Speech #960184810

For 7 years in Moscow Ida Nudel. an economist who only wanted the freedom to leave the Soviet Union and be with her sister in Israel. fought to help the modern victims of the continuing Stalinist policies of repression. She was known to many as a guardian angel of the Soviet prisoners of conscience. But in June 1978. she became a prisoner herself. arrested and sentenced to 4 years in Siberia because she dared to hang a sign in her apartment window asking for permission to emigrate. The resolution before the Senate makes no mention of Stalins legacy to the Soviet Union and the world. It addresses the "continuing harassment" of dissenters in the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. but it focuses on the courage. the dignity and the endurance of just one of themIda Nudel. It calls specifically for continued representations by the American Government to help secure her release from Siberia and her freedom to emigrate to Israel. Without commemorating the Stalin centennial. it is nonetheless a fitting way in which to recall both the innocent victims he destroyed and the many men and women. like Ida Nudel. who continue to battle against his legacy and for a society that respects the dignity of the individual. Mr.