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Plea to Kissinger Cites Decline in Number of Jews Leaving USSR

NEW YORK (JTA) — The
largest coalition of Jewish
organizations in this country
has issued an appeal to Sec-
retary of State Henry A. Kis-
singer on behalf of Soviet
Jews.
A public statement released
by Rabbi Israel Miller, chair-
man of the Conference of
Presidents of Major Ameri-
can Jewish Organizations,
and Stanley H. Lowell, newly
elected chairman of the Na-
tional Conference on Soviet
Jewry, noted alarming re-
ports of decline in Jewish
emigration from the Soviet
Union had been confirmed
"on the eve of the departure
of the secretary of state to
the Soviet Union."
On behalf of nearly 40
member organizations and
hundreds of local community
councils, the Jewish leaders
stated their unanimous sup-
port for the Jackson Amend-
ment because they were
"mindful of the impact of
pending trade legislation on
the emigration of Soviet
Jews."
The two coordinating bod-
ies issued the joint statement
to also help clarify recent
news accounts regarding the
views of the Jewish com-
munity on emigration and
on the Trade Reform Act be-
fore the Senate.
A meeting between Jewish
leaders and Kissinger will
take place in Washington at
the end of April, it was dis-
closed by Rabbi Miller. He
said the forthcoming meeting
was set by Kissinger when he
met with 16 leaders of Amer-
ican Jewish organizations on
March 11 in Washington.
Before leaving for Moscow,
Kissinger cited "friction in
the Middle East" and the
failure of Congress to approve
tariff benefits and trade
credits for the Soviet Union
as the reasons why his trip
will be "more difficult" than
his previous visits.
Addressing a press confer-
ence at the State Department
three days before his depar-
ture, Dr. Kissinger appeared
to agree with a questioner
who suggested that "at this
time the atmosphere is much
chillier than on previous vis-
its."
He said it was true that the
failure so far to pass the
Trade Reform Act free from
the Jackson and Mills-Vanik
legislation "raises some ques-
tions about the understand-
ings that the Soviet Union
had every reason to believe
were valid of what the U. S.
would contribute for its side
of the detente."
Referring to the Middle
East, he said it was inevitable
that when countries like the
U. S. and USSR are engaged
in an area "of such strategic
importance" as the Middle
East, "there will be some
friction," especially when
each country is "tied to" in-
dividual states in the area.
Kissinger warned that "a
settlement in the Middle
East cannot be achieved
against the opposition of the
Soviet Union" and said the
U. S. "will try to work coop-
eratively with the Soviet Un-
ion whenever that is possi-
ble."
Referring to the present
high state of tension and
shooting on the Israeli-Syrian
front, Kissinger observed

44 Friday, March 29, 1974

—

that "If we look back to the
Egyptian-Israeli negotiations
we recognize that some mili-
tary clashes tended to occur
prior to the final settlement."
He also stated that "We do
not hold the Soviet Union
responsible, to be specific,
for the artillery exchanges
now going on in the Golan
Heights." He said the U. S.
believed negotiations would
make more progress if both
sides exercised military re-
straint.
Referring to the Jackson/
Mills-Vanik legislation link-
ing trade concessions to Rus-
sia with Moscow's emigra-
tion policies, Kissinger reiter-
ated what he told the Senate
Finance Committee a week
ago—that the administration
•was prepared to seek com-
promises that would "protect
the values" of the J/M-V
measures and enable the
U. S. to advance its "political
objectives" in relations with
the Soviet Union.
Asked whether he would
again raise the question of
Soviet emigration policies
during his stay in Moscow
and specifically the case of
Valery and Galina Panoir who
are seeking to emigrate to
Israel, Kissinger replied, "It
is reasonable to assume that
we do from time to time raise
individaul cases."
Jewish sources in the So-
viet Union said that six Si-
berian Jews who asked Kis-
singer to intervene with So-
viet authorities in their be-
half were misquoted in med-
ia reports.
The reports said they
charged Kissinger and Pres-
ident Nixon were party re-
sponsible for the "persecu-
tion" of Jews in the USSR.
The reports carried by the
BBC and British and Ameri-
can newspapers were "quite
inaccurate," the sources said.
According to the sources,
the six sent a letter to Kis-
singer on his arrival. in Mos-
cow asking his intervention
and stating that American si-
lence could be interpreted as
tacit consent to the harass-
ment of Jews for the sake of
U. S.-Soviet detente.
This, the sources said, is a
far cry from the charge they
were alleged to have made
against Kissinger and Nixon.
Kissinger was appealed to
by 16 Latvian Jews in an
open letter made available to
Western journalists in Mos-
cow for his help in their bid
to emigrate.
French Artists Express
Support for Valery, Galina
PARIS (JTA)—French art-
ists have come out in sup-
port of Soviet ballet dancers
Valery and Galina Panov who
have been seeking unsucess-
fully to emigrate to Israel.
Some 200 producers, direc-
tors, actors, dancers, choreo-
raphers, singers and musi-
cians have appealed to Soviet
Communist Party Secretary
Leonid I. Breshnev to grant
the couple exit visas.
Galina Panov, meanwhile,
said that her mother is men-
tally ill and is preventing her
emigration to Israel because
she "hates Panov as a Jew."
Mrs. Panov responded in a
statement in Moscow to a
letter over her mother's
name that appeared last
week in the newspaper So-

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

vietskaya Kultura. Her mo-
ther wrote that Galina had
been persuaded by her "mer-
cenary" husband, who fright-
ened and dominated her, to
go with him to Israel.
Mrs. Panov reaffirmed her
wish to immigrate to Israel
and said that the editors of
Sovietskaya Kultura "should
know that she (her mother)
is mentally ill—she has spent
many years in mental clinics.
"From the first day of our
relationship, my mother has
been against Panov because
he is Jewish. She hates Jews
and this explains all the lies."
A retired Soviet Jewish ar-
my colonel dramatically re-
nounced his citizenship and
handed back his medals
March 21 in the reception
room of the presidium of the
Supreme Soviet in Moscow.
Col. Naum Alshansky said
he was protesting the treat-
ment of Jews in the Soviet
Union and the refusal of the
authorities to grant him a
visa to emigrate to Israel.
Alshansky first applied for
an exit visa in 1971 and soon
afterward was stripped of
his rank and deprived of his
officer's pension. He and an-
other- former officer, Lev Ov-
ishcher, announced last De-
cember that they planned to
renounce their Soviet citizen-
ship.
Col. Alshansky, 56, served
in the Red Army for 26
years including four years of
combat in World War II.

Valery and Galina Panov

Mrs. Basia Soroko. a 32-
year-old Jewish activist from
Kiev, has received an exit
visa to emigrate to Israel, it
was reported by the Student
Struggle for Soviet Jewry.
Four months ago Mrs.
Soroko was forcibly sepa-
rated from her 40-year-old
husband, Uri, and her 10-
year-old son Zhenia. In No-
vember 1973 they were per-
mitted to leave for Israel
without her.
The SSSJ described the
couple as being "top activ-
ists," who, as a result of
their activity and a protest
against the Munich massacre
of 11 Israeli Olympians were
imprisoned and harassed by
the Soviet authorities.

The Soviet Jewish activist
Valery Kukui was released
from prison March 20 and is
back in his home town Sverd-
lovsk.
According to the National
Conference on Soviet Jewry
the Soviet authorities have
promised Kukui he will be
permitted to leave for Israel
to rejoin his wife who emi-
grated to Israel a few months
ago. Kukui was given a
three-year sentence in 1971.
Pavel Litvinov, the 33-year.
old Soviet Jewish dissident
who left the USSR, will be
immigrating to the United
States April 8, United Hias
Service reported.
Jewish sources in the
Soviet Union reported that
Aleksandr Feldman, who is
serving a three and one-half
year sentence in a strict
regime labor camp, has be-
gun a hunger strike in pro-
test against his solitary con-
finement. Feldman is at the
Shepetobka Camp.
Dr. Isaac Poltinnikov of
Novosibirsk, a leading Soviet
Jewish activist, was hit by
a bus and suffered a concus-
sion recently, it was reported
by the Southern California
Council for Soviet Jews.
The SCCSJ noted that the
accident does not seem to
have been deliberate. Dr.
Poltinnikov is recuperating
at home.
A Columbia University doc_
toral student, Joseph Telush-
kin, said that Dr. Poltinni-
kov has been accused of hav-
ing given Americans "slan-
derous" information about
the condition of Soviet Jews.
Dr. Poltinnikov was among
would-be Siberian emigrants
sought out by Telushkin and
Richard B. Stone, lawyer,
during a trip through the
Soviet Union last October.
They were the first foreign-
ers to visit the Siberian Jews,
who have generally been
more isolated from foreign
contacts than the Moscow
community.
Dr. Poltinnikov, a 53-year-
old ophthalmologist, retired
in 1971 after a 30-year medi-
cal career in the Soviet
Army. The security-conscious
Soviet authorities have been
particularly reluctant to
grant exit visas to persons
with long service in the
armed forces.
The Poltinnikov family also
includes Dr. Poltinnikov's
wife, Irma, 51, who is a car-
diologist, and their elder
daughter, Victoria, 30, a
radiologist.
400 in 10-Mile Walk
for Soviet Jews
NEW YORK (JTA) — Po-
litical and civic leaders led

some 400 people in a 10-mile
"Walk-a-Thon" through
Brooklyn Sunday to aid
Soviet Jews. The event was
co-sponsored by the Student
Struggle for Soviet Jewry
and the Brooklyn Coalition
for Soviet Jewry.
Eugene Gold, Brooklyn dis-
trict attorney and president
of the Brooklyn Coalition,
said a goal of $10,000 has
been set to raise funds for
Passover packages which
*

will be delivered to Jews in
the Soviet Union.
Also participating in the
"Walk-a-Thon" were Rep.
Hugh L. Carey (D.NY), Con-
gresswoman Elizabeth Holtz_
man (D.NY), City Depart-
ment of Investigations Com-
missioner Nicholas Scoppet-
ta, Brooklyn Borough Presi-
dent Sebastian Leone, Bronx
Borough President Robert
Abrams and Assemblyman
Antonio Olivieri.

*

Ford Foundation Grants Agen*
$250,000 for Emigres to U.S.

NEW YORK—Resettlement
of hundreds of Soviet refugee
scholars and writers in the
U. S. will be eased with a
grant of $250,000 by the Ford
Foundation to the American
Council for Emigres in the
Professions.
The grant to the council, a
placement agency founded in
1945, will be limited to aca-
demic scholars, most of them
Jews, coming in increasing
numbers to this country.
Ford Foundation said the
idea of the grant is to help
prepare scholars and writers
through counseling and lan-
guage training so they can
use their talents in the U. S.
The American Council. of
Learned Societies will assist
the agency in developing
contacts in universities for
the newcomers.
Since last August, the U. S.
has lifted all barriers to the
immigrantion of Soviet refu-

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gees, but unlike Israel. the
U. S. has no coordinated pol-
icy of assistance, once the
refugees arrived.
Mary Mackler, who will
head the Ford Foundation
Program at the American
Council for Emigres in the
Professions, said the growing
influx into the U. S. reflects
a less pronounced Zionist or
nationalistic feeling among
Jews now leaving the Soviet
Union. More and more view
the exit visa for Israel sim-
ply as a way of getting out
of the Soviet Union, she said.
Some emigres report in-
creasing difficulties in find-
ing jobs in Israel commen-
surate with their training
and experience. But Israel
still absorbed at least 90 per
cent of the refugees from the
USSR.

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Nine year-old Zhenia Soroko was forcibly separated
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friends in America mounted a successful effort to win Basia
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