Speech #930008425

The fees are completely beyond the reach of the average Soviet citizen. the average monthly income in the Soviet Union is only about $153. There is no doubt that the fees are specifically targeted at the Jewish citizens of the Soviet Union. While the visa fee schedule is supposedly being levied on all Soviets wishing to emigrate. In practice the Jews bear the brunt of this repressive policy. Jews constitute the principal group seeking to emigrate from the Soviet Union. More than 31.000 Soviet Jews emigrated. mostly to Israel. during 1972. In addition. Jews are the most highly educated of the ethnic minorities in the Soviet Union. According to Soviet sources. onefourth of the Soviet Unions Jewish population of over 2 million has had education beyond the high school level. There are 100.000 Jewish college studentsin percentage terms there are nearly twice as many Jewish students as nonJewish students. In addition. the exit visa fees cannot be looked at as an isolated example of repression. Even since the Mideast War of 1967. and particularly after 1970. the Soviet Union has exercised increasingly harsh policies upon its Jewish citizens. In June of last year the Soviet Union jammed the "Voice of Israel" radio transmission.