In the past year or so. we believed that indications of an end to that particular barbarism were appearing with greater frequency. perhaps as part of the overall mood of conciliation between the United States and the Soviet Union. But this latest assault on basic human freedom leaves no doubt that the basic inhuman. cynical policy regarding Soviet Jewry remains unchanged. How tragic it is that just as the dreams of thousands seemed about to be realizedjust as the mere trickle of immigrants to Israel was about to become a floodthe Soviet leaders began to demand arbitrary. exorbitant fees for permission to leave. These ransomsno other term would be adequaterange from $5.000 to $37.000 for each Jew with a higher education. That is in addition to the usual $1.000 fee for emigration permits. According to expert sources within the Soviet Union. there are presently about 150.000 Jews seeking to emigrate. Across the country. some 25 percent of them are affected by the educational ransoms and the percentages in the cities run even higher. with 40 percent of the wouldbe emigrants in Moscow affected. If these ransoms were to be collected In full. they would total about half a billion dollars. We now have a situation In the Soviet Union comparable to conditions in Nazi Germany during the late 1930s and early 1940s. when human beings were offered for sale or for exchange for military hardware.
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emigrate emigration immigrants emigrants