Speech #990013256

On behalf of New Jerseys 13th Congressional District. I adopted the Feldman family through the Soviet Jewry Adoption Program. The Feldman family applied together for exit visas from the Soviet Union in August 1976. In October 1979. Gennadys parents and sister were granted permission to leave. but he. his wife. Rimma. and sons. Khatik and Natanchik. were not. All their relatives are now in Israel. but the Feldmans cannot Join them because they were refused visas on the grounds of regime considerations. Gennady is a simple driver who finished his army service in 1974. While in the army. Gennady had access to classified information. and this is apparently the reason for the refusal of his visa application. Gennady speaks Yiddish and has traveled to Moscow to attend informal seminars on Judaism and Jewish history. He also studies Hebrew with other refuseniks in Minsk. Because of their interest in their religion and heritage. Gennady and his family certainly face daily harassment and persecution. The Soviet AntiZionist Committee is a thinly veiled propaganda center which equates zionism with nazism and a desire to emigrate with treason. In general. Soviet authorities seem bent on pursuing policies aimed at the total obliteration of any vestiges of Jewish religious and cultural identity. and the forced assimilation of Soviet Jews. Mr. Speaker. it is my sincere hope that the new Soviet leader will reevaluate the policies toward Soviet Jewry. I call upon the Soviet Union to grant. at the very least. the "right of last recourse" and allow the Feldmans the opportunity to emigrate and be reunited with their family in Israel.e