Mr. Speaker. I am joining with my colleagues today to pay tribute to the many thousands of Soviet Jews seeking to claim their right to emigrate. to practice their religion freely. and to study their history and culture. This International Day of Concern for Soviet Jews also marks the seventh anniversary of the arrest of Anatoly Shcharansky. that brave Soviet Jewish activist who symbolizes the spirit of the Soviet Jewry movement. Both his physical condition and the condition of Soviet Jewry have deteriorated during these past 7 years. Encouraging signs in the emigration rates of 1979 were followed by a virtual halt in the years since and the initiation of the deplorable governmentsanctioned antiSemitic campaign which to this day is being expanded and strengthened. The pogroms of the 19th and 20th centuries forced Jews to hide their Jewish identity. to hide the study of Jewish culture and religion. just as today Soviet Jews must hide their heritage or suffer the consequences of these socalled criminal acts. Forcing a Soviet policy of assimilation of Jews.
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emigrate emigration