Her work actually dealt with maintaining hygienic standards in food stores and control of infection in foods. Ida herself has declared: "The biggest secret I had was in knowing where the mice built their nests." For 7 long years. separated from her family. Ida Nudel continued her efforts to get her visa. Even more. she began to help and care for other Soviet Jews in similar circumstances. and particularly came to the aid of those who had been imprisoned for their efforts to win freedom. The beneficiaries of her ministrations began to call her "Guardian Angel." While her efforts won her the acclaim of the other refuseniks. they also resulted in increasing harassment and interrogations by the Soviet authorities. This persecution reached its climax on June 1. 1978. when she was arrested on a charge of "malicious hooliganism." Ostensibly her crime was to hang a banner outside her apartment that read: "KGB Give Me My Visa!" But actually. as she told the court. she was standing trial for her work over the past 7 years. She was sentenced to 4 years in exile in a bleak village in the remote wastelands of Siberia. As she was sentenced she told the court: The past 7 years of my life for which I sit in the dock today were the most difficult and yet at the same time the happiest years of my life.
Keywords matched
visa Visa