Collectively. the Soviet action and attitude have been characteristically and blatantly antiSemitic. Initially after the Helsinki accords. Soviet Jews were permitted to leave the U.S.S.R.. and the number of emigration visas reached a peak of over 50.000 in 1979. However. a dramatic decrease in permission occurred as the Soviet leaders used the Jewish emigration issue. in part. as a ploy of retaliation against the West. By 1983. only slightly more than 1.300 visas were granted. The human tragedy in the plight of the Soviet Jews does not end with visa denials. Having applied for emigration. these Soviet citizens are often fired from their jobs. their children are discriminated against in schools. and they are continually subjected to harassment by the government. The recent cases of Nadezhda Fradkova. Tsalo and Khaya Lipchin. and the Leonid Yuzefovich family are suffering witnesses to the tragedy of so many Soviet Jews.
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emigration visas visa