a drop in the number of Soviet Jewish emigrants arriving at the Schoenau transit camp there but said the slow down was temporary and of no significance.
A Jerusalem Post correspondent in Vienna reported yesterday that only three emigrants arrived on the regular train from Moscow Sunday whereas the usual number has been between 20-400–never as few as three. The Post reporter said he spoke to the emigrants who said there had been a drop in the rate of departures. They attributed this to the flow of summer holiday traffic between the Soviet Union and neighboring states which has created bottlenecks and prompted the authorities to cut back on emigrant traffic, the Post reported.
According to Jewish Agency figures, the flow of emigrants from Russia was a steady 2500 per month during the first four months of the year but dropped. to 1800 in May while only 400 arrived at Vienna during the first ten days of June.
Agency officials said there was no cause for concern in view of the Kremlin’s recent promise to U.S. Presidential advisor Henry Kissinger that Jewish emigration would continue at its present level of 30-40,000 a year. According to some observers that commitment has reassured many Jewish families that they will be able to leave and they therefore prefer to let their children complete the school year rather than remove them in midterm.
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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.
