I thank the gentleman for yielding. because in fact it is that persontoperson contact. whether it is adopting a family. writing to a family. thinking of a family. writing to the Soviet Government. that counts. In addition to that. it is that understanding by the United States Congress. which we have. it is that understanding that really makes a difference. in which we say to the Soviet Government. as we do in so many ways. that we as Members of Congress and as American officials. we have a great deal of difficulty believing that the Soviet Government will abide by any future agreements that we may sign with them on any issue. whether they are regional issues or trade issues or arms issues. until the Soviets begin abiding by those elements of international law which they have previously agreed to. International law in the broad sense and the Helsinki agreements in the specifics provides that every nation must agree to allow their people to emigrate out to rejoin their homeland or to rejoin their families. I want to take a few minutes. if the gentleman will permit. to share with this body some of the individual families that we met while in the Soviet Union. Elie Wiesel in 1955 wrote the book. "The Jews of Silence." In that book. he talked about. he started the book. one could never forget the eyes. that it is in the eyes of the refuseniks that the issues of repatriation and family reunification find their focus and they become real. I want to say that it was in those eyes of some very real people that we met and became friends with that we began to understand those issues. Before I do that.
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emigrate family reunification