Walter E. Fauntroy, the Congressional delegate of the District of Columbia, and five other members of the 13-man Congressional Black Caucus asked Soviet Ambassador Anatoly F. Dobrynin in writing “for an end to the denial of exit visas to Soviet Jews who wish to emigrate to Israel or elsewhere.” The letter contained a special appeal on behalf of Mikhail Kliachkin, an aviation employe in Moscow who has been refused permission to join his family in Israel.
Reps. Louis Stokes (D.O), chairman of the Black Caucus; Parren J. Mitchell (D. Md.), Robert N.C. Nix (D. Pa.), Ralph H. Metcalfe (D.Ill.) and George W. Collins (D. III.) were the others signing the letter. At Fauntroy’s office, where the letter was made public on Friday, it was said the seven other members of the Caucus, also Democrats, were out of town when the letter was ready for their signatures.
LET JEWS LIVE WHERE THEY CHOOSE
A statement by Fauntroy’s office said he “realized the needs of the Soviet government for assurance that the emigrants truly desired to leave and some short delays in preparing the visas and other materials.” In Kliachkin’s case, however, Fauntroy wrote Dobrynin, “There has been an inordinate amount of time needed for which there is no justification.”
He continued: “The contention that Kliachkin has had access to secret materials is no basis upon which to deny him the right to join his family. And, in any event, the facts of the case indicate that Kliachkin has not had access to any material since leaving Moscow Aviation. There is, therefore, no reasonable basis to continue this forced separation of this man from his family.”
Fauntroy declared: “The plight of Soviet Jewry weighs heavily upon the conscience of the whole world and upon each man who is filled with the most basic concepts of human decency. For this reason, we have called upon the Soviet Union to affirm the right of all people to make their home where they may of their own will choose. Basic human compassion and charity require no less.”
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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.
