THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, September 20, 1985

Rep. Sander
Levin gets
a first-hand
look at
Soviet Jewish
life
refusenik
style.

Soviet law. In 1976, a Leningrad
court removed custody from the two
and awarded it to Elena's ex-
husband. While the Bronshteins
have, in practice, ignored the cus-
tody change, Alexei's biological
father has refused to give consent for
his son to emigrate.
"Exit visas have been granted to
Lev, Elena and a daughter, Irina,"
Levin said. "But they know the fam-
ily won't leave without Alexei."
The Congressman said the one
thing each family mentioned to him
was the positive value of publicizing
their plight in Western nations.
"The basic feeling these people have
is that the more the world knows of
their efforts, the safer they are. But
I think that is only up to a certain
point.
"There's always the danger that
if there is too much publicity, the
Soviet authorities will decide to
make an example out of them. The
sword is always dangling there."
The Congressman said he came
home more aware than ever that
Jewish life in the Soviet Union was
a rather strange paradox. "You have
to be extremely secretive in order for
their plight to be known publicly."
Levin's first trip to Russia was a
natural extension of involvement in
the Soviet Jewry issue which began
long before his 1982 election. Still,

contact will be there to meet them."
Once inside the Soviet Union,
calls were placed from subway sta-
tions. "It's so noisy, you figure that
if you have trouble hearing, so will
anybody who is tapped into the
line."
In Moscow, the group met with,
among others, Dr. Aleksandr Lerner,
a world-renowned cyberneticist who
applied for an exit visa in 1971 and
has since been dismissed from aca-
demic and research posts and haras-
sed by the KGB.
"The general tenor among these
people is that despite all their trou-
bles, one day they will indeed be
able to leave," the Congressman
said. "What they've all done in vary-
ing degrees is decide to keep living,
keep moving their daily lives for-
ward. What they want to do is to try
and normalize their lives. This is
why they still, for the most part, at-
tempt to adhere to a regular routine.
It's why they still do things like take
vacations, or, if they themselves
can't leave, send other family mem-
bers to the beach for a week in the
summer."
And it is that desire for nor-
malcy that makes it difficult, espe-
cially for an outsider, to guage the
way refuseniks really feel, according
to Levin. When he met with people
'like Dr. Lerner for the first time, he

FREEDOM

BY TEDD SCHNEIDER

Staff Writer

felt like he was walking a tightrope.
"On the one hand, you don't want to
disrupt the illusion of normalcy that
they have carefully constructed for
everyday survival. But on the other
hand, you really want them to open
up and share their deepest feelings
with you."
While in Leningrad, Levin saw
first-hand evidence of another tactic
used by Soviet officials in dealing
with refuseniks — breaking up the
family unit. The Southfield Con-
gressman met with prominent
Jewish activist Lev Bronshtein, his
wife Elena and her son by a previous
marriage, Alexei.
The Bronshteins applied to. leave
the Soviet Union about ten :years
ago. At that time, the teenage
Alexei was living with Lev and
Elena, a choice he was allowed to
make at the time of divorce under

'

he attended a number of briefings
and read several books authored by
refuseniks to better prepare for the
experience. Levin said the group
didn't run into any serious interfer-
ence on the part of Soviet officials,
although their luggage was searched
very thoroughly on arrival and de-
parture.
The trip also solidified Levin's
stand on U.S.-Soviet relations. "At
every step, we're going to have to in-
sist with the Soviet Union that in
return for any agreement on our
part, they are going to have to ease
up on the refuseniks and let some of
them go.
"Whether its trade, or an avia-
tion agreement that would allow
Aeroflot 'to land in New York, 'or a
cultural exchange •program — from
these smaller things all the way up

Continued on next page

23

What
We Can Do

The Detroit Soviet Jewry
Committee (DSJC) of the Jewish
Community 'Council encourages
local action on behalf of Soviet
Jewry through half a dozen proj-
ects. They include:
ADOPT-A-FAMILY --- De-
troiters may write to a family
waiting for an exit visa or to Pris-
oners of Conscience exiled in labor
camis and prisons.
TWINNING — Youngsters
can share their b'nai mitzvot with
a Soviet refusenik child,
TELEGRAM BANK — Local
residents can join a "Crisis Tele-
gram Bank," which provides a ve-
hicle for communication in times
of crisis for Soviet Jews.
LETTERS — The DSJC will
provide area residents with names
and addresses of Congressmen,
Senators and other government
officials so that they may advo-
cate legislative action to ease the
plight of Jews living in the USSR.
SUBSCRIPTION De-
troiters can add their names to
the mailing list for VIGIL, the-
Soviet Jewry newsletter.
SPECIAL EVENTS — The
committee sponsors a number of
community-wide rallies, lectures
and concerts in support of Soviet
Jewry.
In addition to these programs,
the DSJC is recommending that
Detroiters urge President Reagan
to include human rights and the
situation facing Soviet Jews as a
priority item on.the agenda of his
upcoming Geneva summit meet-
ing with Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev. Address letters to
President Ronald Reagan, the
White House, Washington, D.C.
20500.
For information on the pro-
grams listed above, call the DSJC,
962-1880.

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