Speech #990070604

During 1984. less than 1.000 Jews were allowed to leave the country. This is in stark contrast to the over 51.000 who left in 1979. There is still hope that Secretary Gorbachev will reverse. or at least soften. the Governments hardline policies on emigration with regard to Soviet Jewry. Early this year. there was initial optimism that the emigra tion levels were indeed increasing under Gorbachevs regime. In the past 3 months. however. the number of Jews permitted to leave the Soviet Union has decreased sharply. from 166 in April. to only 36 in June. Visas are routinely denied to Soviet Jews. on almost any pretext. one of the most common and convenient reasons for refusal being "regime considerations." The government claims that the person in questionor a relativehas had access to classified information. and that his or her presence abroad would be damaging to national security. This excuse is especially useful In denying visas to those who have served in the Soviet military. I would like to draw your attention here to one man in particular. a refusenikone who has been refused permission to emigratewhom I have "adopted." His experiences are not unusual. His name is Feliks Kochubievsky. and he was once a highly respected member of his community. An electrical engineer who earned the Soviet Order of Merit for Patriotic Work. he lost his Job as a senior researcher after he and his wife. Valentina. applied to Join their two sons in Israel. The visa was denied on the grounds of "regime considerations." Kochubievsky. like many others. denic: ever having had access to classified materials. Harassed as a result of his desire to emigrate. and finally arrested in 1982 after several of his literary works were published abroad. he was sentenced to 21/2 years in a Soviet labor camp. Feliks Kochubievskys sentence expired in April of this year. and fortunately. he was released. An elderly man. his health has deteriorated since his imprisonment. His greatest desire is still to emigrate to Israel and be reunited with his sons. but *here is little likelihood of this happening. The sharp decline in emigration since 1979 has been paralleled by an increase in Jewish cultural awareness and by a resultant increase in cultural persecution. In the 1980s. the Soviets campaign of antisemitism has intensified. Forbidden to practice or study their religion.