A Russian Jewish poet whose application to emigrate to Israel was approved four years ago and then suddenly revoked was reported by an Israeli newspaper yesterday to be in desperate straits. According to Yediot Achronot, the poet, Joseph Keireler, wanted news of his plight to be published in Israel and elsewhere on the chance that the publicity would either lead to a reconsideration of his application or to his arrest.
Yediot Achronot said that Mr. Keirerler, whose name appears in the Soviet Literary Encyclopedia, was born in 1918 and served time in Siberia in prison during the Stalin purges of the 1950s. When he returned to Moscow, he married and had a son, now aged 11. When the boy was born, he applied for emigration and after several years his application was approved. As his family prepared to leave, he was summoned to the security police and told that the permit was cancelled. Since then Mr. Keirerler has been without work, the newspaper reported.
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