The United Hias Service today announced the arrival in the United States of two Jewish families from the Soviet Union. The first family, Vladimir and Rosa Trakeniski from Novosibirsk and their two children, arrived yesterday on a flight from Moscow. They were reunited early this morning with Trakeniski’s 84-year-old father in Los Angeles, the United Hias reported. The father, Rabbi Zaban Trakeniski, who was president of the Jewish community of Kaunos, Lithuania before World War II, is now an American citizen.
The Trakeniski family had first been greeted at Kennedy Airport by several of their relatives and friends. On hand was Rabbi Alvin M. Poplack of the Bellerose Jewish Center, Floral Park, N.Y. Trakeniski’s cousin, United Hias officials said. The Trakeniski family gained a visa to the US on the basis of a fifth preference petition filed by a relative in Los Angeles.
The second family to arrive today was Fedor and Helena Yunger of Beregova and their three children. They were reunited with Mrs. Yunger’s three sisters who live in the New York area, United Hias said. The entire family benefited from the US Attorney General’s parole authority, which he has agreed to invoke whenever necessary on behalf of Jews who receive permission to leave the Soviet Union.
Mrs. Yunger’s sisters are: Mrs. Cecilia Schreiber and Mrs. Yolan Klein, both of Brooklyn, and Mrs. Serena Yozsef of Long Beach, N.Y. Mrs. Schreiber and Mrs. Yozsef migrated to this country in May, 1970 and Mrs. Klein followed them a year later. The sisters now hope to complete the family reunion process by helping their brother leave the Soviet Union, United Hias explained.
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