64 Friday, May 2, 1980 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 10 Days Behind the Iron Curtain: A Visit With Soviet Refusniks By FRANK WUNDOHL and RABBI HERBERT TOBIN (Copyright 1980, JTA, Inc.) (Editor's note: Frank Wundohl, editor of the Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia and president of the Ameri- can Jewish Press Asso- ciation, and Rabbi Her- bert Tobin, associate di- rector for community services of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Philadelphia, recently spent "10 tem- pestuous days behind the Iron Curtain.") We met several times with those who had gone be- fore us on similar missions to the Soviet, Union. Those who had previously toured offered their encourage- ment, their experience and their counsel. First, we were loaded with detailed biographical sketches and snapshots of the refusniks with whom it was hoped we would meet. We learned what to do and even more importantly what not to do in attempting to contact refusniks. For the were to do, whatever we refusniks, we packed denim were to carry with us, was jeans, sweaters, tape re- strictly in conformance with corders, batteries, peanut Soviet law. We were going butter, chewing gum, whis- to be "tourists." We were key, candy, cigarets and de- going to make contact (le- hydrated foodstuffs easily gally) with the refusniks. reconstituted, like bouillon We knew that the Russians cubes and instant coffee. would not be happy when They seem like everyday we made contact with items to us, but to our im- Soviet refusniks. prisoned brothers and sis- The last time we dis- ters, they are a lifeline. cussed our trip we touched Much of the food and upon perhaps the most sen- clothing ultimately sitive issue we might be ex- makes its way to such pected to face over the next God-forsaken places as 10 days — the matter of car- Amur in Outer Mongolia rying Jewish books in the where Vladimir Slepak Russian language to the re- languishes in isolation. fusniks. There is no ac- He is serving five years' counting for the Russian. banishment in internal What annoys them with one exile for the "crime" of tourist may be completely holding up a sign on the ignored with the next. Some balcony of his Moscow books are confiscated one apartment which read: time and waved through the "Give qs visas so we may next. We were warned that dis- be reunited with our sons covery of these materials in Israel." Throughout the weekly might lead to temporary de- briefing sessions, the air tention and the confiscation was lighthearted. We were of the books. "Please follow me, sir," a about to embark on a great adventure. Whatever we customs officer directed me Life of U.S. Jewish Immigrants Recalled in Green's The Chains' Gerald Green has written his name inerasably in the record of American literary achievements. He sen- sationalized, his labors as a novelist with "The Last Angry Man." As a best seller and subsequently as a high-ranking movie, "The Last Angry Man" remains among the most impressive accounts of the life of im- migrant Jews in this coun- try. Then came the interna- tional triumph, his novel about the Holocaust which became the text for the five-day television program that was watched and talked about by tens of mil- lions, later trekking its way to Germany, with showings in many lands, including Is- rael. Now Gerald Green treats his readers with another novel that is already on the road to being a long- running best seller. Green's newest novel follows a tradition. He deals with a Jewish fam- ily, with three genera- tions, their evolutionary experiences. The Chains" (Seaview Books) are the heroes of the novel, whose American roles reflect on the immig- rant integrations in this land. Brooklyn is the scene. The Chain family is active here in the years 1910 to 1960. They begin in the Brownsville area. Im- poverished, they grow with their appreciation of the new land and the devotion with which they benefited from American advantages. Jake Chain is symbolic of the family. He was a child on the boat arriving in the U.S., grew up in an orphan asylum. He became a seltzer wagon driver _and he was tough fisted. He was the type of man who would not yield to insult. He struck back when assailed. It is undoubtedly normal to the Jewish experience that Jake should become involved in union activities. Rising in the ranks, he is portrayed beating up strike breakers, and from a labor racketeer he became a boot- legger. Mortimer Chain, Jake's son, inherited the bootleg- ging, and when liquor was legalized he rose in the in- dustry. Then came the achieving of respectability — by Jake's grandson Martin, the brilliant manipulator who rose in the corporate ranks. Introduced by Green in the ranks of the changing generations is Jake's cousin, Eva Heilig, who is hailed as a heroine by the embattled women strik- ers. Socialist, street corner orator, student of world affairs, Eva emerges as a dedicated advocate of reforms. The fact that she married an aristocrat from Manhat- tan in no way affected her zeal as a reformer. Green describes how power, influence and money is ill-gotten in the Chain chronicle of events during a half - century of Ameri- canized rise from immig- rant to financial _power. But there also is the pro- tester, the critic, the rebel, Dr. Samuel Abelman, the hero of "The Angry Man," epic. He resorts to tirades against swindlers, crooks, employers, the city, shout- ing, "The bastards don't let you live." The role of this doctor is revived as the man upon whose principles the Chain family leans, the healer who charges five cents for an office visit, a dollar for a house call. The impressiveness and fascination of "The Chains" is that its author reconstructs the Ameri- can experience while re- lating the story of three generations of Jews. He portrays with great skill the immigrant's rise, the social and political occurrences, the labor movement and its strug- gles. It is certain to rank among the very notable of Green's works. Gerald Green is the author of 21 books of fiction and non-fiction. Green re- ceived the Dag Ham- marskjold International Peace Prize for "Holocaust." the street outside the Mos- changed the word to " 'here,' cow synagogue where we who continue to taste the met many refusniks. When bitterness of slavery." Wundohl produced one of we turned sharply into the narrow street, we were the four copies of the-March struck by several im- 21 edition of the Jewish mediate impressions. First, Exponent. Its 112 pages the Great Synagogue of brought gasps from those Moscow with its soft white gathered as they turned columns is much less impos- page after page. The refus- ing that its name suggests. niks of Moscow were wide- Second, we were hardly eyed in amazement that a prepared for the throngs of Jewish newspaper, a people milling about in the flourishing newspaper, car- street. There must have ried openly stories like: "In- been 250 Jews, refusniks terfaith Seder Is Dedicated FRANK WUNDOHL and "observers" in small to POCs" (Prisoners of Con- (Wundohl) after I had hur- clusters busily talking. science); "Soviet Jews riedly re-assembled my These Saturday after- Israel," a report with ph carefully searched luggage noon meetings represent on a mission of 12 members at Moscow's Sheremetyevo the best opportunity weekly of the Soviet Jewry Council Airport. for refusniks and other to visit former refusniks I was directed to a tiny Jews, who have not applied now living in Israel. , interrogation cubicle, for exit visas, to exchange and Kosharovsky surrounded by what greetings, information, Michael and Alexander seemed to be a platoon of news and ideas. And we Khadmeansky suggested a customs and government joined in. private session the next af- officials but was com- Riva introduced Tobin ternoon to delve deeper into prised, in fact, of only five to Victor Brailovsky's the complex issue of drop- individuals. And it was wife, and brought Wun- outs. The valuable hours we hot. I had been awake for dohl to Masha Slepak, spent in the Moscow apart- 291/2 hours. who only by coincidence ment of Michael and Ilalana Surrounded as I was on had just returned from Khadmeansky the next day the short walk from bag- exile with her husband, prevented us from attend- gage inspection, I failed to Vladimir, in Amur, Outer ing a Purim Spiel elsewhere see a somewhat dispirited Mongolia, in order to that drew overflow crowds and dissheveled traveling comply with Soviet regu- to three performances. companion who had just lations requiring that the Our session with the emerged from the very same Slepaks register every six three leaders was some- room to which I was de- months to keep their what more somber. They stined. - Tobin had been Moscow apartment. outlined to us their worry plucked out of line, too, and It was difficult to spend that Jews who choose not already subjected to a body more than a few minutes to immigrate to Israel are search. with each of those whom we smothering the chances There were as many as six met . . . Ilya Essas, Pavel of those still in the Soviet officials in the room at one Abramovich, Helen Seidel, Union from ever being time, and each Jewish item Arkady Mai, Yuli granted permission to they found elicited com- Kosharovsky and many, leave. ment. We were convinced many others. As the sun set It is a simple argument. that, at the least, all our and temperatures plum- Those who seek to leave treasured items would be meted, we left the street the USSR and accept with Kosharovsky, head of "first-degree relative af- confiscated. About 15 minutes later, the network of Hebrew fidavits" (those who have a almost everything, includ- teachers, and a handful of mother, father, sister or ing our address cards were his colleagues. We also were brother in Israel) issued by returned to us. The notable accompanied by two young the state of Israel and then exceptions were the Jewish women from head West instead allow the Soviets to claim the visa Russian-language books England. After a 40-minute hike procedure is a mockery. and Hagadot each of us had through the cold, we were Further, the Russians claim been carrying. Not 10 minutes after led to another apartment Israeli visas are not truth- checking into the hotel, block. The apartment, ful. The three refusniks also Wundohl followed James though furnished in the Bond's 007 prescription. He taste and pocket book of one outlined the arcane and left the dining room, slipped of the teachers, was almost capricious nature of the exit c ros s be- a carbon copy of the visa application process, edhotel, crossed out the and pointed to a lack of a neath e x u p t olaf the main boulevard to Feldman flat. Kosharovsky invited us comprehensive written set the Metro (subway) ter- . minus and amidst a milling as the guests of honor dur- of guidelines. A variety of crowd of Muscovites, found ing our walk there to take their other needs and con- the floor for the bulk of the cerns was expressed. a pay phone on the well. Their commitment to He- Three tries finally pro- several hours of that eve- duced our first connec- ning's seminar. Tobin lec- brew, to Zionism and Eretz tion — refusnik Riva tured in Hebrew about the Yisrael in no way pre- Feldman. Riva put one of history and traditions sur- vented them from display- her two sons on the rounding the celebration of ing their appreciation for phone because, as she Pesach. Therewas an obvi- our visit. They lavished apologetically, ous thirst and- appreciation hospitality and comfort on us, as we sipped tea and Ate he "speaks better English for the ideas he presented. A silence enveloped the a wide variety of food , l than I do." We completed arrangements for a visit room when he mentioned sweet cakes. When Khadmeansky to the Feldman the next the "fifth cup of wine that many U.S. Jews add to matter-of-factly an- afternoon. their Seder in commem- Riva Feldman, twins oration fo the Six Million nounced, You know -e Efim and Vladimir, Vla- martyrs of the Holocaust. have contingency ph, I dimir's wife Helen and their The tragic ramifications Ynli suddenly disappears 11-month-old son Lev of the Shoah are felt by in the middle of the night greeted us on an upper floor both communities," he one night. I will take over. If I go, it will be Michael of a typical shabby Moscow said. and there are others, hi-rise apartment building. too," both of us felt a cold Then Tobin wound up his Weeks later, we received word in Philadelphia that remarks by speaking about psychological chill. We pledged to relay their Riva Feldman's request for the "fourth matza — the an exit visa to Israel had at matza of hope — that many concerns, their needs, to the long last been approved by American Jews point to as Jews of America. Then it the Ovir's office in Moscow. symbolizing the enslave- was down into the deep and It had been essential, we ment of our brethren 'there' intricate Moscow Metro en felt, to meet Feldman be- in the Soviet Union." He route to our next refusnik cause she was to lead us to paused for seconds, then meeting.