Information that Dr. Deborah Samullovich of Moscow had been granted an exit visa to join her family in Israel is false.” Inez Weissman, president of the Long Island Committee for Soviet Jewry, stated today. According to information received by the LICSJ in a letter from Benny Deborin in Israel, Dr. Samullovich’s son, permission to emigrate has not been granted, just a promise made to her. He stated that he was terribly upset and disappointed that his mother has not been granted an exit visa.
Commenting on the situation, Ms. Weissman stated: “I feel that information leaked out by the Russians on granting permission for Jewish activists to emigrate is an obvious attempt to confuse the issue. We are lulled into lethargy by what seems to be a rash of exit visas granted before and during the Brussels Conference and the 25th Party Congress, only to find out that Russian gifts were empty boxes. We will do everything to continue the struggle on behalf of Deborah Samullovich.”
Ms. Weissman said the LICSJ is contacting friends of Dr. Samullovich in the Congress to advise them that permission to emigrate has not been granted and to enlist their help.
Dr. Samullovich applied for permission to emigrate in 1972 at which time she was fired from her position at the Institute for Atomic Energy in Moscow. In 1971 she received the second highest Soviet decoration, “The Red Labor Flag,” awarded to her for her contribution to the field of science in color film research.
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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.