The list of prominent Ukrainian intellectuals who have beensentenced to long years in prison and to forced labor grows longer by the month. Their voices are methodically being stilled. The Jews of the U.S.S.R. are another nationality group which has become increasingly uncomfortable in the Soviet Union and has been clamoring to emigrate to Israel. Since the ArabIsraeli war of June 1967. the Soviet Union has intensified its antiJewish campaign. A series of unfair and biased trials involving largely Jewish elements has been held. an increasing number of Jews have been fired from their jobs. many synagogues have been closed. while Jewish cultural life in the form of theater. newspapers or Jewish language schools has been repressed. Consequently more than 80.000 Russian Jews applied for exit visas by the beginning of 1972. and it is estimated by world Jewish organizations that up to half a million Jews would be ready to leave the Soviet Union the moment official barriers were dropped. On this Captive Nations Week we appeal to the American people to support the aspirations of the millions of people who are attempting. by all means. to break out of the stranglehold exerted over them by the Soviet dictatorship.
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emigrate visas