This is his first trip out of Israel since he arrived there after serving 8 years in prison. and it is thus altogether fitting that we take this opportunity to recognize Anatoly and his devoted spouse Avital. and to reaffirm our own dedication to the plight of Soviet Jews. Mr. Shcharansky is a leader in the Soviet Jewish emigration movement. and is a founding member of the Moscow Helsinki Monitoring Group. As such he became a internationally acknowledged symbol for human rights and of the need to speak out for religious freedom and freedom of emigration. I first met Shcharansky in 1975 in the Soviet Union. I had traveled to Russia with several colleagues of a special study subcommittee of the House Committee on the Judiciary to review Soviet emigration policy and procedures. and to personally convey to Soviet authorities the deep concern of the U.S. Congress and the American people regarding obstacles to Jewish emigration. On May 27 we met at the house of Professor Alexander Lerner with 10 Soviet Jews whose applications for exit had been refused. Anatoly organized the visit and interpreted for us. On May 28 we had the great good fortune to spend time with Andrei Sakharov and his wife Yelena at their home. Again Anatoly arranged the visit and acted as interpreter. We also visited refuseniks in Leningrad. and met with Soviet emigration officials and our counterparts in the Supreme Soviet in each of the cities. On each occasion we condemned their policies. Anatoly spoke freely of his commitment to freedom of religion and human rights. A subsequent report entitled "Emigration of Soviet Jews" was issued by the special study subcommittee. Ironically. our visit was on the eve of deliberations of the final act of Helsinki. during the period of heightened detente. Thus the Soviets did not interfere with our activities.
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emigration Emigration