The estimated 6,000 Soviet Jews who arrived in Germany over the last several months will be allowed to remain permanently and have the right to legal employment, Heinz Galinski, chairman of the German Jewish community, told reporters here Monday.
But Soviet Jews seeking to immigrate since last Friday will have to apply for visas at German consulates in the Soviet Union.
According to Galinski, that is the agreement the community reached with the German authorities, and he considers it a great success.
It is understood that from now on, entry visas will be granted only to Soviet Jews who can prove ethnic German origin, have relatives already in Germany or fit the category of “hardship cases.”
That, in part, is a concession to Israel. The Israeli government, anxious that every Jewish emigre come to Israel, has approached Bonn openly in recent months to deny entry to Jews from the Soviet Union.
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