Speech #980051243

Mr. Speaker. yesterday the Soviet Union asserted that Jewish emigration from that country had effectively stopped because most Soviet Jews who wanted to leave have already gone. This statement. made by the leader of an official Soviet antiZionist committee. is not only an outright lie. but makes a mockery of the hardship and suffering that thousands upon thousands of Soviet Jews have experienced who have made known their desire to leave. Last September I visited the Soviet Union and in 1 week personally met with over 50 families who had applied for exit visas and were refused. most repeatedly over periods as long as 13 years. I saw with my own eyes the harrassment. ostracism. indignities. and economic penalties suffered by people whose only crime was a desire to leave the land of their oppressors. They told me of how when their first application was filed. they were fired from responsible jobs and were forced to take menial ones. how they were constantly under surveillance and harassment by the KGB. how their mail and telephone service were cut off. how trumped up charges were brought against them resulting in internal exile or imprisonment. how confinement in a mental hospital was often used to discourage the desire to emigrate. The truth is that not less than 750.000 Soviet Jews have asked relatives abroad to send invitations to emigrate. a part of the exit process the Soviets require. Since 1979 Soviet authorities have refused to allow Jews to receive such invitations presumably because the number received would be so embarrassingly high. The truth is that the Soviet Union uses human beings who want to leave their repressive society as political hostages in its dealings with the United States. When detente was in flower and America overlooked Soviet adventurism. emigration was at its peak. But when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and forced repression of free labor in Poland. and America reacted. the outflow was slowed and all but stopped. And yet not 1 of the 50 families I talked with urged us to overlook Soviet transgressions so that their chances to emigrate might improve. On the contrary. unanimously they urged the United States to remain strong and steadfast in* its commitment to human rights for all the worlds people. The truth is that no matter how many lies are told. the voices of human beings longing for freedom from tyranny and persecution will always be louder.