Speech #980256067

We have held a congressional prayer vigil on behalf of Soviet Jews. but we must be sure that the vigil continues each and every day until the human rights of all Soviet Jews have been restored. As a Member of Congress and concerned citizen. I have "adopted" a Soviet Jewish family from the Ukraine to help them fulfill their dream of emigrating to Israel. Samuel and Manya Kllnger have been trying unsuccessfully. for a number of years. to emigrate to Israel. Samuel Klinger is an agronomist from Dnepropetrovsk in the Ukraine. He and his wife. a nurse by profession. have been repeatedly denied exit visas since 1970. The only reason given by Soviet authorities has been a lack of consent from Manyas parents. who have not seen their daughter in many years. Manya. a mother herself. recently celebrated her 50th birthday. The Kllnger situation is quite pressing in that they are the only family in Dnepropetrovsk awaiting exit visas. Recently. a defamatory letter was printed in a local newspaper about the familyprompting Samuel to immediately send a letter of protest to the editor. The result was the printing of another antiSemitic article in the same paper. We have asked the Soviet Government to- grant this family permission to emigrate. but have received no response. There can be no doubt that by not allowing the Klingers to leave the Soviet Union. the Soviet Government is in clear violation of the Helsinki Final Act. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. as well as their Soviet Constitution. Surely the emigration of the Klinger family would pose no threat to the security of the Soviet Union. and instead would be a humanitarian gesture. Yet permission to leave is continually denied. As the leader in the free world. the United States must do all that we can to protect the human rights of all people.