Polina submitted her first application. Polina. now retired. never had a Job connected with classified information or one that required a security clearance. Following her husbands death. she had great hopes that she would soon be allowed to reunite with her children in Israel. Thus. it was a bitter shock when Soviet authorities refused her permission to leave. Polina journeyed from her home in Irkutsl. to Moscow to put her case before the central visa office. Her appeal was rejected. In all. Polina has three times requested permission to leave the Soviet Union to be reunited with her children in Israel. and three times she has been denied.