The Soviet government has decided to “put an end” to the Jewish activist movement in the USSR and as a result, “now is the worst time for Soviet Jewish activists in the last five years.”
Viktor Polsky, one of the founders and earliest leaders of Jewish activism in the USSR, who immigrated recently to Israel and who claims to have maintained very close contacts with his Jewish activist friends in the Soviet Union, gave this assessment of Soviet Jewry yesterday, charging that the Soviet decision has brought greater restriction and stepped-up harassment of Jews who wish to immigrate to Israel.
Addressing a press conference at the American Jewish Committee, sponsored by the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, the 45-year-old physicist who struggled for six years before he, his wife and daughter were permitted to leave for Israel, said that the trend toward greater restrictions on Jews by the Soviet government started in 1974. This included not only restrictions on issuing visas but also restriction on the initial act of application for a visa to emigrate, he said.
To illustrate the dramatic decline in the number of Jews receiving permission to leave for Israel, Polsky pointed out that while in December 1974, some 1400 Jews were given exit visas, only 800 Jews were permitted to leave for Israel last month. “We fear that no more than 15,000 Jews will be allowed to come to Israel this year,” Polsky said.
NEW METHODS OF HARASSMENT
According to Polsky, the new methods of harassment include trying demonstrators (a tactic that was not used in the past), isolating Jewish activists by disconnecting their phones, trying Jews on criminal charges which have nothing to do with their activities, and dismissing Jews from their jobs and then bringing them to court on charges of parasitism.
Polsky read a message he received Tuesday from activists in the USSR who expressed fear that soon the Soviets will succeed in isolating the activists “and the world will hear only the Soviet authorities.” They called on Jews and non-Jews all over the world to unite “to save Soviet Jewry.” The message will be read next Sunday in solidarity rallies for Soviet Jewry to take place in more than 20 cities in the United States.
Polsky and his wife, Elena, expressed their gratitude to the press in the West, which, according to them, was instrumental in their exit to freedom. Polsky and his wife will be here for three weeks, speaking in various cities to further the cause of Soviet Jews. They arrived here Tuesday from Israel and are guests of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry. Mayor Abraham Beame of New York extended an official welcome yesterday to Polsky.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
