As many of my colleagues have done. I would like to bring to the attention of this body and indeed to the entire Nation the plight of one of the many Soviet Jews known as refuseniks. They have been labeled as such while desiring to emigrate from the Soviet Union their requests have been repeatedly refused. Never before in the history of the Soviet Jewry movement has the emigration rate been so low. Last year only 1.314 Soviet Jews were allowed to emigrate. This compares with an emigration high point when 51.320 left in 1979. In fact. emigration was higher in February 1979 alone. at 3.287 than the total over the past 12 months. For over 1 year now I have maintained correspondence with a Soviet refusenik by the name of Leonid [Aril JSE 6993 Volvovsky. As a graduate of the Gorky Polytechnical Institutes Department of Computers. he earned a Kandidat degree at the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences. in Moscow. Before filing for an exit visa to Israel with his family in December 1973. he was employed as a senior engineer. and as a senior research fellow at the Moscow Research Institute of Complex Mechanization and Automation in Oil and Gas. After applying. he was dismissed from his position and forced to work at various odd jobs. In the spring of 1979. the Volvovskys moved to Moscow. in order for Ari to find employment and to participate in Moscows Jewish refusenik circles.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration visa