Jewish sources in the Soviet Union reported today a change for the better in the issuance of exit visas for Jews who want to go to Israel. They said the change became apparent in Lwow after the manager of the local Ovir (visa office) returned from a visit to Moscow with new instructions. Some Jews whose visa applications were rejected were called to the Ovir and issued visas without having to make a second application, the sources reported.
Recently, 30 Jewish families were given visas and many others were promised that their visas would be issued shortly. In Sverdlovsk, which has a Jewish population of 14,000, a number of Jews were invited to the KGB (secret police) offices to discuss their visa applications. The Ovir there makes no difficulties and in some cases secures the required character references from the applicants’ places of employment, the sources said.
They reported, however, a visible struggle in Sverdlovsk between Russian intellectuals who argue that Jews should be permitted to go to Israel at will and the bureaucrats who are opposed to free emigration. Jewish sources also reported that there is a campaign afoot to abolish character references as a requirement for a visa because they are meaningless and often are a source of great trouble for the applicants. According to the sources, friends of the Soviet Union all over the world are urging the authorities to abolish the character reference requirement.
ANTI-SEMITISM INCREASING IN LENINGRAD
Despite the apparent easing of visa policies, Jews seeking emigration are still subject to harassment, Jewish sources said. They claimed that anti-Semitism has increased noticeably in Leningrad where Jewish doctors in hospitals and clinics have become a target of hostility from their non-Jewish colleagues. As a result, many Jews are delaying visa applications in order not to lose their jobs, the sources said.
(The upsurge in the immigration of Jews from the USSR was reflected in Tel Aviv today where EIAI announced that it would divert one of its new 747 jumbo jets from commercial service to carry immigrants from Vienna. A 747 is expected this week with some 300 Soviet Jewish emigres, the largest number to arrive in a single plane, Absorption Minister Natan Peled said Friday that all available flats under construction will be assigned to the new immigrants. He said there would be no interim lay-over in aliya centers for the newcomers as the centers are already overcrowded.)
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