Speech #1020081481

Professions were even chosen for Jews. Pogroms. or unofficial mob violence against Jews. were often condoned by the police. This antiSemitic atmosphere emboldened Soviet Jews to emigrate and was a key impetus for the construction of a Jewish state in Palestine. According to a 1991 book on Soviet history by professors David Mackenzie and Michael Curran. Soviet persecution of Jews is directly "connected with Israels emergence as a State and the desire of Soviet Jews to emigrate there. * * *" In this century. the situation of Jews did not improve much. Seventy years under the tyranny of communism. 70 years without political or religious rights. and 70 years of imprisonment in a backward and failing socialist system resulted in more Jewish suffering. The recent Communist collapse in the Soviet Union has transformed the reformation of immigration laws from an option to a necessity. Whatever the motive. part of the reforms initiated by President Gorbachev included unofficial recognition of the right to emigrate. More than 1 million Soviet Jews are expected to leave the Soviet Union. In 1990 alone. 15.447 Soviet Jews each month migrated to Israel. This was a vast increase over the 1988 proliber lization figure of 181 per month. Unfortunately. the relaxation of Soviet Immigration rules is far from being complete. The new immigration law passed by the Supreme Soviet in May. wont be fully phased in until 1993. Even then. many potential problems exist with this law. The law draws a distinction between travel passports and exit passports. favoring the former of the two. People who represent State and social groups are favored over individual persons. The law also permits emigration denial on the basis of nonfulfillment of compulsory military service. People can still be denied the opportunity to emigrate if parents or an exspouse do not sign an affidavit releasipg them from financial obligations. Fin.tlly. the new emigration law contalis provisions that could imprison prospective emigrants indefinitely in the Soviet Union. If a person is Judged to have had access to State secrets. their travel may be delayed up to 5 years. and then prolonged further as the government sees fit. The arbitrary nature of State secrets makes this a useful tool for the denial of emigration. Let me share with you a real world xample of the latter form of denial. Lev Zinovfeich Minkin. currently 71 yeati c age. is an engineer who left his job in 1986.