Russian Jews cannot get out. They have no escape. As the Berlin Wall so eloquently testifies. the Soviet Union has always restricted the emigration of its citizensa sensible policy. from its perspective. because if it did not. they would be leaving in droves to tell the true tale of life in the U.S.S.R. But where it has prevented the flood of emigres it has always allowed a trickle. Lately. though. it has been ominously strangling the emigration of Jews. Whereas in 1979. 51.000 Jews were granted exit visas. in 1980 the number was reduced by more than one half to 21.000 and thence to 9.400 in 1981. and a heartbreaking 2.670 in 1982. And it is no secret that if a Jew has applied unsuccessfully for a visa. the state authorities render his life thereafter at best wretched and at worst. dangerous. Like that of the Swede who once defended them. this. then. is the plight of Soviet Jews: They are trapped. oppressed. imperiled. and bereft of hope. If we are to understand the enormity of their situation. though. it is essential that we understand that others suffer. too. in the Soviet Union.
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emigration visas visa