The National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) announced today that only 289 Soviet Jews reached Vienna last month. “Fewer and fewer Soviet Jews will be able to celebrate Passover this year and enjoy the beauty of a seder as free Jews in Israel and elsewhere,” Theodore Mann, NCSJ chairman, said.
He pointed out that “hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews still await permission to join their families in Israel, and must endure the heightened harassment by Soviet authorities which often characterizes Jewish holiday periods in the USSR.”
During the first quarter of this year, 862 exit visas were granted to Soviet Jews, a 75 percent drop from 1981’s first quarter figure of 3,506; a 90 percent fall from the 8,875 Soviet Jews who emigrated during the first quarter in 1980, and a 93 percent dip from 1979’s first quarter peak of 11,977.
A monthly emigration comparison further demonstrates the deteriorated situation. In March 1979, when emigration was at a high point, 4,418 Jews left the Soviet Union, Mann said. In the same month, this year, since only 289 Jews arrived in Vienna, emigration had fallen 93.5 percent.
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