Thursday. March 13.1986 — THE BULLETIN — 5
By LOUIS MOORE
For the past several years; the name of VeniaminBogoniolny has caught the eye of El PasoiTexascity councilman James Goldman, whenever he looked at the glistening stainless steel bracelet on his right wrist.
Goldman, an associate national commissioner of the Anti-Defamation League; wears the bracelet to remind him of Bogomolny, his brotherrin-faith, who has been waiting for half of his 39 years to emigrata.from the Soviev Union to Israel.
Recently, Jimmy Goldman sat in Veniamm Bogomolny's tiny apartment in Moscow's massive city of 8.5 million:people and fought back tears as he told of the bracelet and his hopes that some day the Soviet Jew's dream will come true.
(The bracelets, distributed through the National Conference on SbvietJewry^are called "Prisoner of Conscience" bracelets and each bears the name of a Refusenik.)
Once outside the stark apartment, Goldman marveled at the strange quirk in international policies that allowed him, two Houston city councilmen and a Houston Chronicle reporter to visit Bogomolny in Moscow — yet will not allow him to leave the Soviet Union.
"This could have been me," GoMman remarked later as a commercial airlinercarried him back across the Atlantic with the reporter and five other Houstonians, including Thomas Neumann, then head of ADL's Southwest regional office. (Neumann is now director of the League's community service division.) Goldman noted that all four of his grandparents had fled Russia, thus saving him the anguish that so many Soviet Jews are experiencing today.
Louis Moore, religion editor of the Housion Chronicle, was a member of a delegation which visited the Soviet Unionv under the aegis of ADL, to learn more about Soviet Jews. This article is one of a series'the Chronicle ran and then reprinted as a booklet. It is reprinted here from the /i£>Li9i///e/m, national publication, Anti-Defamation League of B!nai BVith. The article was writ"-ten, of course, prior to the release of Anatoly Sharansky.
As detente cooled, Soviet Jews found themselves increasingly facing a closing door out of the Soviet Union. The more tolerant Soviet emigration policy of the late 1970s, which allowed thousands of Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel and the U.S., has narrowed to a trickle today. In 1984, only 896, Jews were allowed to leave, and the total number for 1985 isexpected to be even smaller.
In addition, American Jewish leaders and U.S. State department officials say Soviet Jews are experiencing a new round of anti-Semitism and persecution. The campaign has included searches, arrests'and threats. Soviet experts in the U.S. believe this harassment is meant to dampen the enthusiasm bf a rising number of younger Soviet Jews for their religious heritage.
At the same time, the persecution seems to be strengthening the resolve of manySoviet Jews to stand up against the repression and to press for their rights. Hundreds who have been denied exit visas have banded together in what has become known as the "Refusenik Movement."
These Jews carefully explain that they are not dissidents. They say they are working for one goal: freedom to leave the Soviet Union for Israel Dissidents, they point out; want to change the anti-religipn Communist system in the Soviet Union-while Refuseniksdon't want to change ahything in the USSR, they only want to leave it.
REFUSENIK ORDEAL
PROF. ALEXANDER LERNER whose two small daughters were murdered by the Nazis, was refused an exit visa 15 years ago. He is 73, still lives in Moscow and still seeks permission to go to Israel where daughter Sonia awaits him.
The Helsinki Agreement which the Soviet government signed allows for freedom of emigration. Let our voices — letters, telegrams and phone calls — express our protest to Western leaders to intercede and to the Soviets to set them free.
THIS WEEK WRITE OFFICIAL Jkmb. Alescie Rodionov Embassy of the USSR, 235 CharSotts Street, Ottawse Ontario
Ida was released March 25. 1982. after 196 weeks (almost 4 years) in Gulag. She is still awaiting permission to go to Israel.
mi ^^^^^^
LOUIS MOORE, religion editor of
Ba8il's'Church,^n6w''a museum.' ^-'v. :', -
Estimates of the number of Ftefuseniks A^aries from a few hundred to several thousand. All have had their applications for exit visas dented, some many times. The most vocal and active Refuseniks claim to be merely "the tip of the iceberg.- They claim there are hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews who have been denied exit visas and are sympathetic t<> their cause but are afraid to become active in the Refusenik movement.
The Refuseniks believe that their main hope for freedom lies in popular opinion in the West. Therefore they meet with visiting citizens of the United States and West European nations. These meetings are the major source forgetting word out to the West about what is happening to Jews in the Soviet Union today.
The Refuseniks' attitude was summarized by Bogomolny: "Tell the Americans, please don't leave us."
He also asked his Texas visitors to "please ask" President Reagan to again speak out on his behalf. Several months ago, Mr. Reagan made a public plea for Bogomolny's freedom. The Refusenik said he believes if Mr. Reagan continues to press the issue, the Soviet government will eventually respond positively.
Other Refuseniks also believe Soviet officials may eventually yield to Western public opinion and allow them to leave for Israel. But all add that they do not know for sure how the Soviet government will continue to respond to their efforts. One whose outlook differed markedly from the others interviewed, said he wouldn't be surprised if the Soviet Union eventually places all of its 1.8 million Jews in concentration camps in Siberia.
Most of the Refuseniks interviewed in Moscow and Lenin^ grad believe they have become pawns in a major international chess game in which they have little control or say over their lives. They believe their own government is strangling the exodus of Jews from the Soviet Union in a shrewd attempt to create a bargaining chip for eventual negotiations with the West.
concessions,'^ he said. He could not define, however, what those concessions might be.
Bogomolny said; "If (new Soviet leader Mikhail) Gorbachev Wants good relations with the U.S., there is a chance for us." He said he believes if there is a thaw in U.S.-SoViet relations, Mr. Gorbachev will reopen the exit door for Soviet Jews.
"Why do I want to go to Israel?" said Yuli Karolin, a Refusenik in Leningrad. "Israel is the best place for people like us. You would not want your daughter to live in a culture where she is the one out of step with others, would you? 1 don't either."
YuH, 23, said the Soviet Union is an "uncomfortable and unfuiniling placefor Jews to live" because the government has tried to separate Soviet Jews from their religion and their cuhure.
According to this theory, the USSR has little to lose by granting the Jews their freedom, and is hoping that mounting pressure from the West to release the Jews will result in some offer from Western governments which the Soviets will find appealing.
Viktor Brailovsky, a leading Moscow Refusenik activist, believes the Soviet government is willing to make a deal with the West for the release of Soviet Jews. "The time is ripe for
Grigory Geishis, 24, another Leningrad Refusenik, said he wants to leave the Soviet Union because he has had "enough of this anti-Semitism. I've had a full cup."
Grigory Genusov, 38, also of Leningrad, said anti-Semitism is deeply entrenched in Soviet society.
Refuseniks say that in addition to the official figure of 1.8 million Jews in the Soviet Union today, there are hundreds of thousands of others who have; chosen to not identify themselves as Jews and if the exit doors were completely opened, most would want to leave.
The Refuseniks say Jews have been discriminated against since they first arrived in Russia some three centuries ago, w hen the Czars ruled the country.
After the Communist revolution in 1917, the situation for Russian Jews did not improve. The new MarxistrLeninist Soviet government adopted a policy of hostility toward all religions, with the Jews in the forefront of the attacks, the Refuseniks say.
Being a Refusenik today means a lite of constant surveillance from the Soviet secret police, loss of.jobs and harassment, sometimes even imprisonment. Despite all this, the Refuseniks say they will continue their efforts because they have nothing to lose . . . their plight is already so bleak.