My colleague from New York. Congressman MRAZEK. and I. have become very familiar in recent years with the plight facing the Terlitsky family of Moscow. and felt that it was appropriate for us to speak out at this time on their behalf. We have invited our colleagues to join us in this special order because Soviet Jewish emigration in 1986 consisted of only 914 individuals. was 20percent less than 1985. This is a drop in the bucket. since we know that almost 400.000 Soviet Jews have made known their desire to reunify with family members in the West. One such poignant case is the Terlitsky family of Moscow. Mark Terlitsky. formerly an architect. applied to emigrate from the Soviet Union in 1976. He was joined in his application by his wife. Svetlana. their daughter Olga. his mother Fanya. and his brother. Leonard. Only Leonard. also an architect. was allowed to emigrate at that time. Since then. the family was refused each time they applied. with the most recent refusal coming January 19. 1987. just a few days ago. The reason for refusal has repeatedly been "knowledge of state secrets." As an architect working in the early 1970s on restoration projects in the Kremlin. Mark was required to have a lowlevel security clearance. Knowing that he would apply for an emigration visa in the future. Mark left that position in 1974. and transferred to another position where he worked on small residential and commercial projects. It was fully 2 years later when he and his family first applied to emigrate. Shortly thereafter. both Mark and Svetlana lost their jobs. Since then they have only been able to obtain temporary employment from time to time. while continuing their activity within the Soviet Jewish refusenik community.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration visa