Eitan Finkelstein and his family have finally been granted exit visas, 12 years after applying for them, it was reported here today. They will be leaving their home in Vilnius for Israel next month.
Finkelstein, a physicist and Jewish activist, applied to emigrate with his family in 1971 and was repeatedly denied permission to leave. Since then, he has been working on menial jobs after having been dismissed from his job as physicist. During the 12 years he also devoted his spare time to Jewish studies.
Because of his involvement in the study of Jewish history and culture and his contribution to the samizdat journal “Jews in the USSR,” Finkelstein had been a target of KGB harassment, it was reported. Recently he was denounced in the Soviet press in a column entitled “Beware Zionism.”
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