The recent release of Anatoly Scharansky has given us hope and encouragement in our efforts to secure the freedom of those who are forced to remain in the Soviet Union against their will. We must remember. however. that his release is only one victory in a continuing struggle. As long as Soviet Jews are subjected to religious persecution and denied the right to emigrate. our celebration must be brief and our determination unending. We cannot be appeased by limited concessions while thousands are denied their basic human rights. Mr. Scharanskys release must only strengthen our resolve to continue our efforts in defense of human rights. The need for our support of Soviet Jewry has never been more vital. Emigration has slowed to a trickle while incidents of harrassment and abuse are on the rise. The case of Nadezhda Fradkova vividly portrays the plight of Soviet Jewry today. She first applied for emigration in 1978 only to be denied because of her fathers "access to state secrets." The cruel irony is that she has never seen her father. Her parents were divorced when she was an infant. Fradkova has launched periodic hunger strikes to protest the Soviet Governments refusal to grant permission to emigrate. Her efforts to date have brought only increased harrassment and hardship. With each hunger strike she has been placed in a psychiatric hospital and in some instances subjected to massive dosages of drugs leaving her paralyzed and semiconscious.
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emigrate emigration Emigration