I am. of course. referring to Ida Nudel. the only Jewish woman now being held illegally in a Soviet prison camp as a political prisoner. Ida Nudel will soon be released from that prison camp after 4 years of unwarranted detention. Her only wish is that she be allowed to emigrate to Israel where she can be reunited with her sister. who is Ida Nudels only living relative. I have joined with many of our colleagues in communicating with Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin urgently requesting that she be allowed to move to Israel as soon as she is released. Mr. Speaker. Ida Nudels only "crime" was her desire to help other Jewish prisoners of conscience and to leave the dreaded Soviet Union for a life of freedom in Israel. Ida Nudel first applied for a visa to leave Russia in 1971. but that was rejected many times by the Soviet authorities. It was durfng this time that she became acquainted with the hundreds of other Jewish prisoners who had been jailed because of their outspokenness in the cause of basic human rights. Her unselfish care for them earned her the title. "Guardian Angel of the Prisoners of Conscience." but also brought on the wrath of the Soviet secret police. For many years Ida Nudel suffered punishments and humiliation at the hands of the KGB which attempted to brand her as a criminal. She was finally arrested on June 1. 1978. on a charge of "malicious hooliganism" for hanging a banner outside her Moscow apartment that read: "KGB Give Me My Visa." Following a sham of a trial. she was sentenced to 4 years in Siberia. Mr. Speaker.
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emigrate visa Visa