Speech #920286908

Mr. Speaker. I rise to express my abhorrence and condemnation of the recently announced Communist policy of placing a huge ransom on the emigration from the Soviet Union of Jews with higher education. While I have been cautiously pleased with the recent easing of tensions between the United States and Russia. I have also warned against the danger of forgetting. the atrocities against human rights that continue to be committed by the Soviet leadership. This latest outrage serves to point up once again the total disrespect by the Soviets toward the dignity of individual human beings. In short. this is discrimination and prejudice in its crassest form. The Communists. of course. have always tried to prevent the emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union through intimidation and harassment. But the courageousness of Soviet Jewry was vastly underestimated by the Soviets as the number of Jews who have braved these reprisals by applying for emigration permits has increased by vast numbers. In an attempt to halt this new flood the Soviets have now instituted this policy which amounts to human bondage reminiscent of the days of Nazi Germany. We are told by Soviet propagandists that those exorbitant exit fees. ranging from $5.000 for a bachelors degree to $37.000 for a doctorate. are in payment for the education provided by the state and to prevent a "brain drain." But the real motives of the antiSemitIc dictators are threefold: First. they hope to halt the outflow of Jews who wish to migrate to the land of their people.