Speech #1020032944

I wish to speak today not only of the case of one individual. Yan Satanovsy. but of the increasingly grave situation faced by Jews in the Soviet Union. Yan and his family first applied for permission to emigrate to Israel In 1979. Soviet authorities refused permission. citing Yans access to state information when he worked in the Ministry of Machine Building. Yan left the Ministry in 1974. With this refusal. Yan and his family joined the ranks of thousands of refuseniks arbitrarily denied permission to emigrate from the Soviet Union. Yan last apphmld for permission to emigrate in 1990. Soviet auihorities informed him that his application would not even be considered until 1993almost 20 years after his alleged exposure to state secrets. With his apV)ication pending. Yan could simply bide his time and avoid taking actions that could jeopardize his chances for a visa. Instead. Yan has become actively involved in the refusenik movement. working on behalf of thousands of others like him who want to leave. but cannot. Their efforts to emigrate have become even more urgent in recent months. as reports indicate a rise in antiJewish intimidation and violence in the Soviet Union. The escalating internal strife and deteriorating socioeconomic conditions in the U.S.S.R. have fueled particularly virulent forms of antiSemitism. Racist Russian nationalist groups such as Pamyat have found an increasingly receptive audience to their claims that Jews are to blame for the growing disorder and hardships. AntiSemitic propaganda is appearing in the mass media as well as official journals. The Soviet Ministry of Defense recently published the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion." an infamous antiSemitic canard. in its official journal. At this time. it is critical that Congress redouble its efforts to press for emigration liberalization in the Soviet Union. While record numbers of Jews were allowed to emigrate