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Soviet Activists Seek Nixon’s Help

March 1, 1972
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Vladimir Slepak, the Soviet Jewish scientist who faces a jail term unless he accepts a job as a menial factory laborer, and other Jewish activists are sending a letter to President Nixon asking him to meet with them to discuss “repatriation” when the President visits Moscow in May, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency was told today. Dr. Lou Rosenblum, chairman of the Union of Councils For Soviet Jews, told the JTA he had been told of the letter during a telephone conversation yesterday with Jewish activist Roman Rutman of Moscow.

Rosenblum said that Rutman told him, “We are drafting a letter to Mr. Nixon. We shall ask him to meet with us and talk to us about the problems of repatriation.” Nixon will be advised, Rutman said, that “The number of Jews applying for repatriation to Israel is increasing. At the same time, many people who applied before this are still waiting–in some cases for months and years–especially professional and highly educated people. So the problem is not only the number being let out, but also discrimination against special categories of people. It is for us a great hope that he will meet with us.”

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