Speech #990066188

In some cases we met with the wives of those who are imprisoned In the Soviet Union. We learned of arrests under some very bizarre and unusual circumstances In the middle of the night. of imprisonment for charges such as hooliganism and parasitism. of planted evidence. of 12hour searches of homes. and of a prisoner now 90percent blind as a result of being stabbed in his eyes in his jail cell which authorities say was selfinflicted. It was very depressing to sit and listen to some of the stories of the things that these people are encountering simply because of their desire to be able to emigrate from the Soviet Union and to be able to become repatriated. We learned of some people who had now been refused the right of emigration and repatriation for as long as 12. 14. and even 16 years. These people are painfully aware that the number of Jews being permitted to emigrate has been steadily declining since 1982. That year. 2.688 Soviet Jews emigrated. In 1983. the figure disintegrated down to 1.314. In 1984. there was another drastic drop to a total of 896. In 1985. as of June. the paultry sum of 36 have been permitted to emigrate. Those with whom we vlsitc " ..re part of approximately 350.000 Soviet Jews who desire to emigrate from the Soviet Union. 10.000 of these are refuseniks. those who have applied and who have been refused. There are approximately 20 who have been imprisoned for some official sounding criminal charge whose real offense. in the eyes of the Soviets. was the teaching of Hebrew. Ten of these persons were imprisoned in the month of June. Many of the refuseniks with whom we met were very learned individuals with extensive degrees and educational background. who after applying for exit visas now find themselves either doing menial work or altogether unemployed. But in spite of the antiSemitism. in spite of the oppression and the degradation. and the pain of being separated from their families. I found an indomitable spirit among these people. They were involved in a movement in which they are totally committed and dedicated. They are seeking. and they seem to be extremely pleased to know that people of good will throughout our Nation are concerned about their plight and are attempting to wield such influence as they can in order to be able to help them be able to emigrate from the Soviet Union.