She must support her family on the meager resources she can earn by giving piano lessons. she has forfeited her pension. Ms. Goldberg and her family are not being allowed to emigrate because of sheer vengeance on the part of the Soviet Government. Mr. Yoran. a concert cellist. defected to the West while he was on a cultural exchange program. His wife. child. and aged mother are being denied emigration to punish Mr. Yoran for what the Soviets see as an impertinence. but the Soviets are themselves violating the Helsinki accords by making an issue of Mr. Yorans emigration. for at Helsinki the Soviets agreed to the free movement of peoples. Now. the Soviets are violating the article concerning the reunification of families. It is obvious that in the case of the GoldbergYoran family the Soviets are simply being vindictive. Such perverse behavior is the mark of a truly corrupt government which delights in the sufferings of its own citizens and can be the only explanation as to why the humanitarian appeals by numerous individuals to the Soviet Government to allow the emigration of Stella Goldberg has fallen on deaf ears. The Goldberg family should be allowed to emigrate and to be reunited with Mr. Yoran. Stella Goldberg and Viktor Yoran are just two of hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews who are caught in this limbo. much like a Kafka dream of unreasonable and inhumane. even absurd. dimensions. In the recent year the Soviets have severely restricted emigration by refuseniks. they have cut the number of exit visas by 94 percent. In fact. in the first half of this year only 1.500 Jews have been allowed to leave the Soviet Union. this is in contrast to nearly 25.000 who were allowed to leave in the first half of 1979. I urge our administration to bring this unsatisfactory situation to the attention of the Soviets.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration visas