A Soviet Jewish emigre with cancer who underwent a major operation here last week to save her life pleaded Friday for Soviet authorities to permit her brother and his family to leave the Soviet Union and reunite with her and her family here.
Seated in a wheelchair, fragile, pale, her tears streaming. Irene Grottel told a press conference at the New York University School of Medicine that she has not been able to see her brother, Zinovy Ostrovsky of Leningrad, and his family since she immigrated to the U.S. 10 years ago.
“My brother has been refused exit visas nine times,” Grottel said. She said that her father and sister immigrated to Israel a few years ago and that her father died there last year. “My brother wonders why his father does not call or write him, and we don’t dare tell him that our father is no longer alive,” she said.
Neither does her brother know about her serious illness, she said. “I am pleading with the Soviet government to let my brother reunite with me before it is too late. Let him reunite with the living, not with the dead,” she said, her voice shaking with sadness and agony.
She said her brother can’t get an exit visa because he allegedly holds “state secrets.” He was an engineer, but for the last 11 years has worked as a porter, loading and unloading trucks in a Leningrad restaurant.
APPEAL FOR REUNIFICATION
About two dozens Soviet Jewish emigres whose family members are still refused permission to reunite with them also participated in the press conference. There was no indication how many Soviet Jewish families are affected. The emigres signed an appeal to New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, who is going to Moscow at the end of the month to intercede on their behalf with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Vladimir Rabinovich, who brought to the press conference his seven-month-old daughter, appealed to the Soviet authorities to allow his father to reunite with him and his sister, who lives in Israel. He said that his father, Nahum Rabinovich of Zaporozhe in the Ukraine, is a former World War II combat pilot who also served later as a test pilot.
“My father is 64 years old. He never saw his grandchildren in Israel and the United States. He applied first for an exit visa in 1982, but his application has been rejected. Last month he applied again and his request was denied,” Rabinovich said. He added that Soviet authorities told his father that he will not receive a security clearance until 1995.
Lev Blitshtein, who arrived here from Moscow three weeks ago after a 12-year battle to rejoin his wife and his family, said that the refusal of the Soviet authorities to allow the reunification of Jewish families has caused many personal tragedies. “Many got ill and many others died,” he said.
The press conference was co-sponsored by the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, Project ARI (Action for Russian Immigrants), Oceanfront Council for Soviet Jewry, Bensonhurst Jewish Community House, and CASE (Committee for Absorption of Soviet Emigres).
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