THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, September 23, 1977 17

Plight of Soviet Jewish Refusenik Begun Told

BY JANE MOONMAN

(Copyright 1977, JTA, Inc.)

(Editor's note: Jane
Moonman is a leader in
Britain in the campaign to
aid Soviet Jewry, a free-
lance writer and the editor
of the Zionist Year Book. )
Iosif Begun, the Moscow
Jewish activist who had
been on a hunger strike for
over 160 days, was trans-
ferred to Siberia late in
August. What did he do to
deserve such severe punish-
ment? He taught Hebrew.
The official charge was
"parasitism" because the
rThSoviet authorities refused to
_recognize "teacher of
Hebrew" as a job.
Iosif Begun was born in
1932 into a family of
strongly committed Jews.
He has himself always iden-
tified as a Jew and is
devoted to the Hebrew Ian-
- guage and the dissemination
among his fellow Soviet
Jews of Jewish literature
and learning. He trained as
a mathematics engineer at
the Moscow State Univer-

L

On the days of judg-
ement, God sits on His
throne of justice and admin-
isters to all their deserts in
accordance with their con-
duct. ___

sity becoming in 1967. a can-
didate of technical sciences.
From 1951 he worked at
various jobs connected with
his training but from 1967-69
he was engaged in "closed"
or "secret" work for state
institutions. In the years
1969-71 he was a senior lec-
turer at the Moscow
Institute ,of Agricultural
Production and for two
months in the economic and
mathematical planning
department of the Central
Research Institute. Then in
April 1971 he applied for an
exit visa to Israel. He was
refused on the familiar
grounds that he had had
access to classified
information.
His career then took the
usual downward plunge.
From 1971-72 he worked as
a laborer in a telephone
exchange and was dis-
missed; 1972-73 he was a
watchman on a building site
and was sacked for
"truancy." In fact, he had
been arrested along with
several other refusniks
(those who are refused exit
visas) and could not report
for work. Soviet- law
expressly forbids dismissal
of a man from his work
when he has been detained
by the authorities.

CATERING

FOR ALL OCCASIONS

'Seating Up to 400

Call Our Banquet Manager
682-4300

Shenandoah Country Club

IviiisTER

BOWLING

FALL LEAGUE SALE

As.r.fi
v

CLASSIC

BLACK RUBBER ONLY
REGULARLY $33.95

NOW

$21 9°

ALL FIRST QUALITY, Z.m il
EB0111TE CLOSEOUT

GYROS & MAXIMS

40% OFF ,PM,

STRIKELINE

K
V
A
ALL COLORS--REG. $39.95

2995

NOW $
EXPERT FITTING AND DRILLING

3 HOUR TSERVICE • PLUGGING • FINGER TIP

FREE ENGRAVING

MASTER CHARGE & BANKAMERICARD HONORED

Q

IVIAIST ER

545-7222

3297 W. 12 MILE— BERKLEY

OPEN DAILY TILL 6 P.M.
OPEN FRI. TJLL 7:30 P.M.

Thereafter, unable to get
any other kind of work, he
began to give private
Hebrew lessons and imme-
diately applied to the appro-
priate authorities to be reg-
istered and taxed. The
following is an extract from
one of the replies he
received from the Moscow
City Soviet of Toilers'
Deputies:
"In reply to your letter
received through the Chere-
mushkin District Public
Prosecutor's Office con-
cerning your income from
thp private instruction of
`Hebrew' and your request
to be registered in that
capacity as a tax payer, the
Moscow City Dept. of
Finances informs you of the
following: as is known
'hebrew' is not taught in our
country in higher and sec-
ondary educational
institutions, nor in general.
education schools, and,
therefore, it has no state
significance."
Nevertheless Iosif Begun
continued to give private
Hebrew lessons and has
many testimonials as to his
excellence as a teacher;
and he continued to requst
registration and taxation
from the authorities. At the
same time, he was becom-
ing increasingly involved in
Jewish cultural activities
and was a member of the
organizing committee of the
projected 1976 Cultural
Symposium which was
banned by the government.
On March 1 this year,
Iosif was arrested and
released only to be re-
arrested on March 3 and
charged under Article 209 of
the Criminal Code of the
R.S.F.S.R., which menas he
was being charged with
being a parasite of living off
the state.
There was no way in
which such a charge against
Iosif Begun would have
stood up in any civilized
court of law and it would
not have done so even in the
Soviet Union if the language
in question had been any-
thing other than Hebrew.
Not only was he prevented
from pursuing his normal
occupation, he did earn a
livig in any way he could
ultimately by teaching
mathematics and Hebrew.
Furthermore, he nursed his
sick mother at home until
she died in 1976 and helped
with his teaching fees to eke
out her pension.
None of this made any dif-
ference. Begun was held
"incommunicado" until he
was brought to trial sud-
denly on May 17. He had
started ' a hunger strike on

March 28 and the trial had
then been postponed
because of his illness: the
trial lasted nine hours and
no witnesses for the defense
were called. None of hisistu-
dents was allowed to testify
that he had been' working;
no documents showing how
he had applied for registra-
tion and to be taxed were
allowed and none of his
friends were permitted to
be in court.
Only Alla Drugova, his
fiancee was allowed to
watch the proceedings and
she reported that he looked
so ill and had turned so
white she hardly recognized
him. He was found guilty
and was sentenced to two

years in exile, the max-
imum sentence. Begun's
lawyer appealed. The
appeal was heard and
rejected without prior
notice, in camera, with no
friend of Iosif Begun's pre-
sent, not even Alla.

Despite his Continued hull-
ger strike and forced-feed-
ing, Begun was kept in
prison prior to his exile. But
the authorities did say they
would allow a wedding cere-
mony between Iosif and
Alla, who looks after Boris,
Iosif's 11-year-old son from
his first marriage, to take
place at the prison. But it
was all a cruel tease. When
Alla arrived at the prison
she found that Iosif had
already been put on trans-
port hours before to Maga-
dan, a Siberian port nearly
3,000 miles from Moscow.
When she last heard, he was
on his 160th day of his him-
ger strike.
What is so alarming about
this catalogue of official vio-
lation of human rights and
of Soviet law is that it puts
so many people at risk. It is
difficult for us to imagine a
situation in which the law
affords -no protection but
that is precisely the position
in which activists in the
Soviet Union live. And

FRANK PAUL

Ind His ORCHESTRA

remember they are not
trying to change the sys-
tem; only to claim their
rights under it.

"Music and entertainment at
its Best for lour Guests"

557-7986

12.863-238811

LIMETIME GUARANTEE ON MUFFLERS& SHOCKS

As Long As You Own Your Car

10520 W. 7 Mile Rd. at Mendota

Abe Cherow Says:

MAYBE (I DOUBT IT)
YOU CAN BtlY FOR
LESS. MAYBE YOU CAN
GET AS FINE
WORKMANSHIP AS YOU
GET AT ARTISTIC
UPHOLSTERERS (AND I
DOUBT THAT TOO) BUT
NOWHERE ELSE WILL
YOU FIND THE
TOTALITY OF OUR
SERVICE, PRICE AND
QUALITY.

ARTISTIC
UPHOLSTERERS INC.

5755 SCHAEFER RD.

(1 block North of Ford Rd.)

Dearborn LU 4-5900
Open Daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

ABE CHEROW, President,

CALL LU 4-5900

!MNIMINIMMINIMMIRIPM ■ 11111111111W

SPECIAL CONSIDERATION
GIVEN TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO
PAY FOR THEIR CARS.

Call us for our low-profit price
on the car you want to buy.

DETROIT AUTO BROKERS, INC.

26400 W. 12 Mile Rd. at Northwestern Hwy. Southfield, Mi. 48034
Telephone (313) 358-2100

>AM

Harry Kenworthy,
Community Relations Manager
Ann Arbor, offers you this
telephone tip:

"How can you
tell if the person at your door
is really a Michigan Bell
Employee?"

As you may have noticed, our employees do-not wear uniforms. They

dress in the-way they think is most appropriate to get their jobs done.
While this permits them to look like the individuals they are, it really
doesn't help you identify them as Bell employees. But, there is :a way.
Every Michigan Bell employee is required to carry a Michigan Bell
identification card giving his or her name, photograph,-and signature.
For your protection, be sure to see this card
before you admit them into your home. They'll
be happy to show It to you.

Michigan Bell Employees .. .
people who enjoy serving people.

Michigan Bell

I