It gave them hope that they might live openly and proudly as Jews in circumstances friendly to them. most especially in Israel. The movement gathered strength in the early seventies. commanding international support and for the first time. causing the Soviet Government to calculate the costs of continuing repression. In the context of a broader effort to improve relations with the tnited States. and confronted by the extraordinary courage of a growing number of individuals. among them Anatoly Shcharansky and Ida Nudel. the Soviets permitted increased emigration. In 1972. the Soviets attempted to obscure the emigration issue by announcing that prospective emigrants would be required to repay the costs of their education by paying an "education tax" so prohibitive as to substitute new economic barriers to emigration for the existing legal barriers. Confronted with a firestorm of international protest. the "education tax" was withdrawn and emigration rose significantly. from 13.022 in 1971 to 31.681 in 1972 and 34.733 in 1973. The trend was reversed in 1974 and 1975. but began moving upward again in 1976. climbing rapidly from 16.736 in 1977 to 28.864 in 1978 to 51.320 in 1979. Since then. tragically. emigration has been brutally restricted. In 1983. only 1.314 Soviet Jews were permitted to leave. The situation today is roughly comparable to the situation of nearly 20 years ago. Mr. President. statistics alone can hardly reflect the human misery of those kept in the Soviet Union against their will. Many are separated from relatives who were permitted to emigrate earlier. and only seek to be reunited with them: Husbands and wives. children and parents. often elderly parents. All live in the fearful limbo of Soviet life reserved for persons seeking to emigrate: The loss of job and income. the threat of military service. the specter of fabricated criminal charges. of trial. prison. exile. and broken health. At present. an estimated 400.000 are actively seeking to emigrate. In the course of a trip in August 1983. to the U.S.S.R.. I was privileged to meet several dozen of these courageous men and women in Moscow.
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emigrate emigration emigrants