The National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) has confirmed that Isai and Grigory Goldstein of Tbilisi have been given permission to leave the Soviet Union. They are expected to go to Israel. The Goldsteins were among the founders of the present-day repatriation movement among Soviet Jews.
The Goldsteins, both of whom are physicists, have been refuseniks since 1971. Over the years, they were periodically harassed and questioned by the KGB. Grigory, the older of the two brothers, was arrested for “parasitism” in 1978 and sentenced to one year in a labor camp. Although fired from their jobs, they have been working as television repairmen, and in other related technical jobs.
Recently the brothers, together with Isai’s family, which includes his wife Elizaveta, their son Avi, his mother-in-law, and their mother, were on a list of 19 Jews in five families submitted by Senator Edward Kennedy (D. Mass.) Following a visit to Moscow earlier this month, the Senator announced that they would be permitted to leave the Soviet Union.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
