So-Called Soviet 'Assurances' to President of Continued
Level of Emigration Never Occurred, House Unit Told
WASHINGTON (JTA) —
State Department official's
account before a House sub-
...ommittee Monday of the
assurances President Nixon
reportedly received from
soviet leaders regarding Jew-
ish emigration was strongly
It puted by a Jewish spokes-
man who testified before the
same subcommittee.
Walter Stoessel, assistant
secretary of state for Euro-
lean affairs, told the sub-
committee on Europe of the
House Foreign Affairs Com-
“ftee that "The President
this received firm assurances
that the present Soviet emi-
gration policy which has per-
mitted the current level of
migration will be continued
mdefir
Jerry - oodman, executive
1:9ctor of the National Con-
ference on Soviet Jewry,
laimed that Stoessel was
'100 per cent wrong . . .
absolutely incorrect." Good-
'an told the Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency after the
hearings adjourned that no
h assurances were con-
tained in the memorandum
'ead to 15 American Jewish
eaders at a meeting with
President Nixon in the White
douse April 19.
Goodman, who attended
he meeting, said the memos
,iom unidentified Russian
:eaders referred only to sus-
,iension of the Soviet educa-
;ion tax on emigrants.
He noted that the White
:louse press secretary Ronald
eiegler had made no refer-
'ice to assurances regarding
he rate of emigration when
le briefed the press after
Mr. Nixon's meeting with
Tewish leaders nor did S'en.
:Iugh Scott, the Republican
minority leader, refer to
such 'assurances after Sen-
ate and House members
net with President Nixon
d were read the same
memorandum, Goodman said.
Stoessel told the JTA that
the assurances he referred to
were mentioned by Secretary
f State William P. Rogers in
estimony Tuesday before the
'Senate Foreign Relations
:mmittee. But he couldn't
say where Rogers learned of
hem.
In addition to Goodman,
Dr. Hans Morgenthau, a poli-
.ical scientist of City Univer-
sity, New York, and Albert
'rent, chairman of the Na-
,,unal Jewish Community Re-
ations Advisory Council, tes-
,ified before the House sub-
committee Tuesday. All said
the situation of Jews in the
JSSR was worsening.
They responded to ques-
ions put to them mainly by
,uocommittee chairman Rep.
Benjamin S. Rosenthal (D.
sT.Y.) ^nd Rep. Peter H. B.
risen (R. N.J.).
Dr. .dorgenthau st a ted
.atly that the "basic policy
of the Soviet Union was not
'hanged at all by the assur-
ances President Nixon re-
ceived" from the Soviet
ieadership.
Morgenthau described the
education tax on emigrants
vhich has been suspended as
'a particular tactic to pre-
•ent or at last control the
.:migration of Soviet Jews."
He said "its cessation has
not materially affected the
rate or the condition of So-
viet Jews. Instead of being
)reven•ed by taxes from leav-
ing, they are now prevented
ly other measures more
.iurdensome," he said.
-
-
-
-
Goodman said "It is not
the education tax but the ar-
bitrariness of Soviet policy"
that makes it important to
enact into law the Jackson
and Mills-Vanik amendments
to the U.S.-Soviet Trade Act.
Dr. Morgenthau referred to
the cases of Benjamin Lev-
ich, a scientist, and Valery
Panov, a dancer, whose ca-
reers he said were "ruined"
by the refusal to allow them
to emigrate. He and Good-
man pointed out that while
Jews from Soviet Georgia
and the Baltic states were
being allowed to leave, Jews
in the Russian Republic,
"Those who have laid their
lives on the line," are being
denied emigration.
The witnesses were subjec-
ted to sharp questioning by
Rep. Frelinghuisen. At one
point, he asked what right
the U.S. had to interfere in
the internal affairs of the
Soviet Union. Replying, Prof.
Morgenthau said "This is an
assumption I do not accept.
Freedom and lack of free-
dom or emigration affects
more than one country — the
country of departure and the
country of destination. The
U.S. has an interest as a
possible recipient of these
emigrants."
Dr. Henry Kissinger and
three national Jewish lead-
ers met Tuesday afternoon
for 40 minutes to discuss the
situation of Soviet Jewry.
Afterward, the three Jew-
ish leaders, Jacob Stein,
chairman of the Conference
of Presidents of Major Amer-
ican Jewish Organizations;
Max Fisher of Detroit, past
president of the Council of
Jewish Federations and Wel-
fare Funds; and Richard
Maass, Chairman of Nation-
al Conference on Soviet
Jewry, said "We found Dr.
Kissinger sympathetic to
our presentation" and that
"We were encouraged by Dr.
Kissinger's response to our
presentation and by his as-
surances that the channel of
communication between the
White House and the Jewish
community on this issue
(Soviet Jewry) will remain
open."
The meeting with Presi-
dent Nixon's national secur-
ity adviser followed the meet-
ing of 15 Jewish leaders with
Mr. Nixon at the White
House on April 19.
Stein said that Dr. Kiss-
inger told the three Jewish
leaders that the granting of
the most-favored-nation sta-
tus to the Soviet Union was
an essential aspect of the
U.S. policy of increasing
trade and detente with the
USSR.
Dr. Kissinger left Thursday
for the Soviet Union for a
four-day visit. According to
the official announcement of
his trip, he is due to discuss
with Soviet leaders U.S.-So-
viet trade, arms control and
plans for Communist Party
Chief Leonid Brezhnev's
visit to the U.S. this summer.
Herman Weisman, presi-
dent of the Zionist organiza-
tion of America, said in a
statement issued Tuesday
that the ZOA did not want
any prolonged silence con-
cerning the April 19 meet-
ing "to be interpreted as
a softening or qualifica-
tion of its support for en-
couraging the actions planned
by both houses of Congress
on behalf of Soviet Jewry."
Weisman reiterated the
ZOA's "full-fledged support"
for the Jackson Amendment.
The New York Federation
of Reformed Synagogues also
called for "unrelenting sup-
port for the Jackson-Vanik
Bill" despite President Nix-
on's plea for trust in his
policy of "quiet diplomacy."
The Union of Councils for
Soviet Jewry urged Presi-
dent Nixon in a telegram to
withdraw his opposition to
the Jackson - Mills - Vanik
Amendments and to "indi-
cate America's concern with
human dignity" by support-
ing the measures.
Mayor John V. Lindsay of
New York left Wednesday
night on an official seven-day
visit to the Soviet Union at
the invitation of Mayor
Vladmir Promyslov of Mos-
cow and the Moscow City
Council. Mayor and Mrs.
Landsay will spend five days
in Moscow and two days in
Leningrad. The mayor will
be accompanied on his trip
by Seymour Graubard, na-
tional president of the Bnai
B r i t h Anti - Defamation
League.
The announcement of the
trip by City Hall stated that
Mayor Lindsay will "take up
the issue of Soviet Jewry
with Soviet officials and pri-
vate citizens, including mem-
bers of the Jewish commun-
ity" while he is in Russia.
Golda Meir in an address
before Hebrew University
students in Jerusalem Tues-
day, said the Israel govern-
ment could not and should
not intervene in the internal
U.S. dispute over the Jack-
son Amendment.
Such intervention would
hinder rather than help, she
said.
She weighed her words
carefully when referring to
the Jackson Amendment,
praising Mr. Nixon's efforts
for Russian Jewry but ex-
pressing satisfaction, too, at
the large number of senators
who support Jackson.
Mr. Nixon, she said, had
spoken in Moscow on be-
half of Soviet Jewry and was
continuing his efforts on their
behalf. The relaxation of the
education ransom tax had
come about mainly through
the President's efforts, she
said. But the ransom was
only symptomatic of a deep-
er malaise.
Jackson, she continued,
is a sincere friend of Is-
rael and of the Jewish peo-
ple. She was happy that such
a large number of senators
and representatives support-
ed his amendment. Mrs.
Meir rejected charges that
the Israel government was
not doing enough to aid Soviet
Jewry — as some Russian
immigrants here have been
claiming.
Thirteen r e c e n t immi-
grants from the Soviet Union,
all scientists, ended a week-
long hunger strike outside
the prime minister's office
April 24 and repeated their
charges that the Israeli
Canadian Vows Help
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The
leader of the New Democra-
tic Party of Canada, David
Louis, declared in Tel Aviv
that his party would do its
utmost to influence the Can-
adian government to support
Israel's stand of no retreat
prior to a peace settlement.
government was damaging
the cause of Soviet Jews.
Mordechai Gazit, director
general of the prime minis-
ters office, said their charges
were "shocking" and almost
libelous.
But a spokesman for the
group asserted that the gov-
ernment w a s "abandoning
Soviet Jews." He cited a re-
cent re m ark by Finance
Minister Pinhas Sapir that
Israel's immigration program
should be based on an aver-
age of 50,000 newcomers a
year from all countries.
The spokesman alleged that
this was a clear hint to the
Soviet Union that Is r a el
would be satisified if no more
than 30- to 35,000 Jews were
allowed to leave the USSR
each year.
In Vienna, Soviet Embassy
officials confirmed that 18
Russian Jews who have been
living in a rotting Vienna
tenement house for up to
three years were allowed to
return Saturday to the Soviet
Union.
Communist sources s aid
the Soviets granted the visas
as a "goodwill gesture" for
May Day. The 18 are part of
96 former Soviet citizens who
emigrated to Israel but, ac-
cording to them, found life
there too demanding and
wanted to return. But the
Soviets refused them visas
because they had taken on
Israeli citizenship.
The Russians rented apart-
ments in a slum tenement
building on Malzgasse Street
from a Jewish businessman.
They were often used as
cheap 'labor 'because many
had no official work permits
from the / .ustrian authorities.
It was aisclosed in figures
released by the absorption
ministry a n d the Central
Bur e a u of Statistics that
many more immigrants from
Western nations leave Israel
within the first three years
of their arrival than do im-
migrants from the Soviet
Union.
The rate of departure of
"potential" or Western immi-
grants who arrived between
September a n d December
1969 is 31 per cent, compared
to only 8 per cent among,
"full" immigrants who ar-
rived in the same three-
month period.
Shkolnik Appeal
Due in Late May
LONDON (JTA) — The ap-
peal of Isaac Shkolnik against
his 10-year sentence will be
heard by the Supreme Court
of the Ukrainian SSR late
next month, Jewish sources
in the Soviet Union reported.
Shkolnik, who w a s sen-
tenced by a military court in
Vinnitsa on charges of spy-
ing for Israel and anti-Soviet
propaganda, filed his appeal
last week. No date has been
set for the hearings, the
sources reported.. .
Jews in Kishinev commem-
orated the 70th anniversary
of the first Kishinev pogrom
in the synagogue coutryard,
it was reported to the Greater
New York Conference do
Soviet Jewry. Throughout the
ob s er v an ce participants
stressed their determination
that similar events must nev-
er occur again. It was re-
ported to the Conference that
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, May 4, 1973-7
there was in interference
during the memorial observ-
ance.
In an unusual May Day
development, a group of 150
scientists working for the
U.S. government petitioned
the President to do every-
thing in his power to help
Soviet scientists and aca-
demics overcome the ob-
stacles a n d hardships im-
posed by the USSR on their
right to leave and to travel
abroad.
Listing some punitive sanc-
tions taken against colleagues
who have applied to emigrate
from the Soviet Union, the
American scientists ex-
pressed their alarm at a pol-
icy that "undercuts one of
the foundations of science —
the free flow of people and
ideas."
Among the 150 signers were
three No be 1 Laureates —
Christian B. Anfinsen, Julius
Axelrod, and Marshall Niren-
berg. The petition was re-
leased Tuesday by the Aca-
demic Committee on Soviet
Jewry. whose chairman is
Hans J. Morgenthau of the
City University of New York.
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