THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

14 Friday, June 12, 1981

Downward Trend in Soviet Jewish Emigration Is Continuing

is. In practice, the prisoner
dered to report to the immi-
is spending his entire day in
gration office is invariably
the toilet because there is a
later than the date of expi-
terrible smell from the pipe
ration of their exit visas,
opening. When one needs
Richter said.
water one must ask for it.
The SSSJ also reported
Near the wall is a board
that only 282 Romanian
which
serves as a table,
Jews were permitted to
along with another small
leave for Israel during the
board for sitting. There is
firstfiv6 months of 1981, an
a small window covered
average of 56 per month, ac-
with dense grating, so the
cording to Center for Rus-
cell is in semi-darkness.
sian and East European
There is a small electric
Jewry national director
bulb so one's eyes are
Jacob Birnbaum.
constantly strained. It's,-
This is in contrast to the
not without reason why
250-350 monthly average
Anatoly is losing his --
during the first half of the
sight; one can really go
1970s when Bucharest was
blind there.
angling for economic and
"The prisoner is brought
political favors from Wash,
to the cell, distressed, ask-
ington.
ing why? Nothing happens.
Deploring this trend,
After several hours, a
Birnbaum appealed to
sleepy officer appears and
NEW COMPUTERIZED
the American Jewish
informs him that he was
community' to make a
SECURITY EQUIPMENT
sentenced to the PKT for six
greater effort to utilize
months.
He also tells the
the strong leverage al.- .
reason for punishment, al-
forded by the upcoming
ways something very
Senate and House hear-
laughable; the real reasons
ings on the Jackson
are never named. To have a
Amendment reviewing
motive, small infringe-
the annual grant of
ments are collected for
Sen. Carl .Levin (D-Mich), right, congratulates
Most-Favored-Nation
years. Since there are regu-
Yosif
Mendelevich
on
his
release
after
11
years
of
(MFN) trading status and
lations for each step the
Central Station Monitoring
associated economic incarceration in a Soviet prison.
prisoner takes, it's no won-
benefits to Romania.
Thous- ands of satisfied customers
quested a meeting with the Jewish community der that each inmate has ac-
Meanwhile, Yosif Men- Waldheim last month.
must mobilize to send large cumulated a list of small
CALL THE
delevich, the freed Soviet
quantities of religious books shortcomings.
Speaking at a press con-
Jewish activist who immig- ference at the UN, spon- and articles, taleism, tefi-
"Should this not be suffi-
rated to Israel three months sored by Yehuda Blum, Is- lin, mezuzot and sidurim cient, the camp administra-
MARTY
ago, said that UN Secretary rael's ambassador to the into Russia.
17534 W. 7 MILE, DETROIT
tion doesn't shirk provoca-
General Kurt Waldheim UN, Mendelevich said that
Men- tion. Anatoly, for example,
Meanwhile,
CY
LICENSED BY
"could not find the time to instead of a meeting with delevich led a mass SSSJ was ordered to work in an
SHEL
MICH. DEPT. OF STATE POLICE
see me." He said that he re- Waldheim, he met with
demonstration of area between fences where
Under Secretary General "prayer and anger" at the the guards can shoot a pris-
William Buffum and dis- Soviet UN Mission for his oner; hi,s refusal to work
cussed with him the plight comrade Anatoly there was a 'severe breach of
of Soviet Jews and the "cul- Scharansky, who is regime.'
"All personal items are
tural and religious persecu- slowly dieing in the soli-
tary confinement cells of confiscated from the pris-
tion" against them.
Mendelevich expressed the Perm labor camp. oner except one pair of
With Mrs. Avital underwear (not long ago, a
disappointment that Wal-
Sharansky, he affixed a prisoner was sentenced be-
dheim could not see him
claiming that he promised large Soviet Jewry free- cause a search disclosed a
his fellow prisoners in Rus- dom flag to the mission's second pair of underwear).
One may write a single let-
sia to discuss their plight gates.
Mendelevich has in- ter every two months; it's
with the Secretary General.
itiated a special program for
Meridelevich also re- the prisoners of conscience, forbidden to speak about the
called what he termed "Operation Pidyon conditions of imprisonment.
The prisoner feels strong
"the religious persecu-
Shevuyim" ("redemption of moral suffering, yet cannot
tion" in Soviet jails — captives" in Hebrew), under
explain to his family what is
where his religious arti-
SSSJ's auspices. For infor- happening or why he isn't
cles and prayer books
mation, write SSSJ, 210 W. writing twice a month as be-
were cpnfiscated. as
91st St., New York, N.Y., fore.
"Zionist propaganda" —
"The whole character
10024.
and claimed that this
of
punishment has the
persecution reflected the
"Descent Into Hell"
aim to demonstrate to the
Earrings
cultural
and
religious
(The following article by
Pearls
oppression of Jews all Yosef Mendelevich, entitled prisoner the hopeless-
ness of continuing to re-
over Russia.
"Descent Into Hell: The sist . . .
Watches
Mendelevich also said PKT," describes the condi-
Bracelets
"At night, the giiard
that the movement towards tions under which jailed opens with a key the wooden
Soviet
dissident
Anatoly
Zionism in Russia has taken
board which has been
on a new dimension and has Shcharansky lives.)
Diamond studs I Beads
locked during the day, gives
"Incarceration into the you a mattress filled with
become a "Judaistic
PKT is usually done thus:
Zionism."
rags, a soldier's blanket and
Mendelevich told a joint The prisoner is taken away a meager pillow. During the
meeting of the board of di- in the daytime directly from summer the cell is airlesP
rectors and board of gover- his place of work so he will but in winter when the ten
nors of the Union of Or- not be able to tell anyone. perature can drop to -40 de=
thodox Jewish Congrega- He is led to the bunks where grees outside, hands freeze
tions at Cong. Kehillath hardly anyone is present at in the cell and one can't
Jeshurun in Manhattan that time. Without explana- sleep at night. But at 6 a.m.
that, "Several hundred tion, he is told to collect his you have to get up.
Jews are trying to be reli- belongings and is taken to a
"If you were unable to
giously observant today in building fenced off from the sleep it's your bad luck; it's
rest
of
the
camp
by
addi-
Russia, compared with a
forbidden to sleep during
10th of that number only a tional barbed wire. This is the day:
the KGB's inner prison
few years ago."
"Your morning food is
This upsurge in religious which holds the PKT and brought. You receive less
26400 West Twelve Mile Road
yearning, said Men- punishment, cells.
in Southfield's Racquetime :Mall
"The cells differ little. than other prisoners, except
delevich, who remained ob-
for the punishment cell. In
Northeast corner 12 Mile & Northwestern Hwy.
servant through 11 years of Near the wall is a water practice, you get no more
master charge.
channel
and
above
it
a
pipe.
imprisonment
in
Soviet
357-5578
than 1,000 calories. A pris-
labor camps, calls for in- The water is regulated by a oner may buy two rubles of
Mon., Tues., Wed., Fri., Sat., 10-6, Thur., 10-9
creased action on the part of supervisor. This is the only
(Continued on Page 15)
American Jewry. He said hygenic installation there

NEW YORK (JTA) — Al-
though the number of Jews
leaving the Soviet Union
increased slightly last
month compared to the
previous month, the general
trend is downward, the Stu-
dent Struggle for Soviet
Jewry (SSSJ) reported.
According to SSSJ
spokesman Glenn Richter,
1,141 Jews arrived in Vie-
nna from the USSR in May
while the figure for April
was 1,115. Of the latest ar-
rivals, 84 percent did not
proceed to Israel.
That was confirmed by
the Intergovernmental Mi-

gration Committee in
Geneva which reported that
of the 1,141 arrivals in Vie-
nna last month, only 250
went to Israel.
Richter noted that dur-
ing the 12 months of 1979,
the average monthly fig-
ure of Jewish emigration
from the Soviet Union
was 4,200 and that in 1980
it dropped to an average
of 1,800.
He reported that the "cur-
rent tactic" of Soviet
authorities is to send letters
to "refuseniks" saying they
can emigrate. However, the
date on which they are or-

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