Speech #1000020782

In 1979. while serving as mayor of Tulsa. I had the opportunity to convey a special message to former Soviet Premier Leonid Bresnev that was signed by hundreds of Tulsans who were petitioning for the release of refusenik Boris Penson from a Soviet labor camp. His crime was working for increased emigration from the Soviet Union by Soviet Jews. For his courage and determination to speak out he was rewarded with a prison sentence. Much to our surprise the Soviet Government relented and shortly thereafter permitted Boris Penson to leave the Soviet Union. Upon his release he came to Temple Israel in Tulsa and thanked the citizens of Tulsa for their help in securing his release. He reminded us that there are countless Soviet Jews that are not only denied the right to emigrate. but who are being held in slave labor camps or insane asylums. Boris remembered the plight of his fiance. Ida Nudel. who to this day. is still being held a prisoner in a Soviet prison for her beliefs. We must not lose sight of the suffering of Ida Nudel or the countless others who are enslaved just because they have petitioned their Government for the right to emigrate. Because I was recognized by Boris Penson as having played a role in his release I was viciously attacked by the newspaper of the Communist Party of the United States. the Daily World. for allegedly stirring up antiSoviet feelings. That personal experience demonstrated to me that the Soviets and their Communist sympathizers are devoid of respect for basic human rights and are dedicated to the cause of spreading Marxism and Leninism across the globe. I call upon the Soviet leaders to prove to the world that they are serious about the cause of human rights by adhering to the Helsinki accord. It is time that they allow Soviet Jews the right to freely emigrate and in the -words of Moses. "Let my people go." We in Congress will continue to support those in the Soviet Union who continue to seek recognition and observance of their human rights. including the right to emigrate. It is ironic that in the same year. the Soviet Union adopted a new emigration law to control people who want to leave. the United States passed a new immigration law to control the inflow of the millions of people who want to move to our country. Here is the true story of peoples preference for living in open societies.