Natan (Anatoly) Shcharansky expressed his “gratitude” to the United States Congress Tuesday for helping him win his freedom from the Soviet Union. In return, Congressional leaders pledged to continue the struggle until all Soviet Jews who want to emigrate are allowed to leave the USSR.
“I am released, but 400,000 Soviet Jews are still kept as prisoners of the Soviet Union,” Shcharansky said as he was welcomed to Washington in a ceremony in the Rotunda of the Capitol.
“The success in winning the recent release of Anatoly Shcharansky is proof that we need to do much more, not proof that we have done enough,” House Speaker Thomas O’Neill Jr. (D. Mass.) declared.
PLEDGE EFFORTS TO CONTINUE THE STRUGGLE
O’Neill said that in a private meeting with Shcharansky, before the ceremony, the leaders of the House and Senate “pledged to continue our efforts to win the freedom of 400,000 Soviet Jews who desire to leave the Soviet Union.”
As Shcharansky entered the Rotunda under the Capitol dome he was given a standing ovation by the hundreds of Senators, Representatives, officials of national and local Jewish organizations, and others who attended the ceremony.
During his stay in Washington, he is scheduled to receive the Congressional Gold Medal for his wife, Avital, and for himself. Both the Senate and House approved resolutions awarding the medals, introduced by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D. NJ) and Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R. NY).
Avital Shcharansky, who is two months pregnant, remained in Israel for her husband’s first visit tot he United States. But Rep. Sidney Yates (D. I11.) noted at the ceremony that she was known to every member of Congress for her constant appeals on behalf of her husband and other Soviet Jews.
“That her husband is here today in freedom is as much her victory as it is his,” Yates said. He also noted that Shcharansky is the first private citizen to be honored in a ceremony in the Rotunda. To mark the occasion, Shcharansky, who has been appearing in shirt sleeves, wore a suit and tie.
‘WILL NOT REST UNTIL THE KEY IS TURNED’
The need to continue the struggle for Soviet Jewry was stressed by all the speakers at the ceremony. Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole (R. Kan.) stressed that Congress was marking the day both out “of gratitude to Natan Shcharansky’s rescue and determination that we will not rest until the key is turned that will unlock countless cells in that unhappy land where dissent is held to be a criminal offense, and true faith is feared as the enemy of political orthodoxy.”
Sen. Robert Kasten (R. Wis.) stressed that “the plight of Soviet Jewry will not be downplayed in the interest of diplomacy. Peace and human rights cannot be separated.”
Shcharansky noted that he first met members of Congress in 1975, and that their statements as printed in the Congressional Digest were used against him at his trial. Jokingly calling the Congressmen his “accomplices,” he said, “I was grateful to know after my release that my accomplices did not abandon me and that our ‘criminal’ activities continued and continue up to this day.”
Shcharansky stressed the need to keep and strengthen the Jackson/Vanik Amendment which provides that the Soviet Union will get U.S. Most Favored Nation trade benefits only if there is large scale emigration.
WARNS AGAINST SOVIET PR GIMMICKS
He warned against being taken in by Soviet “public relations” gimmicks where only a few are released, and urged that U.S. trade benefits be given only when all Soviet Jews are allowed to emigrate. “Real understanding between the East and West can be based only on mutual trust,” he said.
Shcharansky was scheduled to meet later on Tuesday with President Reagan, Vice President George Bush and Secretary of State George Shultz. He is also scheduled to testify on Wednesday before the Commission on security and Cooperation in Europe which monitors the Helsinki agreements and to address the National Press Club on Thursday.
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.
