A plea to the Soviet government to allow Valery and Galina Panov to emigrate to Israel was issued here to day by eight Congresswomen led by Elizabeth Holtzman (D.NY). The plea, in the form of a joint letter to Soviet Communist Party Secretary Leonid I. Brezhnev, stated that “as members of the U.S. Congress and as women we urge the Soviet government to grant immediate permission to Galina Panov to emigrate with her husband.” Valery Panov has been told that he may leave the USSR but that Galina, who is not Jewish, cannot accompany him.
The Congresswomen’s letter also stated: “We deplore this effort by the Soviet government to separate the Panov family. We must protest the unjust decision that a husband must leave the country and his wife must remain.” The signers of the letter included Bella Abzug (NY), Cardiss Collins (Ill.), Bella Grasso (Conn.), Margaret Heckler (Mass.), Barbara Jordan (Texas), Patsy Mink (Hawaii) and Patricia Schroeder (Colo.). All are Democrats except Mrs. Heckler who is a Republican.
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