Some 1000 New York City youths marched through the Flatbush section of Brooklyn yesterday in the third annual 10-mite Passover walkathon for Soviet Jewry. About $10,000 was raised as each of the participants had sponsors who pledged money for each mile walked. The proceeds will be sent to the families of imprisoned Soviet Jews and Soviet Jewish activists.
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and Reps. Elizabeth Holtzman. James Scheur and Steven Solarz, all New York Democrats, participated in the event sponsored by the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry and the Brooklyn Coalition for Soviet Jewry. This year’s Walkathon focussed on the plight of 16-year-old Marina Tiemkin, who was kidnapped by Soviet authorities after she and her father. Alexander Tiemkin, applied for an exit visa. Holtzman declared that the Soviets “have heard our campaign for Marina. Just last week Tass, the Russian news agency, accused the drive for her of being fomented by ‘hysterical anti-Soviet Zionists.”
The march culminated in a dramatic live phone hookup with Lev Gendin, a 34-year-old Moscow activist, whose wife Aviva is currently on an American speaking tour. Gendin said he had been refused an exit visa two weeks ago and asked that his love be conveyed to his wife whom he has not seen for several years.
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